At Christmas time we think nothing of that simple, short jaunt to the mailbox. How drastically different things were when many in our country were overseas during the war.
Join me, as author Elinor Florence shares stories about Christmas mail during war time.
In November 1943, to help alleviate the Christmas rush, Ottawa high school students served as volunteers sorting mail.
(Photo Credit: National Film Board).
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Away from home for multiple Christmases
Some Canadians left home in 1939 and didn’t see their families again until 1945. That’s six Christmases far away from home! Since the only contact with their families was through letters, no wonder the mail was so vital.
Transporting all that mail back and forth across the ocean was a huge job. At the outset of the war, the Canadian Postal Corps had 50 personnel. By the end, there were 5,000 operating 170 field post offices at bases across Canada, and in exotic locales such as Cairo and Bombay. All overseas mail went through Ottawa and sorting it was tedious, back breaking labor.
Airmen are loading mailbags into the fuselage of a 168 Heavy Transport Squadron “Fort.”
(Photo Credit: Department of National Defence)
The ‘mail-can’ delivered Christmas cards
Mail from Canada was still taking too long to reach its destination, so in late in 1943, the government created the 168 Squadron RCAF, known as the “mail-can squadron.” The first flight occurred Dec. 17, 1943, just in time for delivering Christmas cards and letters from home.
Alice Revel working the K section of the Canadian Overseas Postal Depot Unit.
(Photo Credit: The Memory Project)
“The Morale (boosting) Squadron.”
And what happened to the mail on the other side of the ocean? All the cards and mail for Canadians was flown to Scotland, and came down to London by train. There it was delivered to the Canadian Overseas Postal Depot, and then sent out to the various stations. The postal workers, who called themselves informally “The Morale Squadron,” did everything in their power to get the mail to the soliders by Christmas.
Among those who sorted the mail in London was Alice Revel of Woodstock, Ontario, who served in the Royal Canadian Air Force. She recalled working day and night to get the mail sorted, and being ‘almost overwhelmed” at Christmas.
A letter from home at Christmas was a special gift
Every letter was a tremendous gift for the lonely, frightened homesick soliders overseas. The look on the face of this guy, Corporal L.R.Bluett of the Royal Australian Air Force, says it all. He was photographed in Boreneo in 1945.
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To read more about mail delivery in wartime you will most definitely want to pay a visit to Elinor’s blog. One of my favorite stories is about her own Dad’s Best Christmas in 1945. Elinor, who now lives in Invermere, British Columbia, read hundreds of wartime letters when researching her historical novel Bird’s Eye View. What a great gift this book would make for someone this Christmas.
Do you have any stories about Christmas mail, historical or otherwise?
Great post, Barb. We take so much for granted. And while war letters are certainly still waiting to be discovered in trunks and drawers, I doubt anyone is keeping emails with such care.
You’re a gem!
Thanks Dominque, it was a good reminder to me too. And, I definitely don’t keep my emails! 🙂 Thanks for your visit.