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A book of letters. I’ve titled it “Love and War – From the Front and the Home Fronts – The letters of Lt. Col. Dr. Charles Pinch & Lt. Nursing Sister Gretta Hope.” These letters span the period from 1940 to 1944. My father, a physician, joined the 11th Field Ambulance out of Guelph Ontario and my mother, a nurse from Guelph, joined the 15th General Hospital out of Toronto in 1939. Their story takes place in England, North Africa and Italy. The letters, 476 in total, are between my father and his parents (in Sault Ste. Marie), and to my mother while she was in England, North Africa, and back in Canada. Letters from his parents to both of them are also included. These letters portray the “ordinariness” of everyday service in the military medical corps during wartime. Between battles when treating casualties was their main function, their everyday work included illnesses, accidents and other challenges that the troops experienced. These letters highlight the joy, sadness, excitement, tragedy and horror that many serving couples experienced during World War II.
My parents were the first Canadian military couple to be married in England during the Second World War. Although they were never able to live together after marriage their love grew into an ever-tightening bond, even with my mother’s deployment to North Africa and my father’s deployment to Italy. My mother returned from North Africa heading to Canada via England without seeing my father whose ship passed hers in the Mediterranean on his way to Italy. He returned to Canada two years later with a life altering illness contracted in Italy.
Charles & Gretta - June 1941, Bramshott, England
A Sampling...
Charlie with the RCAMC in southern England writing home to his parents in Sault St. Marie, Ontario (transcription of the original letter)
August 31, 1941 - From Charlie to his Parents
Typewritten with censor cut-outs – his date says 1940 but it had to be 1941. He was in England and talks about his leave in Aberdeen. This is a type written letter, as he will explain that he cannot write. He was playing ball three weeks previous and failed to catch a foul tip. It hit the tip of his little finger and drove the bone out into his hand by half an inch. He is in a plaster cast, and since it’s his right hand he has to typewrite his letters. It happened when they were out on a bivouac and they didn’t have the supplies to patch it up. He couldn’t find the whiskey that they kept in the ambulance but eventually found a third of a bottle. He had a small drink as a stimulant and the fella that poured it for him was so nervous that he dropped the bottle on the road and it broke. They couldn’t find the rest of the whiskey supply, as they typically keep 2 extra bottles, so he had a lousy night. When they got back to camp, he had it x-rayed and it showed a fracture and a compound dislocation. The cast would be on for 4 weeks, but it gave him leave so he wasn’t too mad. On return, he couldn’t find his unit as they had moved, eventually found them but there wasn’t much doing. They are in Lord Baden-Powell’s home, who was the founder of the Boy Scouts. Says it must have been some “dump” in its day, but has been let go terribly and is not modern. His Colonel is on leave so he is acting OC which is a lot of responsibility. They have a tremendous rookery on the property, they are flying in by the hundreds getting ready to go to bed for the night, but the noise they make is awful. He responds to some of their letters starting with #53, he mentioned she only put on a 6-cent airmail stamp on it so it only went as far as Halifax. He again mentioned the cigarettes and the Sweet Caps. Matches are hard to find over there with flints being even worse, so he would like her to send a cheap lighter and some flints. On his leave he went up to Aberdeen and visited some relatives of George McLean’s and then went back to Edinburgh, Gretta and three other nurses were on a tour and they met up. Then the next day he and Gretta went to Kilcreggan and they could see that part of the Clyde riverbank was pretty flat from the heavy German raids. Says the Germans are notoriously bad marksmen and were off their target by about 300 yards everywhere, so they missed the depots but the tenements were badly damaged. Sentences removed by censor, so it’s hard to identify where they were. Says that in Canada they get more information in the paper about the war then they do in England. At Kilcreggan everyone is well, a few land mines blew out some windows but otherwise okay. Aunt Bessie doing war work and he took her 3 pounds of butter, some cheese and 500 cigarettes. Cigarettes are a problem for civilians to get, they loved Gretta and they had a wonderful time. Great food was had and came back after 3 days.
Sampling from 1942 letters
December 28, 1942 - From Charlie to his parents
Written on Stationary from the Roman Camp Hotel in Callandar. It is the most delightful place and has been so lovely, by Sunday they will both be back to work. The next morning, they are off to Kilcreggan to spend the day with Aunt Bessie and Uncle Bob. Then back to London on Wednesday, to the 15th General on Thursday in time for the big New Year’s Eve party. These have been the happiest days of his life, and knows they will continue to be so. He will give more details when he arrives back to Division and has time to think, but he will say it was wonderful. They were married twice in one day, once to satisfy the English law (which he thinks is stupid) and the big main wedding in the chapel. The first marriage took place in the Methodist Church, Liphook, Surrey and then several hours later in the hospital chapel. It was quite a big wedding, so far, the biggest in the army. He and Hoper will put something together that they can put in the papers. The honeymoon has been perfect. The chapel service finished at 3:30 PM on Saturday the 19th, and the reception was in the Sister’s Mess. They caught the train at Hazelmere at 6 PM. London that night, left London for Edinburgh, Edinburgh for Callander and then Kilcreggan and back to London then Bramshott. He tells his mother that the wedding gifts are wonderful “beautiful crystal and silver, and so much”, Hoper will send a list in time. Everything was either sterling or silver, and this country is the best to get silver. He will send more details when he gets back, but wanted to tell them that their new daughter is the sweetest in the world and their son is the happiest. P.S. don’t forget her new name is N/S Gretta L. Pinch.
Sampling from 1943 letters
Friday, October 1, 1943 - Charlie (2nd Canadian Corps, in England) to Gretta (British North Africa Forces)
He has started writing in green ink again and has sorted out her letters. He asks her to find an ordering system and keep to it, but he thinks that he is only missing 9 of her letters. Not in a letter writing mood so he hasn’t written to their parents. He is not sleeping well and today was up at 6 AM with the dog licking his face. The 9 o’clock news stated that Naples was entered by the Allies and a Canadian destroyer St. Croix sunk in a convoy battle. He sent Bob into town to try and find a plastic bottle of ink to send her but he hasn’t returned yet. He has sent more parcels off. He will leave on Tuesday Oct. 5th for his new job at 13th FDS and is not looking forward to it. He has been away from a unit for a long time and hopes his skills are okay especially at handling men and all that. He will let his folks know about his new address. He is finding it hard to write this letter as his mood is low. He has to hire a box car to move all of his things to the 13th FDS and he asks her if he can trade in her bicycle for a man’s style bicycle. Their insurance policy has come through and their goods come to 700 pounds. 250 pounds for her civilian clothes and 105 pounds for her fur coat, the wedding ring, diamond ring and wristwatch have worldwide coverage. It is a Lloyd’s All Risk policy #NM38174 General Insurance Company, Haslemere. (sic) Not feeling great and has developed a tummy ache since he began the letter. He had seen a bad case of flea and lice infestation, “guy was shimmering” and now he has been scratching ever since. Sends her tender thoughts and says that she makes his life worth living.
Sampling from 1944 letters
March 9th, 1944 - writing from 13 Field Dressing Station in Central Mediterranean Forces - From Charlie to Gretta (back in Guelph, ON, Canada)
He has a lot to tell, the most important thing is that he got 14 letters from her. Then he got 3 from his mother, 1 from her mother, 1 from Bill Taylor, 1 from Bill McNab, and 1 from Aunt Bessie. It will take him 2 days to read them all. He won’t be able to comment on hers until he gets them all read. Where they are is very quiet and it is very odd not to hear the guns. It’s actually hard to sleep from the lack of noise. They are running an Italian clinic again, as the civic hospital is 20 miles away and there isn’t one in this town. Jerry went down to the local ‘pope’ who took a heart attack after mass in the morning. He took me down in the afternoon and I checked him over. He is an old man and his heart is just conking out. I gave him a shot of coramine which eased his breathing. One of the relatives spoke English so I explained the situation that he will eventually die. Jerry had told them that I was a great heart specialist back in Canada and they believed it. Four guys opening every door and asking how much they owed, and were horrified when they were told nothing. He had to have a glass of wine with them, an excellent vermouth, which he commented on. After he returned, a procession arrived bearing gifts for “El signor Maggiore”, they brought 3 bottles of wine and 4 dozen eggs. I “grazied” all over the place. The first eggs they’ve had in 6 weeks. The place where they are now has different mud, it’s like soft soap and phenomenally slippery. They are in a big school and are running the hospital there. At the same time 600 children are going to the school, they go in 3 shifts a day. We have all but 3 large rooms. It’s a modern school however the plaster is falling off the ceilings on the top floor, so it’s very wet. They are thankful to have a roof over their heads which is more than what some of the troops have. He is thankful for being in the medical corps as they get the priority on buildings. Bob put up a sign like this “God Bless Our Happy (crossed out) Home”. This unit has made a good name for itself, and they are waiting to be busy again. He is very proud of them. Oddly, for 6 weeks when they were busy there wasn’t a crime in the unit, but the first day they get to the new place there is one. When they are busy, everyone is on 12-hour duty and on call for the other 12 hours, but when things are slow you can expect a minor crime wave. He has to get tough and he does. Responds briefly to some of her letters, and thanks her for the enclosing some of the airmails. Wonders If he is a Daddy already. Prays for her every day and night and wishes he was there with her.
About the authors
"After my parents died, I uncovered what turned out to be a treasure trove of letters they had written to each other and their families during the Second World War. What soon became apparent to me was the story beneath the words. A Canadian Army Medical Corps Lieutenant Colonel and a Canadian Lieutenant Nursing Sister had fallen in love. With each correspondence I learned not only more about their personal tribulations but the larger narrative behind it. I suffered their hardships in England and Europe; I rallied behind their courage in the face of constant danger, I laughed at their humour and I was moved to tears by their romantic exchanges as they longed to be together. After some 300 letters History had reached out and touched me in a way no textbook could. I felt, as one of Charlie and Gretta’s three children, honour bound to share this unique collection not only with my children and grandchildren, sister and brother but with readers everywhere.”
Susan Pinch Brown, the second daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Pinch, is a retired nurse and founder and CEO of Robertson-Brown Healthcare Services in Kitchener, Ontario. She presently resides in Guelph. She has an older sister, Patricia Scott, in Toronto and a younger brother, Charles Pinch, in Kitchener.
“History has always captivated me, leading to my majoring in the subject and graduating with a four-year degree from the University of Guelph on the topic. My studies have often gravitated to the First and Second World Wars, exploring their impact on politics, nationality, and technology. The content of these letters from happiness and laughter to the dark moody notes, reminds me that the history I love most shows real people during extraordinary times. My hope is that this collection can show others the humanity and humility behind the narrative of war, and offer an intimate look into the lives behind the global conflict. As an aspiring teacher, I hope to share some of this history with my future students."
Blair Janzen.
endorsements
History buffs and romantics alike will find Love and War: From the Fronts and the Home Fronts riveting and heartbreaking. I felt like I was looking over the shoulder of the author as she discovers the personal stories of her mother and father meeting in England during WWII. This book is personal. That’s what makes it so beautiful to read.
Dr. Sandra McCormick - PHD, English Lit,
Lecturer, University of Alberta
