100-year old letter from WWI uncovered
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An OAP uncovered a pristine 100-year-old letter written to her father-in-law- by his dad who was fighting in World War One. (Credit: SWNS)
A 100-year-old letter from World War I has been unearthed, with the finder noting it is a "beautiful and special letter."
The letter, sent by Christine Spall's husband's grandfather, is dated Feb. 27, 1918. It details Airman Henry Walter Spall's time during the war, according to SWNS.
The letter is addressed to Horace, Christine's father-in-law and Henry's son. It starts off: “My dear sonny, many thanks for your kind and loving letter and to say I was glad to hear all of you at home was quite well."
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Throughout the letter, Henry asks his son Horace to behave better in school after being reprimanded for behaving badly. He ends the letter by writing: “Well I don’t know what else to say to you now... God bless you lad, from your loving Dad.”
The pencil written letter dated February 27, 1918 written by Christine Spall's late husband's grandfather is thought to have been passed down through his family. (Credit: SWNS)
Christine, 76, did not know the letter was in her home, hiding in plain sight in an envelope in a "box of old things."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It was in one of those boxes that are just passed over your family," Christine said, according to SWNS. “I thought it might be something interesting, but when I saw what it was, I was just gobsmacked." It has a letterhead of British Expeditionary Force and Christine later learned Henry served in the Royal Flying Corps, now known as the Royal Air Force.
Henry Spall pictured front row in the photo with his son, Horace Henry Spall directly behind him. (Credit: SWNS)
She knows little about Henry, though she has been able to find out that he enlisted in WWI in 1918 and was a joiner and carpenter who lived in a two-bedroom house in Ipswich with his 10 children.
Christine Spall, with the letter and family photograph. (Credit: SWNS)
“I think a lot of people just got on with life, that’s what the letter shows," Christine said, according to SWNS. “When you are younger you just don’t think about it, you don’t think to ask, and I don’t remember anyone of my kids asking: ‘what did grandad do in the war? I wish I had asked my parents more now.”