My own little time capsule

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A collection from the past

One tatty brown dog eared old wallet . Not much to look at really . In most cases it would be dismissed with a quick cursory glance . Just another tired old jumble sale curiosity. However this wallet is important to me. It belonged to my grandfather and is full of period items that date back to the Second World War and earlier . It is my very own time capsule .

I can not be certain if this wallet was the actual article carried in trouser or coat pocket through North Africa , Italy and Austria? . I would like to think so. It has certainly been well used . The leather is creased and worn through in places . The clear plastic window on the inside is now opaque . Then there is the smell , a kind of musty oldness. It is the content that gives provenance. From a pre war driving licence to a post war picture of work buddies, I have a collection of curiosities at hand that roughly transcribes a ten year window of history. The majority of the content is from the war years . For now I’m assuming that this wallet is the original place of storage for each item as and when collected.

The wallet has been in my possession for about 12 years now. Tucked away in a little box with other family memorabilia. Much like the airgraph collection , it became mine during the business of sorting out my parents possessions during a particularly sad period of loss and upheaval. The box has remained mainly closed and stored way since that time . With my interest in Grandad’s past rekindled the collection complete with wallet was recovered from its dark hiding place. It will I hope help tell the story of Grandad’s war .

A look inside….

So what is in this little time capsule? I will present an overview of the contents:
1/ Service book
2/ Birth certificate
3/ Driving licence
4/ Identity card.
5/ Service registration card
6/ Various banknotes of different nationality and denomination
7/ Newspaper clippings
8/ Safe conduct pass
9/ Many photographs .
10/ Grandad’s cap badges.

1/ Service Book
Also known as Army book 64 , this should be by description a complete record of Grandad’s service history . It is however in poor condition missing both the cover and some pages . Although incomplete and a little tatty there is still enough information contained within to explore and transcribe into another post .

2/ Birth certificate
The paper now nearly transparent in its faded condition bears witness that on the 21st May 1910 a certain P. Faulke , Registrar of Births and deaths for the district of Flegg registered the birth of Bert Frederick William Fakes for the princely sum ‘not to exceed Three-pence’.

3/ Driving licence
Unlike the Service Book the condition of which testifies to the fact it had to stay at hand so subject to the demands of travel and service life , this document is in really good condition so could have remained at home for the duration?
Under the provisions of the Norfolk County Council Road Traffic Acts 1930-1934 , Grandad acquired his driving licence 22nd December 1936 for 5 shillings . I can remember him telling me that before the war he worked for a while as a lorry driver . However he failed to mention that while engaged in such business he sometimes disrespected traffic laws. Turning over the fist page , neatly stamped and filled in by hand is the record that on the 23rd October 1937 Grandad was convicted of the crime of ‘ driving a motor goods vehicle over 30 miles per hour’ . Lexden and Winstree petty sessional court duly fined him £2 2 shillings for this high speed offence.

4/ Identity card
Brought into use by the National Registration Act 1939 this document had to be produced on demand by a police officer in uniform or a member of H.M Armed Forces on duty and in uniform . A note in bold type on the reverse reminds the holder to ‘always carry your identity card’.Being blue in colour denotes that this particular example is post 1943 issue .

5/ Service registration card
Also known as Form NS2 , this card was given to the holder once registered for service in H.M Armed Forces .
The National Service ( Armed Forces ) Act 1939 enacted by Parliament 3rd September that year enabled full conscription of all males between 18 and 41. Conscription was carried out in batched groups according to specific year and month of birth . The Ministry of Labour and National Service issued public notices utilising both local posters and press formats to instruct men within these defined age groups to attend for registration at their local Ministry office at a certain date .
I can remember Grandad once telling me very late in his life that he was never conscripted but volunteered for service. This was his secret and something he never even told Nan. His registration card is witness to this fact . On the card is stamped in one particular box the date 3rd December 1942. A date which is next to a printed statement that ‘this man joined H.M Forces as a volunteer.

6/ Banknote collection
Stored away in their natural home are seven different banknotes . They roughly represent Grandad’s travel from North Africa to Austria . I have at hand :
1/ British Military Authority 1 Shilling note ( series K) . Printed for use by service personnel , this particular note is of 1943 issue.
2/ Banque de l’Algerie 5 Franc note , issue date 16-11-1942.
3/Regno d’Italia 5 Lire note.
4/Regno d’Italia 10 Lire note.
5/ Alliierte Militarbehorde 1 Schilling note ( Allied occupation Austrian 1 Schilling note from 1944)
6/ German 1 Rentenmark note 1937 issue .
7/ German 5 Reichsmark note August 1942 issue.

7/Newspaper clippings
Selected and cut from period newspapers , two cuttings make reference to military actions that occurred in the Italian campaign 1944/1945. There is an account of the role played by the 56th (London) Division in the 1944 September battles at the Gothic Line on the Adriatic front up to the Fiumicino River . The second smaller cutting briefly records the role of the 7th Armoured Brigade in its Spring 1945 offensive. No doubt given time and research I will be able to workout the full significance and context of these particular military actions to Grandad?
The next two cuttings are of a more general nature . Being a former ‘Desert Rat’ himself Grandad must have taken an interest in a brief readers letter complaining about the fondness of the general public to describe anyone who fought in the Western Desert as such, when the title belonged to members of the Seventh Armoured Division alone . It must have animated him enough to give reason to cut this clipping out for posterity.

The last clipping tells a tale of discovery. The author describes how he found by chance the grave of a fallen comrade on a post war trip to North Italy. Apart from the obvious connection in time and location it seems to have no other direct link to Grandad? The clue as to why he selected and kept this particular text maybe can be found in the last line?

‘It’s better to live than to die, but death should not be forgotten- especially of those who have passed out of the sight of men by the path of duty’……..Was it in remembrance to his own fallen comrades?

8/Safe conduct pass
Safe conduct passes were dropped in their millions during the war as a psychological incentive for Axis forces to surrender in good faith that they would be treated fairly.
This particular example has the copy signature of Mark W Clark , Commanding General 15th Army group. On the front is the message :
The soldier who carries this safe conduct is using it as a sign of his genuine wish to give himself up. He is to be disarmed , to be well looked after , to receive food and medical attention as required , and to be removed from the danger zone as soon as possible.
On the reverse is a translation in German , Italian and Polish.
Grandad told me that he took this pass personally from a surrendering German soldier. There is a name and number written on the front of the pass . Maybe that is him?

9/ Photographs
A diverse collection of photographs and postcards documenting the places he visited , the friends he served with and also connections to home . From pictures of Nan to Portschach am Worthersee, I have at hand a visual history which I hope to be able to explore and document . Luckily many have inscribed on the back locations , dates and names of those places and distant faces . One of the best pictures includes Grandad and his many buddies taken in Austria May 1945, complete on the reverse with their names transcribed including by nickname ‘Dog’ Taylor and ‘Tiny’ Saunders’ .

10/ Grandad’s cap badges
Finally I have a couple of cap badges which belonged to Grandad . One is the distinctive ‘Desert Rat’ of the 7th Armoured Division . Grandad served in the 7th Armoured Brigade Signal Section , so this is likely to be his.
The second is I believe the ‘Black Cat’ of the 56th (London) Division? Earlier I documented the role the 56th played in the drive up the Adriatic coast as recorded in the newspaper clipping Grandad had saved . Checking the history of the 7th Armored it was indeed supported by 56th Division at this time . Grandad must have acquired and saved this memento as a keepsake of this particular time?
I am still early in my quest to research , document and explore Grandad’s history . This little ‘time capsule’ of a wallet is important in this specific undertaking . Complementing that of course is the personal connection I feel everytime I explore its contents .