A Story of War

Follow one man's war day by day, 70 years on, from Waziristan and the North West Frontier, Habbaniya, the Burma campaign, India & the Rhine.

July 29, 2014

July 29th 1944

I am given seven days leave so wire Mhairi to meet me in Edinburgh. She says she can manage it at 12.30 on Thursday, then they cancel it and extend the course by a couple of weeks, and then give me leave again. I ring up Crail (JDW: where Mhairi lived near Edinburgh) with some difficulty and hear a distant voice on the other end. Now I am going to Edinburgh on Tuesday and meeting Mhairi for lunch on Thursday, after which she returns to Crail. I have seven days, so what the hell I will do with myself I can’t think. Aunt Babs ill in hospital. And what the hell will the lunch be like – a complete anti-climax no doubt.

A terrific dance last night and I have “Tuppence” over, and she departs for Grantham today. Also the Atkinson dame, though I don’t do much looking after her. This morning I have a cold – caught God only knows where.

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CDC Dunford Wood

4 responses to “July 29th 1944”

a gray

July 29, 2014 at 4:12 pm

Mhairi. She is mentioned a few times. Is she a friend or relative?

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1. James Dunford Wood
  
  August 16, 2014 at 3:18 pm
  
  I believe a family friend. At any rate, someone he may once have considered a girlfriend or a childhood sweetheart.
  
  Reply
  1. a gray
    
    August 16, 2014 at 3:50 pm
    
    In some of his entries, I had the feeling that he was concerned about what she had to say. I’ve had a different sense about her than the others.
Michael Bowen

December 18, 2015 at 10:44 pm

James. Hi,

Rereading the blogs and I’ve come across the mysterious ‘”Tuppence” again which did catch my eye the first time round. Do you have any more info? I think she might be my godmother? Won’t that make it a very small world?

Michael

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