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Follow 100 personal journeys through the Second World War, across Britain and the globe.
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We're delighted that the Watson Collection is now live.
The collection offers rich material for scholars of the Second World War, memory, religion, women's history, and the social history of twentieth-century Britain.
🔗theirfinesthour.english.ox.ac.uk/watsoncollection
We're delighted that the Watson Collection is now live. The collection offers rich material for scholars of the Second World War, memory, religion, women's history, and the social history of twentieth-century Britain.
The Watson Collection is now free to explore online.
Discover the letters, diaries, photographs, and artefacts that preserve a remarkable journey through the war: theirfinesthour.org
#VJDay #VJDay80 #WW2
On VJ Day, May joins crowds in Trafalgar Square.
In October 1945, news arrives that Frank is safe in Australian hands.
His journey home takes him via Canada before they are finally reunited in Orpington.
As a prisoner, Frank endures brutal conditions in Java and later Japan – overcrowded prisons, humiliation, and coal mine labour under constant threat.
With no minister present, he organises religious services for fellow POWs.
Singapore falls in 1942. Frank escapes to Java but is soon captured.
With no word for months, May writes unsent letters and wonders if he has "left this life… to enjoy eternal life."
The next day, a telegram arrives naming him as a POW – "he had come back to life again."
From Singapore, Frank writes about the greenery, guard duties, and prayer.
May updates him on their garden, friends, and cat, and runs Sunday School at home.
After Pearl Harbor, his tone darkens; his last letter before capture urges her to "keep up a constant prayer barrage."
By late 1940, the Blitz is underway and rationing is part of daily life.
Frank's call-up papers bring relief. After working on barrage balloons, he and May enjoy final cycle rides and seaside trips.
In July 1941, he sails for Singapore, not to see her again for over 4 years.
Married in 1938, Frank and May enjoy the last peacetime years before war changes everything.
In the early war years, life retains some normality, but danger is never far away – once, a German fighter attacks Frank's commuter train to London.
Today, on #VJDay, we are honoured to launch the Watson Collection.
The collection includes 2,600+ previously unseen:
📨 Letters
📘 Diaries
📸 Photos
🏅 Artefacts
📰 Memoirs
…and more.
Now available at: theirfinesthour.english.ox.ac.uk/watsoncollec...
Thread 🧵
Japanese WW2 prisoner of war record card with bilingual headings, handwritten and typed details, and several blacked-out redactions
From: Their Finest Hour HQ
To: All Parties
On 15 AUG 45 + 80 YEARS, more than ████ previously unseen wartime materials will be released.
Contents include: ████, ████, ████, plus further material of interest to #WW2 historians & enthusiasts.
END OF MESSAGE.
