Dear Annilea,
The letters of Lt. Arnold Taylor 1940-44
Courtship, Marriage, and the Second World War
About
Updates every Tuesday
Growing up our grandmother never spoke about our grandfather, Arnold Dudley Taylor, who died in WWII and is buried in Italy. We had a newspaper clipping in a photo album showing he won the Prince Edward Island golf championship in 1932. Our mother was born in February 1942. That was about all we knew.
After he passed, all his documents and correspondence were put in a box and set aside, . Eighty years later I found that box in an old shed as I helped my mother downsize and move to the city of Ottawa.
The letters are a detailed look at WWII told from the perspective of a young Lieutenant. They’re serious and amusing and sad, but they are also love letters. My grandmother was the love of his too short life. And on her side, she moved away from Prince Edward Island after the war and didn't remarry until 1960.
This blog is a first hand account of what it was like to fight in the Canadian Army in World War II. If you want new letters as they are posted sent to your email you can subscribe below:
Letter excerpt from 1944:
"Darling, Cullie is gone & today Lorne Groen, I asked to be moved next to him for the few days that are left to me here, has lost both legs, just stumps left & one of his arms will have the cast taken off today. You can’t keep a good man down & he’s as plucky & bright as they make them. Goes back to England next Hospital Ship & thence back to Canada. We talk over old times & I find him very cheerful about the future & what he plans to do. You & I still have so much to be thankful for Darling, but if some of the people back in Canada could only see some of the things as first hand that go on over here, strikes would be unheard of. I knew you would want to hear about both these boys as you knew them.
No letters as yet Love, but they’ll come and as long as you’re receiving mine that's the main thing. Nevertheless a parcel is waiting down stairs for me, Yours or Mothers, so just as soon as I get it I’ll finish this. Got some American Air Mail forms to -day so can write more often & know that you’ll…