This is an entry in a year-long project to post-blog the demobilisation experience for British servicemen at the end of the Second World War. See here for an introduction to the project and here for a brief overview of the demobilisation process.
At Clacton police court yesterday (reports the Daily Herald) Mrs. Marie Burgess, wife of Lieutenant-Colonel R.N.J. Burgess of the RAOC, was committed for trial on the charge of murdering her seven-year-old son Peter. Lt.-Col. Burgess, serving in the occupation forces in Italy, had recently revealed to his wife that he was in love with another woman and would not be returning to her or their son on his demobilisation. Mrs. Burgess attempted to gas both herself and Peter but only the child died. "I have looked forward these three years to Ron coming," Mrs. Burgess wrote in a suicide note to her mother: "Today I had a letter in which he says he is coming home but going to someone else ... I have nothing to look forward to. Peter I had to take with me. He would be so unhappy without me, and Ron is not fit to have him." The trial continues.
A quiet day?
Posted by: Brett | Monday, 09 November 2009 at 10:11 PM
Give me a chance! I just flew back from the UK 12 hours ago ...
Posted by: Alan Allport | Tuesday, 10 November 2009 at 06:00 AM
And now that I've read that sad story, I wish that you'd just slept in, Allan.
Posted by: Erik Lund | Tuesday, 10 November 2009 at 05:39 PM