My friends here in America tend to regard the holiday season as beginning on Thanksgiving Day and ending on January 1. However, my British friends, well versed in old lore and traditions, realize that Christmas begins on Christmas Eve and ends on the night of January 5th—Twelfth Night, or Epiphany Eve—the twelve days of Christmas being the span of days between.

Therefore, to celebrate the close of Yuletide, I’m pleased to share with you a gift I received from Derek Porter on New Year’s Day: the scan of a Christmas postcard sent from PG 59 during the war.

Dated 1 October 1942, the card reads:

Dear Joyce,

No Flowers, No Presents,
But just a card,
To carry my Greetings to you,
May every hour of your Christmas be gay,
And every year to come bring joys anew.

All my love
Albert

The card was sent by Albert Frank Myhill to his fiancée Joyce.

Albert Myhill was not soon to return to England and his beloved Joyce. Records show he was transferred to the work camps of PG 146 in northern Italy; after the Italian Armistice in September 1943, he found himself a prisoner of the Germans in Stalag IVB Muhlberg.

The return address on the card is:

Albert Frank Myhill
Gunner 1557752 23/7
P.G. 59. P.M. 3300
Italia

It is addressed to:

Miss J. Hammond
18 Short Brackland
Bury St. Edmunds
Suffolk
England

I’m looking forward to learning more about Albert from his son-in-law Derek and Albert’s daughter Sarita.

Follow the Camp 59 Survivors for future posts on Albert.