Transcript of letter as originally typed, exact transcript including errors/typos except that the original was typed on foolscap sized paper:

 Letter 1

                        “To   The   Wives   And   Mothers    Left   At   home.

                                                            No man can leave his home without worrying unless he is sure that help will be at hand should his wife or dependants need it.  The Admiralty fully realize this and have taken great care to see that every Service wife or dependant can obtain immediate advice and help if necessary.  The following notes will make clear how help can be obtained.

1.                  In every town of any importance there is a representative of the “Soldiers, Sailors & Airmens Families Association” who will willingly give advice, practical help and financial assistance in cases of need.  If you do not know where the representative is to be found ask at the “Citizens Advice Bureau” or at the local Police Station.  The “S,S & A,F A” was founded with the one great idea of helping Service families so you can rely on them to help you.

2.                  If you live near Devonport, Portsmouth, Chatham or Liverpool there is a Family Welfare Officer at each of these ports who will do all in his power to help and advise you.  Either write direct to “The Family Welfare officer” R.N.Barracks, Devonport, Portsmouth or Chatham or to “The Family Welfare Officer”  c/o F.O.I.C Liverpool, to make an appointment to visit the Officer or call on him personally.  If you don’t know where to find the offices in which he works ask at the main gates to the local Naval Barracks, or if at Liverpool, go to Derby House.

3.                  Men at sea are often worried because their wives have fallen ill and there is no one to look after the home and the children.  The Admiralty have now started a scheme of “Home Helps” to give assistance in such cases and if you apply to either of the above organisations and give the details every effort will be made to provide you with the necessary assistance free of charge.  If you have to go into hospital arrangements will be made to look after your children in a Home or by boarding them with a sympathetic friend.  Don’t hesitate to ask for help then your man need not worry so much.

4.                  If you wish to get in touch with your husband or son urgently on some personal matter you may send him a “C.S.N. Telegram”.  These are available to the Next of Kin of naval personnel and you may send two a month if need arises.  They are only to be used for urgent messages.  Special telegram forms must be obtained by writing to the “Commodore, R.N.B. Devonport” and, when filled in, they can be handed in to any Post Office and cost the same as ordinary inland telegrams.  The Serviceman can reply by the same method.  This is probably the quickest way of getting an answer from a man overseas.

Please do remember that the happiness of your husband or son at sea will largely depend on his knowing that you will be all right at home.  I am giving you these hints on how to obtain help because I feel that you will take full advantage of them if need arises.  There are so many people who will do all in their power to help you if you will just ask:  do not hesitate to do so.  We will all go away the happier if we know you are all right.

(signed) R H Hodgkinson

Commanding Officer,

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Letter 2

Transcript of letter as originally typed, exact transcript including errors/typos except that the original was typed on foolscap sized paper:

“

                                                                   H.M.S. WIZARD,

                                                                   British Fleet Mail,

                                                                   Sunday October 14th 1945.

To The Folks at Home .

                    We thought you might like to know what has happened to our Ship.  Where are we!  Where have we been!  It’s a longish story, but a good one so we’ll try to tell you.

                    After we commissioned at Middlesbrough we felt ready to go in the direction any direction and on any mission that Their Lordships at the Admiralty decide.  We knew we were not ready for immediate action but we were quite sure that with patience and hard work we could bring ourselves up to scratch.  We certainly needed the former and everyone combined to see that we had the latter!

                    Our first stay was at Scapa for a short period of working up.  We fired our guns and were gratified to find that they all went off and, more remarkably, they all went off in roughly the same direction. We began to learn something about our ship:  some of our brand new ratings learnt to distinguish the blunt end from the sharp end and often went in the correct direction when told to “lay aft”.  Some of the older lads learnt to distinguish the “Wizard” from other ships by the fine way she handled, by the feel of her.  But there were few regrets when we sailed from Scaps, heading for the open seas.  Few regrets?  That sound odd.  Surely men must have hated leaving home?  Of course we all did; but we knew we had to go and we all felt that the sooner the “Wizard” joined in the fray the sooner we would all be back.  So, we left Greenock behind, said farewell to Scotland, waved goodbye to Ireland and Wales as we passed and let England slip behind us a very pleasant memory as we headed for the East.

                    That first long trip out of sight of land is not likely to be forgotten by any of us.  It was rough, mighty rough:  rough as only the Bay of Biscay can be.  We were mostly sick, horribly sick.  Our very young and quite inexperienced Bosun’s Mate was out of sight of land for the first time in his lefe.  As he surveyed the second day of roaring seas he had evidently given up all hope of seeing land again.  Then suddenly he ran breathless to the Coxswain and shouted, with excitement written all over his face, “Look Coxswain, there mus be land somewhere!  There’s a bird!”  A seasick sailor will clutch at every straw.

                    And sure enough there was land soon.  The rock of Cibralter.  We rushed ashore in a frenzy of delight:  beer, music, dry land, senoritas!  But next day we were off again, this time swiftly through the calm, blue Mediterranean.  The next stop was Malta.  Battered, heroic Malta.  Those are no idle words as we came to realize when we saw for ourselves the results of the onslaught Malta withstood.  Our stay there was good.  We were out every day exercising:  firing guns, firing torpedoes, night firings, ack-ack firings.  Everything that could go off was made to go off, every-thing that should work was made to work so that we knew our ship better with every day that passed.  Malta was good and we all felt slightly sorry to say goodbye as we pushed ahead to Alexandria.

                    Alex is in Egypt.  Need one say more?  We all had a run ashore and lost and lost an immense amount of money in fruitless bargainings.  But we had some fun and added to our stoke of experiences.  Then began a long partner-ship.  We were detailed off to accompany H.M.S. “Glory”. And Aircraft Carrier, and together we passed through the Canal:  that most disappointing of experiences.  Together we traveled the length of the Red Sea:  that purgatory of sand and heat and flies.  The only relief we found was an evening ashore in Aden.  We all agreed that Aden may not be much of a place in itself but coming as the first stop after passing through the Red Sea it appears as a veritable Eden!

                    Now it was the turn of the Monsoon to try its hand against the “Wizard”.  We had a most unpleasant trip from Aden to Colombo.  Big seas, tons of wind and an atmosphere of gloom over the whole journey.. Gloom from the weather perhaps but not much from the Ship’s Company.  Those of us who had been so sick in the Bay gradually found that, if we didn’t concentrate on it, it was quite easy to eat and almost anything.  We got our sea legs and our confidence:  We put aside our greenhorn qualms and tried to convince ourselves that we were really sailors.

                    “What like’s Colombo?” was the question on every tongue.  Few of us knew, those that did sounded gloomy.  But any port is good after a storm and we found Colombo quite acceptable, We sent home vast quantities of tea, we rode around in rickshaws, we marvelled at much that was new to us and, before the novelty wore off, we sailed away.

                    There are some folks who never understand why sailors are so fond of destroyers.  There are many reasons but perhaps one of the best is the knowledge that we have to have our boilers cleaned at fairly frequent intervals and that process usually takes long enough for both Watches to have three days leave.  So as we sailed for Trincomalee we anxiously watched the Chief Engineer’s face to see if it denoted that his kettles wanted cleaning.  Gradually the buzz got round:  the kettles were all bunged up with fluff and would have to be cleaned.  That meant leave, but where on earth could one take leave at a dead and alive hole like Trincomalee?  The Captain knew a thing of two.  No sooner had we arrived than the “Wizard” began to prepare to land what looked like an invasion.  A very harassed Lieutenant seemed to be presiding over a committee of taste that was slowly building up an immense pile of gear on the deck.  There were buckets and spades, soap and brooms, corned beef and cabbages, footballs and hockey sticks:  there to seemed to be one of everything and two of most.  Then the plan began to reveal itself.  At eight thirty on the following morning half the Ship’s Company was moving into Camp for three days.  They would then return and the other half go.  It sounded a bit too much like hard work and it wasn’t made more attractive by the information that the camp was eleven miles human habitation, stuck in the jungle.  But somehow we all felt that it must be all right, that it would be all right if we determined to make it so.  And it certainly was all right.

                    Nilaveli Camp was a paradise in itself.  It was just a collection of rough huts planted in the coconut plantation on the water’s edge.  Water and light were miraculously laid on but otherwise there was no sign of civilization.  We took possession and lived free of all restrictions for three glorious days.  We swam, we slept, we went walks, played games: we had about six good meals a day and snacks in between - - - starting with tea brought to us in bed by the lads who stayed the whole six days and acted as Staff.  It was perfection.  Every evening we had some entertainment if we wanted it - - - everything we did we just pleased ourselves.  One night a Scavenge Hunt.  We worked in teams of three and had to bring back a dozen assorted objects.  A crab, a fly, a hair from a cow’s tail: these were fairly easy.  But the final item was “One Small Black Boy” and that wasn’t so easy to come by.  The Hunt ended at eight thirty and, believe it or not, we had eight small black boys and sixteen very irate black parents in the Camp by that time!  What a night that was!  It rounded off to perfection those three carefree days.

                    But chiefly got our kettles clean all too quickly and soon we were off again after our Aircraft Carrier.  Trailing in the wake of “Glory” soon became no joke.  Carriers are big craft and they are fast.  W had to go from Ceylon to Western Australia, a long hop for a small sip, and we had to get there fast.  Again bad weather dogged our footsteps.  The Monsoon, angered no doubt by our cheerful acceptance of her previous buffetings, turned on us with rage.  The Doldrums, that supposedly calm stretch of water, belied its name and rose up to drown us.  Every inch of the way we were banged and bumped, soaked and thumped as we pounded after our much larger sister.

          One big disappointment was that it was too rough for us to have the traditional Crossing the Line Ceremony but we stored it up for a later date and meanwhile pushed on for Australia.  Now many of us, in the course of these last six years, have visited all the big naval bases and many of the small ones.  Fremantle is in the latter class.  It is a small place which acts as a watering and storing stop for all ships on the road from England to the Pacific Fleet.  Many hundreds of huge ships have passed through and we would not have been surprised if our reception had been purely business like.  But we reckoned without the Australians!  Before we had even secured they had come aboard.  What could they do for us?  Already they had on the quay crates of free fruit, a gift hamper for every man, stocks of games, papers, books.  They had fixed a dance for us, they had maps of all the best places in the City.  They offered us homes to go to, free meals, rest, comfort, hot baths - - - anything, everything.  And as fast as one man left us, having loaded us with goods, another stepped in to offer us all he had.  We all agreed that nowhere in the world had we ever seen such a wonderful spontaneously kind and generous reception.

                    But one night there was all we were allowed.  Early the next day we were chasing our Carrier, this time right across the Great Australian Bight, past Tasmania and on to Sydney.  Just before we arrived the wonderful news of VP Day was received.  (V.P. Victory Pacific.)  We entered Sydney Harbour on the great morning itself.  Everything and everybody was in a gala mood.  We sailed to our berth with a bagpiper playing Highland reels on the forecastle and a jazz trumpeter tearing off strips on the Quarterdeck.  No sooner were we secured than we “Spliced the Main-brace”, declared it a general holiday and set off to join in the fun.  Our memories of the next two days are vague.  There was a lot of beer, pretty girls, beer, race meetings, dances, beer, pretty girls ……well, you know how it is.  What a wonderful time we had.  No one is very likely to forget Sydney. These Australians certainly know how to make you feel at home.

          But, although there was Victoria in the air, there was still plenty of work to be done.  We had to push on, this time without our big sister.  We were wanted nearer Japan and we cracked on full speed to get there.  It was an interesting voyage; somehow one always feels rather Columbus-like when sailing off into the blue to hit a small island some thousands of miles away.  To the uninitiated it always seems so easy to miss…..even to the initiated there is always the possibility of “error having crep’ in.”  But we made no mistake and soon sighted the Admiralty Isles.  A short stay and we were off again, this time, jumping to Guam.  On the journey we decided to hold our postponed Crossing the Line Ceremony.  A glassy sea and a shining sun set the scene.  Grease paint, bunting and ingenuity provided the characters.  King Neptune was a right royal figure, Aphrodite looked rather like “The Last of Mrs Cheyney” but the Doc looked more than capable of keeping her on her feet and he was ably backed up by a quite revolting Barber and a highly efficient Dentist.  Herald, Scribe, Bears and police:  they were all there and as about seventy five percent of us had never crossed the Line before they were all going to have their work cut out.  Soon the fun began:  first in the tub went the Navigator and quickly following on his heels came the newcomers to Neptune’s Realm.  Some came willingly, deeming it best to get it over and then enjoy the fun.  Others had to be winkled out from all sorts of hiding places:  one had even hidden himself in the Crow’s nest and got a double ducking for his pains.  We had on board to Americans as a Liaison team and they both took their medicine and seemed to enjoy it.  Then all those who had been through began the time honoured ceremony of hunting out those who said they had been before.  One by one we all got thrown in.  The Chief, the First Lieutenant and finally even the Captain.  To cap it all Neptune and his staff were soaked with a fire hose and we gradually returned to normal!

                    Guam passed we headed for Tokyo Bay and the rest of the Fleet.  All these months we had been preparing for the time when we could play our part in this war.  We had commissioned on VE Day, we joined the pacific Fleet at Sydney on VP. Day and, to cap it all, we sailed into Tokyo Bay as they signed the peace.  That surely is a record that cannot be beaten by any ship afloat.

                    Scarcely had we joined the Fleet than we were sent off to collect Prisoners of War from isolated points round the coast.  No one of us is ever likely to forget our first trip. We lay off the shore, about a hundred yards from a big Hospital Ship.  The Prisoners of War were taken from the shore to the Hospital Ship and there processed and sorted out.  The cot cases were kept on board but those able to walk were sent over to us in landing barges for a fast passage to Tokyo Bay.  No word can describe th 3expression on the faces of these men as they came aboard a British ship once more.  Their whole being seemed lighted up with a glow of inner satisfaction and a joy that then cant be put into words.  And we on board were proud:  proud beyond measure at the way these men of our race and blood had withstood all the Japs could do, proud with them at the magnificent spirit which had carried them through.  Soon we had three hundred passengers aboard, no longer are they prisoners but free men looking hopefully to the future,  At full speed we headed for Tokyo Bay and, as we went along, these men talked:  not of horrors they had passed through but of plans they had for the future.  We listened with admiration, we supplied the missing links in the story which had stopped over three years ago, and we marveled at the toughness and grit of men who could go through such an experience and come out fit and ready to face the future.  As we sailed into the Fleet anchorage the men of H.M.S. “King George V” manned their ship’s side and gave our passengers such a cheer that there was not a dry eye on board.  They earned their welcome.

                    In the weeks that have elapsed since our first arrival in Tokya Bay we have had many jobs to do.  We took part in another big evacuation of Prisoners of War, working with two American destroyers and having the added excitement of going at full speed for ten hours at a stretch in order to get the passengers back as quickly as possible.  It may be may years before three destroyers indulge in such a high speed run again.  Although the Yanks were far bigger than our Wizz we kept up with them (as they told us afterwards) made them wonder whether they might’nt have to ask for a reduction in speed.  A day or two after this run, while all our Engine room ratings were still basking in the glory of their great effort, we were ordered to go South accompanying an Aircraft Carrier full of ex-Prisoners of War.  We took them to the Admiralty Isles then they pushed off to Sydney and we stored ship, filled up with mail for the Fleet and returned to Tokyo.

                    We have had several runs ashore in Japan and all feel quite certain that, as far as we are concerned, the Japs can keep the place.  It is all very hilly, indeed you cant find a flat space anywhere and there is no chance of football, and the hillsides are terraced out into gardens.  Things grow very abundantly - - - and they need to if ninety three million Japs are to be fed.  Twice we have been anchored off the coast and the Captain has led ashore parties of sixty ratings, packed in the motor boat and the two whalers, to explore the countryside.  The villages are all filthy and smell like nothing human but, curiously enough, inside the houses are quite clean and tidy.  The inhabitants take very little notice of us, though when we first approached one village the entire population took to the hills outside with the exception of on policeman and one old lady too old to move.  These two stayed in the village and prepared to meet whatever death the wild English sailors would meet out.  Imagine their surprise when hordes of sailors tried to barter Japenese knicknacks for bars of  soap or cigarettes.  That village must have more soap than all the rest of Japan put together judging by the trophies that appeared in the ship next day!  We have also been to Yokohama, which is very badly blited and really no fun for a run ashore.  Then once we went to the remains of Tokyo and saw what sights there were to see.  The Emperor’s Palace is undamaged and we saw Japs making their bows as they passed the gates.  But the rest of Tokyo is well and truly smashed and, once again, is no place for a run ashore.

                    At the moment we are at a place called Wakiyama and this afternoon we have been ashore on another exploring party.  We walked miles among the hills all covered with orange trees with the fruit very temptingly not quite ripe.  When this job is done we are hoping that it will be our turn to go to Sydney,

                    Well, that is our story so far.  We have travelled about 25,000 miles, we have seem much that has been interesting, we have had many good times and have al enjoyed the comradeship of our fellow Wizards.  Most of us think longingly of the time when we can be home again:  for some it may not be so very far away but for the majority we know there will be some time to wait.  Meanwhile we want you to rest assured that we are all well, all happy and all looking forward to seeing you once again.

                    Till we meet we wish you all the very best,

                                       Yours sincerely,