Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

My Grandmother, Elsie Marsh (nee Gray) was a dear friend of Norman Blackman, they were sweethearts before and during the war years. They had met through an enjoyment of watching and sailing 18 footer sklffs in Sydney Harbour.

Norman went off to war with the 17th Battallion and saw service in France. During this time Norman corresponded with letters to my grandmother which she kept until the day she died.

The letters included the innocent words of a young man to his sweetheart. They also touched on the violence of war, the death of his mates and of their enemy. He included some of the towns and villages we are now all so familiar with. Incuded in one letter is an envelope of small flowers he hand picked from the battlefields. He explains the flowers grew around their trench.

There are other momentos within the letters including silk prints of other fighting units and signed photos of Norman and a few mates in the trenches.

Whilst Norman was at war my Grandmother met and married another man, my Grandfather. My grandmother wrote Norman to tell him of her marriage. However, my family always knew she held a special place in her heart for Norman.

Norman survived the war, married and had a family of his own. He became a builder if I recall correctly and maintained his love of sailing 18 footers. He owned or raced an 18 foot skiff called Yendys, Sydney reversed. (As an aside the family including my 3 aunts were at the Manly 16 foot Skiff Club one sunday enjoying a meal and an ale when my aunt spotted an historic photo of what were supposed to be 16 foot skiff, it was called Yendys on the sail. She later spoke to someone at the club who she pointed it out to, you're right I know Yendys, she's an 18 footer)

My grandmother and their respective children would sometimes meet. He would always ask of her children.

One day, sometime back in the mid 1970's my mother and grandmother were crossing Sydney harbour together on a ferry, my grandmother was reading the Herald newspaper and came accross the death notices, she fell silent, Norman Blackman had passed away.

I hold these letters and photos and the small flowers in a safe. There too is the small death notice cut from the paper. It's all quite poignant when one reads and sees his letters.

I will include, shortly, the photos we hold of Norman.

John Shannon