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February Photo challenge: 2nd Feb, Words

2nd Feb:  Words

I found this photo in the war album.  I had to play with the levels because the words were barely visible in the original 2″ x 3″ photo, and I was amazed when I darkened it and saw what was written on this huge sign.  It’s derived from Winston Churchill’s London broadcast on 22nd June 1941, following Germany’s invasion of Russia.

I don’t know where this building is, though it’s probably in north Africa.  The album contains photos taken in 1941/42.

We shall never negotiate; light adjusted

Here’s the original photo, untouched-up:

We shall never negotiate; original photo
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Hope

A few poems in the anthology are copies of other soldiers’ work.  Several are written by girlfriends and wives left back in Australia.  They always express hope that they’ll see their men again, as in these two verses:

  ‘The Blues’, author unknown
 ‘The Blues’, From an Australian Girl to her Soldier Boy, in Egypt
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Weekly photo challenge: hope

The wedding of an Australian General Hospital sister, approx. 1941.  The church is the Basilique Notre Dame d’Héliopolis, Cairo.  I’ve written a little about the church here, and included a photo of the whole structure.

The nurse probably worked at the hospital in Kantara (also El Qantarah and several other spellings), Egypt, close to the Suez Canal.  My father may have known her since he was a patient in this hospital, but he didn’t record her name.

A wedding in the middle of a war zone.  A triumph of hope over reality.

Wedding of Australian General Hospital sister, c1941, Egypt
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Weekly photo challenge: simple

In the album I found a few photos of Arabs snapped in the simplicity of their daily lives.  This one really narrows it down:  a shadeless desert, a man stopping to pray, a curious and patient camel.  Bowing over his mat in prayer, the Arab blocks out the Allied soldier behind the camera lens, and the complications of war.

Arab praying, North Africa, 1940s
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Peaceful

Like this week’s photo challenge, the following poem and its miniature illustration also have a peaceful theme.  My father was in the Middle East in 1941 thinking about the sun rising in his home country.  I give you the first of four stanzas.

From the anthology of Ron Bruce.  Poet unknown,  illustration by Ron Bruce 1941
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Weekly photo challenge: peaceful

This week, it really was a challenge to find a photo in the war album that suited a peaceful theme…  I like this one of the sun rising behind the pyramids, though even this photo has a disturbing darkness.

Sunrise_on_Nile
Sunrise on the Nile, 1940s