1940s - Sounds like wish

4 August, 2013

Weekly photo challenge: Foreshadow

I almost posted a photo of a big player on the German side of WWII as a response to the prompt ‘foreshadow’. But I’ve decided not to give him space.

I found the picture amongst my father’s photos, but there were others which, for the opponents of this grim man, undoutedly foreshadowed possible defeat. These two bombers would have had me worried if I were on the losing side (or possibly even if I were on the winning side and standing in the wrong place).

Under this one, the caption reads ‘Flying Fortress’, an American bomber.

The second is captioned simply ‘Bomber’. I assume it’s British, judging by the insignia on the wings and fuselage. Without knowing what the colours of the insignia are, I can take a guess that they are, from the centre out, red, white and blue, British colours:

6 July, 2013

Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgic

If you’re living in Cairo at present, you’re probably feeling nostalgic for a quieter city with fewer people in the streets. Here’s a photo to prove that your city was once more peaceful, well, at least outside this hospital. And there was a world war going on!

With a theme like ‘Nostalgic’ I just had to return to my father’s war album. I often think I’ve blogged about his best photos, but when I dig around it long enough I can still find a photo to match a challenge, especially this week when Cairo is undergoing yet more trouble and millions of people are in the streets. It’s the ideal time to post a photo taken in Cairo in about 1941. My father wrote “9th BGH Heliopolis” under it, that is, the 9th British General Hospital in the suburb of Heliopolis, Cairo.

Postscript: Thanks to Ahmad Omar (see his comment below) I now know that this was originally the Heliopolis Palace Hotel, opened in 1910, which became a hospital in both WWI and WWII and since the 1980s has been one of the Presidential Palaces where presidential offices are located.

9th British General Hospital, Heliopolis, Cairo, c1941 (formerly Heliopolis Palace Hotel)

17 June, 2013

Ailsa's travel photo challenge: Flow

I have this photo which is entirely suitable for Ailsa’s challenge this week. She asks us to open the floodgates and let the creativity flow. Well, this photo is not a product of my creativity but of my treasure-hunting. I found it in my father’s WWII album, where it’s entitled ‘Weir in Nile’. The water is certainly flowing!

Often when I want to identify a location in one of these old photos, I can search the web for similar photos, which usually is a sure way of finding details about my image. This time, however, I’ve been unsuccessful. I’ve researched the dams,weirs and barrages on the Nile River in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia and not found any image that resembles mine. It’s possible that this dam has been rebuilt since the 1940s and now looks completely different. Click twice to enlarge the image.

If anyone out there is an expert on old Nile dams, and if you know what this one was called, please tell me. I’ll be very grateful!

24 April, 201327 August, 2018

54 great opening lines: 43

Henry Holden decided to get an Italian prisoner-of-war after he had seen several at work on Esmond’s farm.

The Enthusiastic Prisoner, E. O. Schlunke

*****

Another short story by Schlunke, the author of The Irling which I wrote about a couple of days ago. This line, beginning with a very Australian name, Henry Holden, caught my attention particularly when I saw it was about an Italian P.O.W. It triggered thoughts of some photos from my father’s war album of Italians taken prisoner by Australian soldiers. Many of the P.O.W.s were shipped to Australia and placed in camps, and their services were offered to local farmers who greatly benefited from the Italians’ excellent knowledge of food production. There is a photo (above) of a stream of Italians heading towards their captor’s camp. There’s also this image of a suave bunch posing for the camera:

19 April, 2013

Ailsa's travel photo challenge: Contrast

This week Ailsa showed us some unicolour tulip crowds where an individual stands out yet stands proud of ending up in the wrong garden. The photos reminded me of these two from my father’s war album. He wrote below the first photo ‘Visit to Cairo zoo’; it’s nicely arranged with each of the Australian soldiers positioned in the shot between pairs of Egyptian police. A real contrast.

Australian soldiers visiting Cairo zoo, 1941

Below the second photo where a salesman seems to be working the tables, he wrote ‘Outside café Heliopolis’. ‘Outside’ is an interesting adjective for that period when cafés in Brisbane, Australia, where my father lived (when not away at war), did not spread outside to the footpath in continental fashion as they do now. Even when I was a child, there was no such thing. The French had influenced Egyptian culture during their time as colonisers, but it took many more decades for the idea to catch on in Australia. Even if the soldiers returned with ideas and encouraged café owners to adopt this dining practice to which our country is so climatically suited, they were slow to try it out. These days, it’s a rare café that doesn’t have tables outside!

Australian soldiers at a café, Heliopolis, Cairo, 1941

11 March, 201327 August, 2018

54 great opening lines: 17

There was once an art critic, I have been told, who had a sure way of identifying ancient Maltese art objects: he found himself crying before them.

Lest Innocent Blood be Shed, Philip Hallie

*****

The story of a village in the south of France, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, where every household and farm sheltered or hid refugees between 1941 and 1944, under penalty of death. In four years, thousands of Jewish refugees were saved; only nineteen were lost.

Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France, looking over the railway line on which refugees arrived from 1941-1944

9 March, 2013

Ailsa's travel photo challenge: International Women's Day

Women, East Africa, 1941.

Some looked away from the camera, like the Sudanese women in the header photo. (They’re bare-breasted; to be family-friendly I give you only their heads.)

Some happily faced it.

Bint (Arabic for daughter or girl), 1941

Others hid and peaked from behind a door curtain.

The photos are from my father’s album, brought back after serving in the Middle East in 1941/42.

It was Ailsa’s idea to find photos reflecting women’s interests for International Women’s Day. Please look at her post, too.

23 February, 201327 August, 2018

Ailsa’s travel photo challenge: Bridges

Bridge photos, I’ve posted a few. But here’s one you haven’t seen:

Imbaba opening bridge, Nile River, Egypt, c1941 — Imbaba opening bridge, Nile River, Cairo, c1941

The Imbaba Bridge is a swing bridge in Egypt. A photo of the swing section can be found here.

You might also be interested in this post of mine from July about another opening bridge on the Nile, the El Gala’a Bridge, or, as it was known in 1941, the English Bridge.

And below, from a post in December, this excellent bridge perspective. Thanks to Ahmad Omar (see his comment below) I’ve discovered the name of this bridge: Aboul Ela Bridge, also known as the Abou el Ela, Abou al-Ela, and the Boulak Bridge. It was constructed between 1908 and 1912 and dismantled in 1998.

March - THROUGH. Nile Bridge, Cairo, c1941 — Abou el Ela Bridge, Cairo, c1941

And you should look at the Beckett Bridge in Dublin by night, on Ailsa’s blog.

16 February, 2013

Weekly photo challenge: Kiss

A photo. Of a painting. Of a kiss. A 1940s kiss.

From my father’s drawing book.

9 February, 20138 December, 2019

Weekly photo challenge: Home

My father volunteered to go to the Middle East in 1941 as a soldier, and it’s clear from his poetry and photos that it wasn’t quite the adventure he’d expected and that he thought often of home. And my mother, who was the girlfriend left behind, sent him photos of herself in her front yard (photos were only ever taken outdoors then), to show him what he was missing.

My transcription of the poem follows the image.

Thoughts of Home

I’ve just come off duty,
And feeling kind of blue,
So the best thing I can think of
Is to drop a line to you.
Writing seems to cheer me
Makes a man remember home,
And makes him often wonder
Why he commenced to roam.

*****

If by chance they get me,
Should put me out of gear,
I’ll go out like a Briton,
Like you would have me Dear,
But in the meantime, while I live,
While the guns and cannons roar,
I’ll pray with all my heart, Dear,
That we will meet some more.