DAVID’S WAR VOLUME ONE - THE WORLD WAR TWO LETTERS OF A ROYAL NAVY CODER

It was during the Summer of 2020 that James McCarraher (pronounced ’Mac-arra-her’) was entrusted by his Uncle Colin with a small, precious canvas folder containing over one hundred photographic negatives taken by his late Uncle David McCarraher during the Second World War. The folder was marked ’Kenya, Ceylon, Germany’ but most intriguingly, David had catalogued the content of each individual negative, taken between 1941 and 1945. James contacted David’s youngest daughter, his cousin Jane who revealed that she held over two hundred letters written by David during this period which had been saved by his mother. Jane’s older sister, Vera confirmed that she had further photographs and so with the kindness of David’s family, the entire collection was re-united thus enabling David’s war time story to be told in his own words and pictures. This first volume picks up with David as an evacuee, fulfilling his role as ’Pike’ in the L.D.V. (precursor to the Home Guard) and Head Boy of his school before joining H.M.S. Royal Arthur and training as an Ordinary Coder (the first in his family to join the Royal Navy) prior to being dispatched to the far flung reaches of the British Empire. David’s letters capture the mood of the time and are rich in socio-historical elements as well as sensitive personal flourishes as we witness his passage into adulthood, shaped by war and life in the Royal Navy.