On the evening of Saturday 11th December 1999 I was contacted by the Coroner's office in Poole, who told me that Aunt René had died in Poole General Hospital earlier that day.
The next day Christine and I travelled to the hospital and talked to the doctor who had attended her. She had been treated for a minor leg injury, and was waiting to be discharged, when she suddenly died.
We went on to René's bungalow to remove any important items and to make the property safe and secure. In an oak cupboard I found 2 boxes containing letters. They were all written by René's late husband Eric, between July 1945 and the summer of 1946. They tell a remarkable story.
I had not known that René and Eric were second cousins. They had met briefly when both were about 14 years of age. During the war, René had apparently started writing to Eric, who was serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps in Italy. Although Eric had only vague memories of René, they strike up a friendship through the letters. The friendship develops through the letters to the point where they are discussing love, and marriage, before they had even met. They finally meet up when Eric returns to England on leave in October 1945……….
