Feature Letter of April 26th, 2025
Gray, John Balfour
[Written by Flight Sergeant John Balfour Gray, R.C.A.F., to his parents in Trail, British Columbia. Newly arrived in Great Britain after convoying across the Atlantic, Gray had landed in Gourock, Scotland, and was traveling down to Uxbridge where he would continue his training as a Wireless Gunner.]
. . . To get on with my story – we continued down through Scotland and into England. We ate at Newcastle – supper – and then went on again. The train was blacked out at night and when an alarm sounded they were not content with drawn blinds – every light went out. Of course the ship was blacked out all the way over. Our new station at Uxbridge is a Manning Pool just like the one at Toronto. I expect we will leave here any day. I have been to London twice already now. It is a wonderful experience to see all these places about which we have heard so much. It is impossible to imagine the size of London until you have been there. Uxbridge is fifteen miles from the heart of London yet you can see no spot that isn’t jammed with houses all the way. London at night is something too. There are a very few weak lights around to guide you but when an alarm sounds it becomes pitch black there. It is queer when you think of being in the heart of the largest city in the world yet there is not a light to be seen. This Piccadilly Circus used to be an absolute blaze of lights but not one is to be seen now. There is something to this song “Till the Lights of London Shine Again”. It is going to be a wonderful day when they do. You never saw anything like the spirit of the people here – they just laugh and say he will get it all back and then some. It looks to me like the Germans care little for what they bomb as there are wrecked buildings all over London. Another thing that amazes me is the way they clean everything up after a raid. Buildings which have been ruined are cleaned up and fenced neatly off – it is really amazing. It would do a lot of people in Canada to see London and an air raid – they would know then that we are fighting a war. . . .
