Christmas cards sent to my dad, Cyril Leeke

by his family, Dec 1944

 

I think these are very unusual, as each member of the family, who was at home, drew a picture rather than writing a message or letter. The only one who didn’t send one was his sister, Ena, who must have been away then. Dad was an LAC (leading aircraftsman) stationed in India in at least two Repair and Salvage Units (R.S.U) The first one was near Nagpur and the one where these were redirected to, was near Calcutta and then moved to Burma. Dad says he was in Burma and I think he had a Burma Star.

 

His job was to service and repair planes that came to the unit - often the mail plane which flew in once a week. He mainly worked on Dakotas. There could occasionally be damaged planes to repair, but not many. As a person interested in natural history, he was delighted by all the new animals he saw especially the birds. We have a photo of him and a few friends holding a python, and he was lucky enough to go to see the Himalayas on at least one occasion.

He tells a tale of kicking and nearly tripping up over a small stone in the grass which was the Centre of India monument at Nagpur. Nagpur is the geographical centre of India. This was actually the GTS (Great Trigonometrical Survey) bench mark done in 1907. Dad couldn’t believe that the centre of India was only marked by such a small stone. There is a taller pillar now to mark the spot, but I can’t find out when that was built. He is  adamant it wasn’t there when he was!!

Veronica Frost

PHOTOS OLD AND NEW!

The three photos following on this page have been enhanced and colourized by the My Heritage website, from old b&w photos taken during Cyril’s wartime service in India.

Click here to compare the original photos

Cyril probably took the photo

Cyril in the dark shorts at the back

Cyril is on the left

This is probably the small stone that dad tripped over,

obviously it was in the grass in 1940s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the tower monument now.
Pillar and Stone at the Centre of India Monument at Nagpur.