October 23, 2023. If you found a letter, written by someone you didn’t know, about your long-deceased uncle who died during WWII, what would your reaction be?  If you received a message saying that a 1942 letter from your long-deceased father was found, how would you react?   

….2 families…1 letter….

Two families were impacted by one small postcard-sized letter, written in September 1942 from POW camp Stalag Luft III.  The camp was near the town of Sagan, Lower Silesia, in what was then Nazi Germany (but now Żagań, Poland), 160 kilometres (100 miles) south-east of Berlin.  The movie ‘The Great Escape’ was based on an incident that happened in this camp in 1944. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III)

The letter was found by Don Coutts, nephew of WWII pilot Elmer Bagnall MUTTART of Cape Traverse, who lost his life on October 12, 1941.  Don found it amongst his mother’s effects after she died a few months ago.  He asked if we could “…play detective in deciphering the handwriting and as well which prisoner of war camp it came from….”  Pieter was up for the challenge.

….The letter came from Stalag Luft III….

The letter was sent to Mrs.  Frank H. Hall in Summerside, and was written by John ‘Hubert’ HALL, the pilot aboard Wellington Z1203, which crashed in The Netherlands near Mijdrecht on the night of March 28/29,1942. Everyone on board that flight survived and spent the remainder of the war years in POW camps. 

Hubert was in Stalag Luft III, as was Geoffrey Douglas LEYLAND of the Royal Air Force, the Squadron Leader mentioned in the letter.  Pieter’s research found that Leyland had flown three times with Elmer Muttart as second pilot! (https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/52841)  Leyland returned to England after the war and passed away in 1970.

The text of the letter, from Hubert to his mother, reads “…Dear Mother, How are you dear? I’m quite well and managing all right, I hate washing clothes. A few days ago I happened to mention on parade PEI and Squadron Leader overheard me and asked me if I knew Elmer Muttart. At one time Squadron Leader was Elmer’s second pilot and his praise for Elmer’s capabilities as a pilot and the work he did was very high. He says he owes his life to Elmer’s flying one night before Elmer was missing. Mrs. Muttart might like to know of this…Lots of love, Hube…”

One can imagine the relief that Mrs Hall felt in knowing that her son was alive and safe, but what she did next was a testament to her empathy for Annie Bagnall Muttart, whose son Elmer had died a year earlier.  She gave this precious letter to the Muttart family, and it was passed down to her daughter, Helen Coutts. (See https://onthewarmemorialtrail.com/2020/01/31/he-died-that-we-might-live-video-is-now-on-youtube/)

….The letter writer’s son was found….

The letter writer identified, Pieter’s next challenge was finding the family of Hubert and Mrs Frank Hall. The search led him to Robert ‘Bob’ Hall, who soon received a phone message from our intrepid detective! 

Bob was very surprised but called back immediately, confirming that Hubert was his father, and that his grandmother was Marion (nee Howatt) Hall. We met with him and his wife Joanne Sheen to learn more.

Born January 4, 1915 in Summerside, Hubert enlisted at the RCAF Recruiting Centre in Moncton on June 26, 1940.  After receiving his wings, he left Canada for the United Kingdom and by May 1941 was sent for training on a Wellington bomber.

During his time as a POW, Hubert contracted tuberculosis, and when he returned back to the Island, he “…was in the sanatorium in Charlottetown…” Bob explained. 

Once he left the sanatorium, he worked at Hall Manufacturing, and then became the Sheriff of Prince County.  “…That’s when he met my mother, Forrona England. She worked at the Bank of Nova Scotia in Summerside, and most likely that’s where they met…” 

Bob noted that “…I was only three years old when my father died…” at age 39.  “…My mother was 29 when he died and she never got over it…”

Joanne Sheen was excited to learn about the letter.  Bob agreed. “…It’s the only letter that we’ve seen from the POW camp…”  Written on very thin and flimsy paper, it’s not surprising that letters from POW camps might not have survived.  That made the 1942 letter a special remembrance.

Thank you to Don Coutts for sharing the letter from the POW camp, and to Bob Hall and Joanne Sheen for providing information about Hubert Hall. In Part 2: more on Hubert Hall’s story and his long march to freedom that began on January 27, 1945.

Do you have a story to tell? Email Pieter Valkenburg at memorialtrail@gmail.com, comment on the blog, or send a tweet to @researchmemori1.  

© Daria Valkenburg

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