Don't Forget To Send That Card!
Around Australia this week people will be rushing to the post office to send off their last minute Mothers Day cards. Back in the Second World War, with no nearby stationers' shops, what did servicemen and women in the field do? Obviously they could have written a letter, but it just wasn't the same as sending a dedicated card.
A number of philanthropic organisations printed cards to ensure the forces didn't forget their mums on their special day. We can look at it as the war effort working in reverse. All those cards sent home from sons and daughter stationed overseas would have boosted their mums' morale. The Salvation Army distributed this card among Australian troops in the Middle East in 1941.
Another, printed by the YMCA and the Australian Comforts Fund, was in the form of an aerogramme. QX54424 Lance Corporal Arthur Mark Dixon 2/1 Australian Pioneer Battalion, sent this to his sister, Mrs Randall, in Cooparoo, Queensland.
The practice continued beyond the Second World War. This card was printed by the Salvation Army for Australian Forces in Malaya in 1959.
