Bim’s war

Tara Craig tells the story of one man’s experience in world war one

by Tara Craig 21st November 2014

My father was a conscientious objector. There are some letters somewhere’.

These words, from a largely forgotten conversation between Dorking Friends Joan Macalpine and Su Johnston last December, led to the opening, for the first time in several decades, of two string-tied old cardboard boxes. They also prompted a fascinating journey of discovery.

Languishing out of reach on a top shelf, the letters held the secrets and worries of three tumultuous years with the Friends War Victims Relief Committee (FWVRC). They were written by a young man finding his way through life.