FAU epaulette. Photo: Courtesy the Library of the Religious Society of Friends.
Wartime Christmas memories
Stanley A Holland spent Christmas with the Friends Ambulance Unit dring Word War Two. Here he shares his experience with us.
In Bournville Meeting at Christmas time last year, a Friend was moved to speak about an unusual event in which he had been involved many years ago. It was not normally part of his duties to act as a courier for the government, but on one occasion he was asked to deliver an important package to a far-away country in the East. An RAF flight not being available, arrangements were made for him to travel on an American plane that was due to pass over the North Pole. Accordingly, on Christmas Day, he and the other passengers found themselves over the North Pole. There happened to be a Padre on board, and a brief service was held – something that surely has to be regarded as unusual. One can imagine that it must have been very moving.
