15 Feb 1944, Chronology of Events Related to Stanley Civilian Internment Camp
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Thomas Edgar sends a card to his parents in Windsor:
Dear Mother and All
We are still keeping very fit. Also getting enough food.
Weather has been ideal.
Best regards
Lena and Tom
'Stanley' is crossed out on the front of the card before 'Internment Camp' and 'Military' substituted.
This is the first of Edgar's letters and cards home to be written in pencil; the first was typed, those that followed written in ink. As time goes on, the objects that help the internees with their daily tasks are wearing out, although the Red Cross is doing its best to help with supplies.
'Also getting enough food' is obviously not true - in previous cards Edgar has tried to get his parents to stop sending parcels through the Red Cross as they were never delivered, and this is part of that campaign. He probably suspected, with some reason, that the food was going to the Japanese authorities, so his concern is understandable.
'Weather has been ideal' is also probably not true. We know from the Jones diary that the weather today is 'fine, colder, cloudy' and that it has been cold recently. Either Thomas likes colder weather or he's using up his 25 words with cheerful chit-chat certain to get past the censor - he wouldn't have been the only one to find it surprisingly hard to use his full quota, small as it was. To give any hint of the real conditions in Stanley would have dismayed relatives - even if such a card could somehow have got past the censor.
Source:
For a scan of this card and all the other cards Thomas Edgar sent from Stanley, see
