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A newly-published wartime diary by the late Arthur Dethan tells the story of a Jersey couple separated by the German Occupation.
'The Greedy Years – A Jerseyman's diary in exile' has been edited by his daughter Penelope Gardner who, before her mother Lucille's death in 2005, had been entrusted with an old leather suitcase crammed with her father's paperwork.
She had been given permission to read and make use of her father's diary, so she began to work her way through the contents of the suitcase – hundreds of letters in their original envelopes, journals and scraps of paper, all testifying to a relationship tested but ultimately consolidated by a separation enforced by war.
"First I read and typed every word, a rewarding but emotional task, and then came the enormous challenge of editing the whole into a story interspersed with Lucille's memories of Occupation told in her letters to Arthur post-war. The title 'The Greedy Years' came to me from a line in one of Arthur's poems and slowly a book was born," said Penelope.
Pictured: Arthur and Lucille Dethan on their wedding day.
"Finding himself cut off from home in the midst of the London Blitz without any means of communication Arthur began to write a daily journal and letters as well as poems. Writing helped to preserve his sanity and was meant as a record of his life for Lucille in case he never returned. He sent the writing to his sister who stored it for he duration of the war."
The book's narrative is fashioned from the sliding door moment on 27 June 1940 when Arthur sailed on the mailboat for England, taking with him important bank papers he had been charged with delivering personally to the London head office of the Jersey Savings Bank.
Pictured: Arthur at the harbour ready to board the mailboat to England on 27 June 1940.
Notwithstanding the risks of which they were both aware, Arthur hoped he would return a few days later, ending a letter to Lucille the following day with the optimistic words: "I shall probably arrive before this letter anyway."
As he penned that letter, the Luftwaffe was about to conduct its infamous raids on St Helier and St Peter Port harbours, signalling the start of the Occupation and the isolation of the Island. In fact, it was to be more than five years before Arthur returned to meet, for the first time, his son who had been born in the early months of the Occupation.
Pictured: A telegram sent by Arthur in June 1940.
Commenting on the contours of the story, Penelope said: "The greedy years had robbed them of the married life they had longed for.
"Arthur's writings and poetry, and Lucille's recollections of the solitary years are a very personal and unique insight into the challenges of World War Two – the London Blitz, the army, the dreary misery of Occupation, the heartache and loneliness, and the hope and spirit of the 1940s are all displayed in their own timely words."
The Greedy Years by A.W.E Dethan is edited and self-published by Penelope Gardner, née Dethan.
Priced £15, it is available from The Harbour Gallery or, for a free local delivery, details can be emailed to: thegreedyyears@hotmail.com.
"I planned to send a rant to Lord Portsea and the Home Secretary about the fiasco of the evacuation of Jersey. It was a long letter full of lengthy words and sentences; it was a letter that any politician might have written for it was trite, so I tore it up and thought about writing stories instead. If only I had you – and my typewriter, I could face the prospect of this threatened invasion of Britain."
"No [air] raids during working hours, or rather no alarms but two bombs were dropped somewhere near us. I heard one terrific explosion. Left the office at 3.15 to find Liverpool Street closed to all traffic so had to come back by bus right through the city and West End. There's a hole in the Strand outside the Gaiety Theatre. Couldn't see the bottom from the top of the bus – which makes one think."
"This time last year the Germans were at Rouen. Now look where they are! But there must be an exit; this tunnel through which I grope may one day show a pin prick of light. And when I come out into that glorious sunshine there will be you and Lawrence to lead me home where I belong."
"Rumours are disquieting things. There is a story of Channel Islanders being sent to Germany which is most disturbing. I have seen no factual news nor heard BBC announcements but just the same...It is frightening, sickening, to think that harm might come to you and Lawrence and just now I'm in a hell of a state so I shall not be very coherent."
"Montgomery reckons the attack is going exceedingly well. There have been rumours that Jersey and Guernsey are now in our hands. It is just possible that this may be true and in accordance with Shaef's policy of announcing nothing until the enemy is fully aware, the news has been withheld temporarily. I am keeping my fingers crossed!"
"At last Jersey is mentioned. I began to wonder whether it had been liberated. The newspapers say there is a Home Office ruling, forbidding visits for the time being but, as I have written in a letter of this date, there is a move on foot to get me across. Whether anything will come of it I cannot say. I am not very hopeful myself. Everybody else will be trying."
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