Wings for Britain Christmas card, Bedford, VA, 1943

Subjects: Christianity Christmas & Santa Religious & Devotional Life
Card type: Lithograph
Date: c. 1943 (Linen)

Back of Wings for Britain Christmas card, Bedford, VA, 1943, Miss Helen Varney, VA, USA, c. 1943 lithograph postcard — Back

About this postcard

The card reproduces a stained glass Nativity window, with Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, angels, and shepherds, and a decorated Christmas tree in the foreground. Jane sends it as a "Wings for Britain" Christmas card, a wartime greeting whose title points to Britain. Her note is full of home-front news. She writes about young men being drafted, her brother John's plan to join the Navy or Marines when he is old enough in October, school friends and a Halloween party, and a spell of twelve-below-zero cold. She looks back on Radford and school days with affection, asking after Helen's schedule and health and promising a longer letter. The card catches a wartime Christmas in ordinary domestic terms: draft notices, school schedules, and cold weather rather than battlefront reports.

Postcard Details

Message · English, in pen

[illegible] Christmas [illegible] promise to write a long, lady letter but am sending this "Wings for Britain" Christmas card in the mean time. You are right about all the young men being drafted. Next year, brother John will be old enough (in October) so he will go if the war is still in progress. I think he wants to join the Navy or Marines rather than be drafted in the army. Guess Jane Puntif & Dare Wall are pretty popular in school. Has Betty Ann Lewis done anything lately. I imagine the same crowd controls the school activities. Your schedule is pretty tough this year but you will get through. I hope you are in good health now and able to go to school all the time. The weather at present is 12 below zero. It's the coldest weather we've had yet here and do I mean it's cold. But it is just a spell and we will snap out of it soon ( I hope !) Congrats to Dot E. for her play. I bet you could write one too, Virgil Christian, (that was it, wasn't it?) if you wanted too. I hope you become a famous author I shall proudly point and say "I knew her in old Va." That Halloween party was really something. I almost did laugh reading it. Is Physics interesting? you have a pretty good class of kids for it. I think of Radford a lot, whenever I hear certain songs, see certain pictures etc. The kids ask me about it and I have lots of fun telling them about school etc. It really is a nice friendly place. We did have fun - you and I, Elaine and the rest of the club. I don't think I shall ever forget you and only wish that I could only see you again. Perhaps someday. How, where + when, I can't imagine. I'll tell you about our school etc. in my letter. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you and your family! May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white. Love, Jane X X X X X X X X X X

PostmarkedJuly 28, 1943

Addressed to

Miss Helen Varney

417 Monroe St Bedford Route VA

Postcard record

Postmarked	July 28, 1943
Publisher	Folkard (printed in Canada by Canadian Print. & Litho., Montreal)
Series	502
Condition	Good
Place addressed	Miss Helen Varney, 417 Monroe St, Bedford Route, VA
Notes	Fold-out card; printed two-year calendar grid for 1942 and 1943 (months and days) on left panel; printed in Canada; copyright Canada 1939, all sales rights reserved; printed by Canadian Print. & Litho., Montreal; Folkard Registered; series 502; printed 'MESSAGE INSIDE' heading; handwritten Christmas message on left panel. Postmarked 1943 JUL 28 PM; 2¢ stamp (printed stamp position marking with handwritten denomination); addressed to Miss Helen Varney, 417 Monroe St, Bedford Route, Virginia U.S.A. Era cues: WWII-era content (draft, 'Wings for Britain' card), printed copyright 1939 on the card. No damage beyond a fold crease.

Cite this card

Wings for Britain Christmas card, Bedford, VA, 1943, postcard, c. 1943. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/wings-for-britain-christmas-card-bedford-va-1943. Accessed November 2, 2026.