Author(s): Peter Macky (ed.)

NZ Military

In the 1930s and 1940s growing up in a family of privilege and wealth was not a precursor to a life of self-indulgence. It meant, instead, a life with more noble and self-sacrificing aims − a life of duty to society, to God and the ideals of the British Empire. This was the world that Peter Russell Hay Allen was born into, and these values ruled his life, sending him to war in foreign lands and ultimately to his death. Wartime Correspondence chronicles PeterÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs life in the Royal Navy and throughout World War II through an intimate collection of letters, photographs and drawings sent to his mother, Lady Allen. Beginning with his journey to Britain to join the Royal Navy in 1938, Peter regularly writes to his mother detailing the events of not only his life, but those of his shipmates and friends. Unfortunately, as was common for the time this story does not end happily. The last section of Wartime Correspondence begins with an official letter from the Admiralty to PeterÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs father Colonel Sir Stephen Allen informing him of the loss of his son at sea. In this book, editor Peter Macky has not only faithfully reproduced the letters of his uncle, but has also created a social history of the time. With additional information pertaining to the people, places, and vessels included in the footnotes, he provides the reader with a broader understanding of PeterÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs world.