The Daily Postcard No. 15

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Magicfingers

Anything you can do…… 

And this is what is on the reverse, and make of it what you will.  If someone can prove this was written by the most famous Willie of the Great War, I’d be delighted, and richer.

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14 Responses to The Daily Postcard No. 15

  1. Sid from Down Under says:
    April 9, 2020 at 10:28 am

    Sorry, it’s only Wee Willie Winkie – but of interest is what’s in the soldier’s left hand and what is the caption ??? Grub aus Koln … Dug on/out/from Cologne?? I need help -what’s the letter at end of first word – looks like a B – some style of Old German script? I learned and passed German exams at school but when I got to Germany it was a different language – Zwei bier Bitte was about the only phrase that mattered LoL

    Reply
    • Magicfingers says:
      April 9, 2020 at 12:57 pm

      I just knew it was the wrong Willie. Anyway, the word Gruß uses the old German ß – which is actually the equivalent of a double-s, as in Gruss. The wording is Greetings from Koln.

      Reply
      • Sid from Down Under says:
        April 10, 2020 at 2:49 am

        Thank you for rescuing me – but how did you and Daisy type the old German double s letter – I had searched all over old German scripts before first posting and still can’t find that old letter to view or type. I suspect the answer will be embarrassingly simple.

        Your daily postcards have certainly engendered a wonderful interchange between you and your readers. As Mr Grace would say: “You have done very well”

        Reply
        • Magicfingers says:
          April 10, 2020 at 8:42 pm

          My way is to put in ‘German to English’ in Google, then type in gruss in the ‘German’ bit, and it should give you the ß as an alternative. Copy & paste. Or copy it from my comment!! I’ll give some figures on the Daily Postcards at some point, but lots more people are looking at them than just you bravehearts who like to comment. And please continue, btw!!

          Reply
          • Sid from Down Under says:
            April 11, 2020 at 5:03 am

            Thank you for your suggestions and I must say, Sir, that because of this postcard you’ve caused me to search and learn something new which I hereby share with you.

            There are various ways to type ß (German eszett or scharfes s … sharp s … not to be confused with the Greek “Beta” or Chinese “radical” or Latin letter B, this last is what I fell for because I was also taught – not necessarily learned much – Latin at school).

            On a Windows 7 keyboard, the simple way is hold down the RIGHT Alt key (to the right of the spacebar) and hit the s key. Or set to International keyboard. Problem solved without copy and paste!

  2. Nick Kilner says:
    April 9, 2020 at 11:52 am

    I must confess, I’m struggling to understand the image. Is that roll of pictures coming out of the soldiers backpack?

    Reply
  3. Daisy in Indonesia says:
    April 9, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    Hello MagicFingers,

    The full translation should be;

    Gruß aus Koln a. Rh.
    Gruß aus Koln am Rhein.
    Greetings from Cologne on the Rhine.
    Worringen is a suburb in Cologne, don’t know what the H. stands for…

    A couple of questions…

    Which Willie is the most famous Willie of the Great War? Willie who? Willie McBride?

    If Willie is British how would he get hold of a German postcard?

    If Willie is German why is the message in English?

    Sisie short for Sister?
    I’m sure Willie wrote the 20 kisses but I think Sisie wrote the 7 hugs…
    It looks like a sprig of flowers in the soldier’s left hand.

    Love your work.

    Daisy.

    Reply
  4. Magicfingers says:
    April 9, 2020 at 3:59 pm

    Well, I shall plump for the Kaiser as the most famous Willie. He actually signed personal letters Willy with a ‘y’, as in the Willy to Nicky telegrams from July 1914:
    https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/The_Willy-Nicky_Telegrams
    Not Willie John McBride either, ex-Ireland rugby captain.
    And that’s the conundrum. Why has a German card from Cologne been written by what to me seems definitely to be a Brit? There isn’t a postmark, so it was either included with other stuff, or never sent through the post. Could it be pre-war? Just a holiday card? But it would likely be stamped then. Did the Germans put soldiers on pre-war postcards? It seems a little unlikely, but what do I know? Maybe they did. Or was Willie a P.O.W.? I have no idea what the answer is to any of this, and never will, I’m afraid. I like Sisie for sister, yep, why not. And I like the Sisie hugs idea, although how did that then come about?? Imagination required once more.
    And yes, I forgot to mention the sprig of flowers in my reply to Sid.
    Thanks Daisy!

    Reply
    • Nick Kilner says:
      April 9, 2020 at 6:32 pm

      It certainly is a curiosity, not least of all because it appears to have never been sent. But then I use to do that, buy postcards, write them and then end up bringing them home. I think there is only one place a British soldier would buy such a card, and that is in Germany itself. Perhaps shortly after the war as part of the occupying force.

      Reply
  5. Margaret Draycott says:
    April 11, 2020 at 2:19 am

    Would this be a pre war post card that Willie picked up in later years doesn’t really suggest anything to do with the war just a cheerful looking soldier.
    Visited many years ago it’s a lovely city impressive cathedral

    Reply

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