DAVID’S WAR VOLUME TWO: THE WORLD WAR TWO LETTERS OF A ROYAL NAVY CYPHER OFFICER

It was during the Summer of 2020 that James McCarraher (pronounced ‘Mac-arra-her’) was entrusted by his Uncle Colin with a small, precious canvas folder containing over one hundred photographic negatives taken by his late Uncle David McCarraher during the Second World War. The folder was marked ‘Kenya, Ceylon, Germany’ but most intriguingly, David had catalogued the content of each individual negative, taken between 1941 and 1945. James contacted David’s youngest daughter, his cousin Jane who revealed that she held over two hundred letters written by David during this period which had been saved by his mother. Jane’s older sister, Vera confirmed that she had further photographs and so with the kindness of David’s family, the entire collection was re-united thus enabling David’s war time story to be told in his own words and pictures. In this second volume we join David just after he has received his commission as a Cypher Officer. Rear Admiral Scott observed that David had passed top of his class with higher marks in the subject than any previous candidate in the history of the Royal Navy. We continue to follow David in the latter stages of the war and his transfer from the Middle East to Germany, just days before the fall of the Third Reich. David’s letters capture the mood of the time and are rich in socio-historical elements as well as sensitive personal flourishes as we witness his passage into adulthood, shaped by war and life in the Royal Navy.