Campbell Family

July 27 2007   Stew and Betty--Courting to Marriage

Photo taken at a picnic with Joe and Judy Mathews around the time of Mum and Dad's engagement in Feb 1952. __________  Extracts follow from Dad's letters to Mum, while she was in the UK from February to October 1952.   "1/4/52 - Jamirah ...I am enclosing the snaps I took at the picnic, Joe hasn't had his developed yet. Mine are quite good, especially the ones of you..."

Dad's lovely new Humber "19/3/52 - Jamirah ...The car arrived fine and in one piece, the only things missing were my lovely electric clock, my rear driving mirror and about three tyres had been changed. I cant really complain it had no dents. I couldn't get to Gauhati, too busy, so sent a driver. The Mancotta driver thinks that my car is better than the Wolseley much to your old man's annoyance..."

Dad handed over his responsibility for the 'Air Scheme' to Johnny Johnson in March 1952. ____________________________  "26/2/52 - Jamirah ...I missed the club this week because I had to fly over to Joyhing to fix the aircraft that was U/S. On the way over the one I was Flying started giving trouble so I had to fix two aircraft, and wasn't able to get back on Saturday, people started flapping a bit, but I eventually got back on Sunday afternoon...  10/3/52 ...Last Saturday I took the Doctors? to Jorhat, and then to the N. Bank. Took off at eight and got back at six. I got to the Club, just in time for the pictures (Cowboys again). It drives/draws everybody to drink, so there was quite a party. I left early because on Sunday I had to fly Palmer to the N. Bank. Took off at eight and got back at five thirty. I was so tired I was in bed by nine...  2/5/52 ...Whenever the worries and troubles get me down, Johnny lets me have an aeroplane, and I go up and clear my head... he's very good that way. It's a nice change to get airborne and have something else to think about...  25/5/52 - Jamirah ...Johnny was ill yesterday, so I found myself the pilot again, rather terrifying because I had to fly in some very dirty weather and couldn't see a thing..."

Mum sent Dad a pipe for his birthday on 19th May _________  "20/5/52 - Jamirah ...Thank you very much for the pipe, the cable and the very nice letter... I threw a quiet party last evening, your folks and the Lys's came over...  20/5/52 - Jamirah ...I'm sitting here, pen in hand, pipe in mouth, listening to the Radiogram and full of thoughts of you. The record I've got on at the moment is 'Soon' it's a lovely record darling and reminds me of us. Soon, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, there'll just be the two of us..."

Photo of tea leaves probably taken at Tocklai [Tea Research Centre], where Dad had a 3-day course in July 1952.  "1/4/52 - Jamirah ...Up at 5am planting, finished at 9, breakfast then the garden, lunch and a manager's meeting at Bokel...  10/5/52 ...we are making lots of Tea and are now 400 mds ahead. If we can keep this up we will make a record crop. I want to make 22 mds or more; like Mancotta -Ahum!!...  31/5/52 ...Before the season started we were told to go for crop and quality. So we pruned and manured the garden for crop, I was very particular with the tipping - and now Jamirah looks very nice... 23/8/52 ...at this time of the year in Assam, the only news, as you know, is tea, tea, tea, and I am making maunds of it. 2000 ahead now, at this rate...I will be over 22 mds per acre at the end of the year..."

This is Alistair Lawrie outside the chota bungalow at Jamirah, where Mum and Dad were to begin their married life. __________  "21/4/52 - Jamirah ...On Saturday we went and saw Jimmy Foster off on leave, which of course ended up in a session at the club. On Sunday at 0700 I was flying a Dakota dropping rice on the Army people in the Hills. It was good fun, but I had an awful 'hangover'. We went to the club at about 1230, where we met your folks and went back to lunch with them. After lunch I went back to Jamirah and went to bed until Monday...  15/6/52 ...I'm taking your old man round Jamirah tomorrow. I went round Mancotta the other day. Very nice...  6/9/52 - Jamirah ...the moves have just come and they are quite interesting, I am Act. Manager of Jamirah for next year... Jack Main? is taking over Mancotta [as Mum's father retires]. Cook? is going to Bokel... I met the Scots Padre yesterday with your folks. He seems a nice chap, and we have booked him for the 14th. So darling we are one step nearer too. Roll on November..."

Wedding photo at St Paul's Church, Dibrugarh, in November 1952. Mum's parents, Sandy and Elsie Lawrie are on the far left and right, and Alistair Lawrie is best man. ___________________  "19/8/52 - Jamirah ...I'm glad you went and bought your wedding dress with my Aunt... I'd like my mother to see it if possible...she will then be able to visualise the wedding. I don't know what the devil to wear darling, but if I send you my measurements will you go into Gieves in Bond St chose the material and get a suit made for me..."

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 July 27 2007

Four generations in Assam

Below are a collection of photographs from the Campbell Family Albums covering from the twenties to the 60's

01   The old Madden Club Sandy Lawrie, Mum's father, sitting middle rear

02  Sandy Lawrie

03  Sandy and Elsie Lawrie on right

04  Sandy and Elsie at the far end

05

06

07 Elsie Lawrie on right (perhaps)

08  Sandy Lawrie at front

09 Sandy's mother - Cummings in Shillong

10 Betty with her parents and the Wolseley

11 Dad at the back

12  Mum at the picnic

13  Ethel Campbell, Dad's mother and Ian

14/ Nancy Doonai - our Ayah Ian, Linda and Bruce

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July 14 2007  The Great Escape

Sunday Pictorial 1944 The Greatest Escape Story of The War  FROM GERMANY IN 22 DAYS! 
 Kelleher and Campbell...two British naval officers whose courage and iron nerves brought them 
from a German prison camp, through an amazing series of adventures, home to England.  
For three days they travelled through Germany, two hunted men on a desperate break for 
freedom. For three days they walked, caught trains, drank beer, talked to German policemen 
- two gallant Englishmen outwitting the Nazis, leaving the barbed wire of the prisoner of war
 camp ever further behind.  And they did all this - and got away - without any disguise at all. 
Two British naval officers, wearing blue naval Burberrys over their uniforms, strolling through
 Germany unchallenged and unsuspected! Its the greatest escape story of the war.  Lieutenant
 Denis Kelleher RNVR, aged 25, and Lieutenant Stewart Campbell, aged 22, a Fleet Air Arm pilot, 
walked out of the camp where they had been prisoners. And twenty-two days later they walked
 into their parents homes in England and said, "Hullo folks. How's the war?"  With nerves strained 
to breaking point, with practically no sleep and not enough food, they had to suspect everyone 
they met without showing that they were suspicious; they had to walk past policemen, 
storm-troopers and Gestapo thugs without giving way to the impulse to run as fast as their sea
 legs would carry them.  They had begun making their plans to escape as soon as they reached 
the German camp.  At the camp they were known as the 'Long and Short of It'. Kelleher is short, 
stocky, looking like the star international amateur football player he is - he has been thrice 
capped by Ireland. Campbell is over 6ft tall, slim, looking like a shy boy from college - in fact 
he left college at the outbreak of war to join the Fleet Air Arm.  Every waking hour was devoted 
to perfecting their plans. Drafts were made and scrapped. But finally they concocted a fool-proof 
method.  For six weeks the two friends went back to 'school' and swotted up German.  Then the 
day came. They unobtrusively left the camp just as dark was falling. The blue mists of twilight
 swallowed them up.  Along the thirty-mile road to Bremen Kelleher and Campbell set off, posing
 as Merchant Service officers. They met nobody for hours. Then they came across an old woman.
 Here was a chance to test their skill.  They spoke to her, asked if they were on the right road 
to Bremen. She wasn't suspicious - just scared to meet two tough men on a lonely road in the dark.
 But she told them the way, and that was all they wanted.  In the early hours of the morning
 they limped, dusty, tired and parched with thirst into Bremen. It was too early for there to be 
many folk around.  The streets of Bremen were not badly battle-scarred. Shops, flats, offices,
 looked pretty normal. They were making for the blessed anonymity of a great railway station.
Visions of steaming cups of coffee rose before their minds' eye. Their dry mouths longed for it. 
But they had a shock. They found out that even a cup of ersatz coffee is rationed in Germany 
and the one thing they didn't have was food coupons.  So they bought tickets to their planned
 destinations they asked for them at the grille with bated breath. But the tickets came and the
 booking-clerk didn't bat an eyelid.  As their train steamed out of the station they relaxed. Their 
first great obstacle had been overcome.  They had to stand in the corridor of the train, which 
was crowded with troops. Along came the Gestapo man that all German trains now carry. He 
asked for their papers. It seemed to them he took an eternity to satisfy himself. He passed. 
Nearby was a German soldier inoffensively going on leave. Suddenly there was a shout. Their 
hearts missed a couple of hundred beats. Was this the end?  It was nearly - but for the German
 soldier, not for them. There was some minor irregularity in his papers, and the Gestapo man 
gave him a thorough Teutonic dressing down. The two phony seamen listened - and shook with
 silent laughter.  Their journey involved a number of changes of trains and some more walking.
 I can't tell you the route for the Nazis would like to know that.  Once they got lost and had to
 ask a policeman the way. He couldn't understand what they said, but was most anxious to
 please! He insisted on calling a colleague who spoke Dutch!  It was an awkward moment. They 
murmured something, assured the cop he needn't trouble and walked away.  While they were 
walking through the town the air raid warning was sounded. The Germans have a similar siren 
to our own. It was quite a familiar sound! But the effect is different.  Everyone began running
 to the shelter. Wardens whisked everyone off the streets, Kelleher and Campbell among them. 
They were glad of the chance to rest. Their feet were swollen: they hadn't had their shoes off
 since they left camp. But it was a short Alert unfortunately. And they had to resume their 
journey once more.  Another time they had to wait overnight for a train, so they went to the 
station air-raid shelter, which to their surprise was also a café.  They bought a beer - very poor
 beer it was too - put their heads on the café table and snatched a couple of hours' sleep.  By 
this time they were very hungry. They had eaten the little chocolate they'd brought with them
 and it was time for desperate measures. They went into a cake shop and ordered coffee and 
cakes and devoured them.  Then the time came to pay. They paid..."And your 'marken'?" 
said the woman.  They realised she meant coupons.  "Sorry," they said. "We haven't any. 
We're Dutch."  And that seemed to satisfy her!  Another time they saw some apples in a shop, 
but even apples needed points, so their mouths watered in vain.  In another train they 
managed to get for the first time a seat. There were plenty of civilians on this local train. 
Everyone seemed gloomy and preoccupied. There was no laughter, no chatter,  The people 
looked tired and grey-faced. Even on a cursory glance their clothes were of poor quality,
 although they were middle-class travellers. And there were some odd assortments of 
clothes: you just wear what you can get in Germany, it seems, and no one bothers.  
On this train, the girl guard opened the door and asked for the tickets. "Heil Hitler," 
she said.  The two men looked quickly round the compartment to see what they should do. 
No one paid any attention. The girls salute went unheeded. It was the first and last time 
the two men heard a "Heil Hitler" while they were in Germany.  It took Kelleher eighteen 
months to be taken from Tobruk, where he was captured when his ship was sunk, to the 
camp in Germany, travelling via Sicilian and Italian transit camps.  It took Campbell over
 two years to reach the camp after he was captured by the Italians when he crashed in
 November 1941.  But it took the two men over three weeks to get from the camp to
 England and home!          The Sunday Pictorial was launched by Rothermere in 1915 as 
a major         photo-journal. Circulation reached 1,700,000 in 1941 with a series of        
 articles by Winston Churchill. In 1963 the paper was relaunched as the        
 Sunday Mirror.]