A long letter written in World War II from a woman in Belgium to a friend in Newcastle has been returned to the family, closing a loop of history.
Contents of the letter were published in this column over three days in March.
The letter, which contains a diary of life in WWII, was written by a French woman named Fernande Hackray, who was living in Brasschaat in Belgium.
It began in a thrilling way: "We are still alive - the four of us and all the members of my family. We missed death very narrowly. I will explain to you what 'hell' we have been passing through."
The letter surfaced in Newcastle when Carol Hugginson's nephew Thor came across "a very yellowed envelope" addressed to Clara Hugginson, of 25 Hubbard Street, Islington.
The letter was originally sent to Maisie Duffin. Carol's research found that Maisie lived at 42 Hubbard Street, Islington in 1943. The diary runs from 1941 to 1946.
Maisie originally came from the UK. It's thought that she worked as a housekeeper for the Hackrays in Belgium before she came to Australia.
"The commitment of the Hugginson family was always to return the letter to the family," Carol said.
Carol said this was "the right thing to do".
Fernande had closed the letter with her wish that it be returned to her, but it never was.
Fernande wrote the letter at age 40. In one part, she wrote of being driven mad while still at home, among "bombs, planes and their machine guns and sirens".
Her daughters Janine and Francoise were "white as sheets, shaking with fear, clinging to me".
"They could not eat anymore. One village near ours was destroyed," the letter said.
Carol tracked down Janine through the Belgian Embassy in Canberra.
"Over 80 years after Fernande started the letter, we were successful in returning it into the hands of her daughter. Janine received it just prior to her 93rd birthday," Carol said.
"Can you imagine her sitting there holding that letter, seeing her late mother's handwriting, reading her mother's account of such traumatic events of those war years? It must have been like hearing her mother's voice again.
"Janine rang me, expressing such emotion. She was so grateful for all the efforts made by so many people to return the letter to her."
Carol said Janine's granddaughter Camille acted as a "a conduit of information, as Janine is hard of hearing and telephone communication difficult".
Carol's research has shown that Fernande's husband was Henri Victor Hackray, born about 1899. Fernande referred to Henri as "Mr Hackray" in the letter.
The Hackrays visited Australia, including a trip to Kalgoorlie in 1924. "What brought the couple from Belgium to the Goldfields?" Carol said, pulling another thread of the story.
"It appears that the family made at least three trips to Australia, including one to Newcastle which Janine remembers. I will be trying to get more information about this, but Janine told me it was to visit Maisie. She said she loved Newcastle and it was beautiful."
The letter initially recounted the invasion of Belgium on May 10, 1940, with Fernande and her two daughters fleeing to France.
The letter ended with Belgium being free of German troops by February 4, 1945.
On February 19, 1945: Fernande wrote: "Every day since we are free, our house is full of soldiers. Every night they come and talk and play piano. We are happy, so happy. All those English and Canadian boys are so nice and good. We are so pleased to have them and they are welcomed everywhere. What a difference with those hated Germans. We are waiting for the end of this awful war."
Carol said she'd like to research "those parties held in the Hackray home after liberation with British and Canadian soldiers playing the piano and singing".
"I have both British and Canadian ancestry. My grandfather was British and grandmother and mother Canadian. I have started to research what units were involved in the liberation of Belgium and in particular Brasschaat. I can only imagine these parties as a short respite from the battles that they had been through."
She believes they would have returned to battle, chasing the Germans into France.
