Second World War suitcase to be reunited with family
In January, the Union Gospel Mission's thrift store received a very cool donation — a Second World War suitcase belonging to a flyer from Britain's Royal Air Force.
“We started going through it and started noticing it was unique, really special,” said Jeremy Hunka of the UGM. “At first glance, we thought some of the stuff might be from a movie set, it looked that fascinating and interesting. But when we started going through it we thought, `Wait a second, this might be real.' ”
It was. In the leather suitcase, festooned with old luggage labels, they found all sorts of personal effects, including letters, documents and a pair of binoculars.
“This is what really caught our attention,” said Hunka. “A cable on May 8, 1945, on VE-Day, Victory in Europe Day.” The cable was sent by Marg Stout of New Westminster to Flying Officer Edwin Wainwright of the Royal Air Force, who was in India: “Victory wonderful stop writing daily all my love.”
Short but sweet, and 76 years later, a historic document. But Hunka thought it could be a treasured family memento that was mistakenly donated. So he made a public appeal to see if anyone had information about the family.
“It will definitely mean something to somebody out there,” said Hunka.
It did. Edwin Wainwright and Margaret Stout were married after the war, and had two daughters, both of whom now live in the U.S. But they still have relatives in B.C., and last weekend they received texts about the suitcase.
“Of course we knew nothing about any of this, so we were shocked, to say the least,” said Margaret Slack, who lives near Portland, Ore.
Slack said her father died on Sept. 12, 2020, at the Hollyburn House care centre in West Vancouver. He was 96. His wife Margaret died in 2011.
“All I can think if is that somehow (the suitcase) got in the `give to Goodwill' pile instead of `for the family,' and mistakenly ending up at the Union Gospel Mission,” she said. “He was quite proud of that suitcase. It's one he had taken to Ceylon, or Sri Lanka, when he was an RAF officer.”
Her parents had a classic Second World War romance. Edwin was from Sheffield, England, and came to B.C. for RAF training in Abbotsford and Boundary Bay.
“My parents met at a dance in New Westminster and fell in love,” said Slack. “At the end of the war, she travelled by ship over to England to marry my father. They actually bought a small home there, I believe in Tinsley, a small town near Sheffield.”
Unfortunately, life was tough in Britain after the war and by 1948 they were on the way back to Canada.
“Once they started rationing the potatoes, Dad said, `That's the end of this, we can't stay in England any longer,' ” said Slack.
“He was a hard-working man. He started out packing lumber for Crown Zellerbach at the mill in New Westminster, worked really hard and ended up being the director of purchasing for the company.
“They had a brief stint in Calgary, then my dad was transferred to the San Francisco office. They lived in the Bay Area for several years, then went back to the Vancouver office.”
The Wainwrights lived in a lovely home in West Vancouver until Margaret died, when Edwin moved to an apartment. Sadly, he died during the pandemic, so his daughters were unable to visit him.