Appeal as 60-year-old diary is found at pub
It was the year that clothes rationing ended, the musical South Pacific opened on Broadway, Wolves won the Cup, and the world seemed a sunny place to a young teenager from Wolverhampton who was about to start his National Service.
The main events in the life of 19-year-old J.C. Underwood are recorded in a battered 1949 diary which has been found in the car park of The Chestnut Tree pub in Finchfield. They are everyday snippets from an ordinary life which throw a spotlight on a more innocent time.
The entries flit between playing football on Perton Aerodrome to performing guard duty on the beach at RAF Kabrit in Eygpt.
Based at Hednesford, the teenager left England on February 2, arriving at Port Said, near the Suez Canal in Egypt 10 days later.
The heat of the Middle East was hard for a lad from Merridale Road – during a heatwave in June, he writes that the temperature had reached 110F in the shade.
Letters were clearly important to young recruits away from their family and friends often for the first time. "Thoroughly cheesed off and homesick these last two days", reads one entry.
And although far away from home, the Wolves fan lists all the club's matches and results, including progress in the FA Cup.
Christopher Dalton, who found the red leather journal, turned to the Express & Star in the hope the owner might be found.
The 57-year-old plasterer, of Linden Lea, Finchfield, said: "It's a lovely read. Seeing the Wolves results and different people's birthdays, including his aunties and uncles, all those human details make it very readable. I hope someone comes forward so it can be returned to its rightful owner."
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