Same-sex love in the 1930s was taboo. Where there is a will there is a way. During WW2 military training Gilbert Bradley and Gordon were in love. They exchanged hundreds of love letters and those love letters are proof of pure unconditional love. However, At that time the gay relationship was not only illegal they also considered a sin that has only punishment "death".
It is concluded through the letters that Mr. Gilbert was a reluctant soldier and he also pretended to have a psychological disease. His ruse did not work, though, and in 1939 he was stationed at Park Hall Camp in Oswestry, Shropshire, to train as an anti-aircraft gunner.
The love birds met in 1938 on a houseboat, at that time Mr. Bowsher was in a relationship with Mr. Bradley's nephew. Mr. Bowsher belongs to a wealthy family. His father owned a shipping company and Mr. Bowsher runs a tea plantation company.
Mr. Bowsher was from a well-to-do family. His father ran a shipping company, and the Bowshers also owned tea plantations.
Although Mr. Bowsher and Mr. Bradley didn't get a chance to spend much time together, their love remained as pure as pearl. how wonderful it is to see two people in love madly and admire each other.
Mr. Bradley moved to brighten and died in 2008, The house clearance company found the letters and sold them to a military specialist dealer.
The letters attracted the attention of Oswestry Town Museum when curator Mark Hignett was searching on eBay for items connected with the town. He bought just three at first and says the content led him to believe a fond girlfriend or fiancé was the sender. There were queries about bed sheets, living conditions - and their dreams for their future life together.
When he spotted there were more for sale, he snapped them up too - and on transcribing the letters for a display in the museum, Mr. Hignett and his colleagues discovered the truth. The "girlfriend" was a boyfriend. He collected around 600 letters and it cost him thousands of dollars.
one of the letters contains the lines:
"Wouldn't it be wonderful if all our letters could be published in the future in a more enlightened time? Then all the world could see how in love we are."
‘based on a true story (gay lovers, set during WWII, no one dies!)’ There were many more such couples, and many more of their stories are told in a new book by LGBTQ and black social historian Stephen Bourne, Fighting Proud, published last month, which covers WW1 and WW2.
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