For issue two or our five stamp sets commemorating the Great War, we wanted to build on the stories that we began last year with a focus on the role that the Post Office played in keeping Bailiwick residents in touch with their loved ones abroad.
Once again we have featured individual islanders who served in the conflict and this set sees the inclusion of a Sark resident, Philip Carre, who left his home and his duties as the island's postman to volunteer in the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry (RGLI). Many of his family members still live in Sark, including his great grandson Simon who is one of the island's postmen today.
His story has parallels with that of Robert Bynam, the grandfather of long-serving Guernsey Post Head of Network Planning, Dave Bynam. Robert was a postman when war broke out having started as a telegram boy at the age of 14 and, like Philip, he also fought with the RGLI. Thankfully both men returned from the War to raise families and both continued their work as postmen until they reached retirement.
Many of the servicemen who came home either re-joined or began working for the postal service and it is easy to understand how its sense of duty, structure and solidarity was reassuringly familiar to men who had spent time in the armed forces.
