Tears of joy filled a Sunderland cinema - as relatives heard their sons voices from the battlefield
Tears of joy filled a Sunderland cinema in 1945 - when the audience were treated to the sight and voices of their children who were fighting in the war.
One of the most emotional scenes on Wearside was witness at the Marina cinema in Sea Road, Fulwell.
‘Hello dad. Get the beer in for the homecoming!’
Cinema goers watched a film called Calling Blighty. It was a cine film production of soldiers fighting on the front at Burma.
But this time, all the soldiers were men from Sunderland and Durham and they all had messages to send back home.
The Sunderland Echo report at the time said: “If the lights had gone up suddenly, many of the audience would have been seen drying their eyes.
‘One relation was blind but at hearing the voice of his son his face lit up with joy’
“One relation was blind but at hearing the voice of his son his face lit up with joy and turned to laughter when he was told to ‘get the beer in for the homecoming’.
The special showing had been arranged by the Army Welfare team and the Forces personnel who sent messages home included Sgt S Johnson from Seaham, Gunner Brown from Silksworth, and A.B. T Jones from Sunderland.
The Echo described it as ‘a few minutes of reunion with husband, or son, or father’ and said the services personnel who shared messages from overseas were ‘film stars for the moment’.