It has been a tradition on the blog for a number of years to look at a small number of Christmas related items of militaria around Yuletide each year. This year we have just a couple of items for you, and we start today on the other side of the world with a Royal Artillery Christmas Card from Hong Kong in 1927. The front of the card has the cap badge of the regiment printed in gold, together with the date, location and the unit’s designation ‘20^th Heavy Battery’: 

Inside the card is a photograph of the battery, wearing 1903 pattern bandoliers and with their Wolseley helmets resting on the floor in front of them. A pair of their guns can be seen at either side: 

The card was sent from ‘Albert’ to ‘Jack’ and the simple message would have meant all the more to friends knowing it would be many years before they would see each other again- men going out to Hong Kong expecting to be away for several years at a time: 

Christmas cards seem to be less popular these days than they once were, but in an age before easy international communication they proved to be an essential bridge between men serving abroad and their friends and family at a time of year when the distance perhaps felt greater than normal.