Letter to Jean Welland from Jack Darby
Title
Letter to Jean Welland from Jack Darby
Description
He is hoping to go on leave to New York. First he has exams. Their trip to Jasper was abandoned because the train was four hours late. They hitch hiked to Edson which was a backwoods town.
Creator
Date
1943-11-27
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
One double sided handwritten air letter
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EDarbyCAHWellandJ431127-0001, EDarbyCAHWellandJ431127-0002
Transcription
No. 49.
27/11/43
Dear Jean,
Mail has been fairly irregular just lately, expect you find it the same as they do at home. I received an airgraph from them today the first for about 10 days, expect your next epistle will arrive any day now, it's funny something seems missing, no rude remarks to reply to. Well, how goeth things? still keeping local moral [sic] up by your choral efforts and yourself from falling down on the skating rink. am afraid I have’nt done any skating at all since I've been out here, never seem to have any time to spare, one never knows, perhaps Moncton will be more leisurely for us. I've made application for leave to visit my sister in New York but don't think they'll fall for it, anyway its worth a try, should like to see the town and I have a cousin about 30 miles out.
We have just 11 days to go, this week will be engaged on exams and all being well we catch the 20.40 Continental Limited for all points east.
After all we did’nt make Jasper, the train was four hours late and as daylight is so short now it wasn't worth the trip, we decided to hitch-hike, finished up 150 miles from here in a town (3 shops and about 30 houses) called Edson, really the backwoods of Canada, these places must be seen to be believed, a rough gravel road is the only connection with
[page break]
3/
their town hall the size of our tennis pavilion if as large, naturally it was locked up, so suppose its only used for the annual square dance. Can't see what they do for excitement, believe we gave them the first new topic of conversation for a couple of years. quite expected one old boy to ask us if the Indians had been raiding lately.
Well, cheerio for the time being, take care of yourself
Yours Jack.
[page break]
EXAMINER [missing numbers]
51.8959 – W.H.H. Ltd.
BY AIR MAIL [post mark]
IF ANYTHING IS ENCLOSED, THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT BY ORDINARY MAIL.
Number, Rank or Rating and Name MISS J. WELLAND
Unit (Company, Battery, Ship, Squadron, etc.) 7. QUEENS DRIVE
Regiment, Branch, Establishment or Station SURBITON
Service SURREY ENGLAND
[inserted] 30-11-43 [/inserted] OVERSEAS.
FROM (Sender's full name and address)
M
P.C. 90
[inserted] 49 [/inserted]
OPENED BY
[missing words]
[page break]
2
civilization, you see ancient Ford cars, the original covered wagon (minus cover) in the main street, men dressed in the most weird costumes, mainly lumberjacks and small farmers, life seems to go on the same as it did 50 years ago. The hotel much to our surprise actually had electric light and running water, must have been the show piece of the town. We took a snap of
27/11/43
Dear Jean,
Mail has been fairly irregular just lately, expect you find it the same as they do at home. I received an airgraph from them today the first for about 10 days, expect your next epistle will arrive any day now, it's funny something seems missing, no rude remarks to reply to. Well, how goeth things? still keeping local moral [sic] up by your choral efforts and yourself from falling down on the skating rink. am afraid I have’nt done any skating at all since I've been out here, never seem to have any time to spare, one never knows, perhaps Moncton will be more leisurely for us. I've made application for leave to visit my sister in New York but don't think they'll fall for it, anyway its worth a try, should like to see the town and I have a cousin about 30 miles out.
We have just 11 days to go, this week will be engaged on exams and all being well we catch the 20.40 Continental Limited for all points east.
After all we did’nt make Jasper, the train was four hours late and as daylight is so short now it wasn't worth the trip, we decided to hitch-hike, finished up 150 miles from here in a town (3 shops and about 30 houses) called Edson, really the backwoods of Canada, these places must be seen to be believed, a rough gravel road is the only connection with
[page break]
3/
their town hall the size of our tennis pavilion if as large, naturally it was locked up, so suppose its only used for the annual square dance. Can't see what they do for excitement, believe we gave them the first new topic of conversation for a couple of years. quite expected one old boy to ask us if the Indians had been raiding lately.
Well, cheerio for the time being, take care of yourself
Yours Jack.
[page break]
EXAMINER [missing numbers]
51.8959 – W.H.H. Ltd.
BY AIR MAIL [post mark]
IF ANYTHING IS ENCLOSED, THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT BY ORDINARY MAIL.
Number, Rank or Rating and Name MISS J. WELLAND
Unit (Company, Battery, Ship, Squadron, etc.) 7. QUEENS DRIVE
Regiment, Branch, Establishment or Station SURBITON
Service SURREY ENGLAND
[inserted] 30-11-43 [/inserted] OVERSEAS.
FROM (Sender's full name and address)
M
P.C. 90
[inserted] 49 [/inserted]
OPENED BY
[missing words]
[page break]
2
civilization, you see ancient Ford cars, the original covered wagon (minus cover) in the main street, men dressed in the most weird costumes, mainly lumberjacks and small farmers, life seems to go on the same as it did 50 years ago. The hotel much to our surprise actually had electric light and running water, must have been the show piece of the town. We took a snap of
Collection
Citation
Jack Darby, “Letter to Jean Welland from Jack Darby,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 16, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/39639.