Letter from Rowland Kethro to his parents
Title
Letter from Rowland Kethro to his parents
Description
He has just flown solo and he has been subjected to blacking with boot polish then thrown in the shower. He said he didn't mind.
He has been receiving mail from the UK.
He has been receiving mail from the UK.
Creator
Date
1941-12-03
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
One double sided handwritten sheet
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
EKethroRKethro[Mo-Fa]411203-0001, EKethroRKethro[Mo-Fa]411203-0002
Transcription
[crest]
AIR CORPS TRAINING DETACHMENT
CAMDEN, SOUTH CAROLINA
Wednesday. 3.12.41.
My dear Mum & Dad,
I am just writing this letter to fill on untill [sic] you get my next letter in a few days time, I'm afraid it will have to be rather short as I am writing to Joyce tonight as well.
I told you that I had soloe’d [sic] didn't I? Well it is the custom to duck all soloists after they solo. Well the swimming pool has been closed, because of some reason or other & about 40 chaps dived on me the other night covered me from head to foot with boot blacking & then threw me in the shower, still it happens to everyone so I don't mind.
Two more of the boys got kicked out today, its tough after having come all this way, but you've got to take a chance, & if they eliminate me I shall know I did my best so I'm not worrying.
I had 3 letters today one from Joyce & two from you, my letters are coming through quite well now. The letter I got from Joyce said that she had had one
[page break]
2/
from me from Canada, so I guess you are getting mine through O.K. now, Even Air Mail letters are taking a month to arrive, but it is probably safer to send them that way, so I am going to keep sending them that way, once a week & sea mail in between.
It is 7 o clock here now so it is 12 o clock midnight back in England, doesn't it seem strange that while I am writing this you are fast asleep in bed.
The houses here are very light & made of very thin substance due to the heat & a very funny thing happened here today, one of the boys threw an orange accross [sic] to another & it went right through the wall, gosh did we laugh, imagine one orange going through a wall in England, come to that in these times just imagine an orange.
Well dears I'm afraid I'll have close now, till the next time, so Good Luck & God bless you & don't worry about me I'm doing fine.
Your Ever loving Son,
Rowland
[three rows of kisses]
AIR CORPS TRAINING DETACHMENT
CAMDEN, SOUTH CAROLINA
Wednesday. 3.12.41.
My dear Mum & Dad,
I am just writing this letter to fill on untill [sic] you get my next letter in a few days time, I'm afraid it will have to be rather short as I am writing to Joyce tonight as well.
I told you that I had soloe’d [sic] didn't I? Well it is the custom to duck all soloists after they solo. Well the swimming pool has been closed, because of some reason or other & about 40 chaps dived on me the other night covered me from head to foot with boot blacking & then threw me in the shower, still it happens to everyone so I don't mind.
Two more of the boys got kicked out today, its tough after having come all this way, but you've got to take a chance, & if they eliminate me I shall know I did my best so I'm not worrying.
I had 3 letters today one from Joyce & two from you, my letters are coming through quite well now. The letter I got from Joyce said that she had had one
[page break]
2/
from me from Canada, so I guess you are getting mine through O.K. now, Even Air Mail letters are taking a month to arrive, but it is probably safer to send them that way, so I am going to keep sending them that way, once a week & sea mail in between.
It is 7 o clock here now so it is 12 o clock midnight back in England, doesn't it seem strange that while I am writing this you are fast asleep in bed.
The houses here are very light & made of very thin substance due to the heat & a very funny thing happened here today, one of the boys threw an orange accross [sic] to another & it went right through the wall, gosh did we laugh, imagine one orange going through a wall in England, come to that in these times just imagine an orange.
Well dears I'm afraid I'll have close now, till the next time, so Good Luck & God bless you & don't worry about me I'm doing fine.
Your Ever loving Son,
Rowland
[three rows of kisses]
Collection
Citation
R Kethro, “Letter from Rowland Kethro to his parents,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 13, 2025, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/41938.