Letter from Lewis Ellis to his mother and father

Letter from Lewis Ellis to his mother and father

Writes of posting to bombing and gunnery school in Paulson Manitoba. Provides a description of local area and camp, mentioning aircraft, training task, accommodation and food. Speculates he would be there for 3 months but did not know when he would be coming home.

1942-06-23

Four page handwritten letter and envelope

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EEllisELEllisH-[Fa]420623

NORTH ATLANTIC ROUTE
[underlined] AIR MAIL [/underlined]

[air mail stamp]

[postage stamps] [postmarks JUN 23 42]

Mrs. H Ellis,
54, Wulfric Rd.,
Manor,
Sheffield 2.
Yorks.
England.

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R C A F
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R C A F
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1238597 SGT. ELLIS,
No.7 B & G SCHOOL,
PAULSON.
MAN.

Dear Mam and Dad,

Well after our leave came to an end Hammond Knight and I returned to Brandon only to find Hammond & Knight had been posted to a B & G school at Lethbridge and I to a B & G in Paulson I don’t seem to be able to get out of Manitoba.

Hammond & Knight left for Lethbridge which is in Alberta in the foothills of the Rockies, and I along with four more of our course left for Paulson on Saturday and we arrived here yesterday Sunday.

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Its no good looking for Paulson on a map as you will not find it. If there wasn’t a [sic] aerodrome [inserted] here, [/inserted] there would not be a Paulson. It lies northwest of Brandon on Dauphin Lake, on the north [inserted] west [/inserted] shore and the nearest human being is at Dauphin (town) about [deleted numbers] 15 miles away so you see we are now in Canada proper.

The country all around is brush and scrub and a few trees. To the south of the field lies the Riding Mountains and covered with trees. To the east is the lake where we do bombing and gunning, to the north I think is the arctic circle but I have not been to look, and to the west lies the one and only road to and from the camp.

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The camp itself is really a good one and quite large something like Brandon. The planes here are Fairey “Battles”, Avro Ansons, Norsemen, Harvards and a few of the old Cessna Cranes. We have to pilot them all before we leave.

At this camp the main job is training airguners [sic] and observers to shoot and bomb; can you imagine me teaching? Of course we ourselves have got to be polished up on it.

The station has a beautiful Sergeants Mess and the food is perfect so you see we have no complaints about the camp. I think we shall be here about [deleted] six [/deleted] three months but I cannot promise to be coming straight home after I have finished here but we hope so any way.

P.T.O.

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I can’t think of anything else to say but I will write this week end.

Rember [sic] me to all and thanks for the cables.

Your loving son

Lewis.