Letter to Lewis Ellis from Hab Stevenson
Title
Letter to Lewis Ellis from Hab Stevenson
Description
Writes of recent journey across Canada to 12 EFTS in Ontario. Mentions a little about his new location and that it was run by RCAF and civilians. Writes about which uniform everyone is wearing in hot weather. Comments on current weather and comments on his love life.
Creator
Date
1943-06-28
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Language
Format
Two page handwritten letter and envelope
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
EStevensonHEllisEL430612
Transcription
[missing letters]AN [crest] LEGION
WAR SERVICES
[postage stamp] [postmark]
1238597. Sgt. E. L. Ellis.
7 B & G. School
Paulson.
Manitoba
[page break]
[postmark]
[page break]
CANADIAN [crest] LEGION
WAR SERVICES
Saturday 12th June 1943.
1623902. L.A.C. Stevenson H.
Course 83.
No. 12. E.F.T.S.
R.C.A.F.
SKY. HARBOUR.
GODERICH.
ONTARIO.
Dear Lewis,
Well as you will have noticed I am now much nearer than I was when I wrote at the beginning of my stay in Canada. I thought on Wednesday that I would not be leaving Moncton this week but I left a day after most of the other postings, i.e. Thursday. We travelled all [deleted] da [/deleted] Thursday night & until 1600 on Friday when we were free until 22.00 in Montreal. We walked round Montreal & bought one or two things that we were urgently needing. Today we had breakfast in Toronto & dinner & tea in 12. E.F.T.S.
I do not know much about the place yet, we have only had F.F.Ɪ’s & filled in the usual forms, but it is run by the R.C.A.F. & civilians & the billets food & general conditions all seem to be O.K from what we have seen up to now. Goderich is on the South Eastern shore of Lake Huron so I think that the new pair of trunks I procured yesterday will be well worn when I leave this station.
The weather was pretty hot at Moncton but
PLEASE USE BOTH SIDES
[page break]
here it is like being in an oven all the time. At present the R.A.F. personelle [sic] are wearing ordinary blue but the R.C A F have got summer dress & we were told that we should receive some during the next few days. If we do not I am afraid that I shall be able to work my weight out easier in lbs than stones.
Whilst we have been over here it has rained occasionally & it is now raining the hardest yet, in fact it is a beautiful thunder storm, I have noticed one thing though it always seems to rain at night if it is going to rain at all.
I wrote quite a bit at times to you about Marjorie well before I left home I regained my senses & cooled off, at last more or less I took Freds advice, & have once more crawled back into my shell as a woman hater. However if I spend much time in places such as Montreal, where nearly all the population is female & good looking too, I shall be pretty quickly converted to the ranks of the many, maybe.
Since last writing nothing much has really happened as the majority of my time has been spent on a train so I think that I will be closing now.
Have you heard from Stan. yet? If you have will you let me have his address & any news he gave you, when you answer.
Hoping for an early reply
So long
Hab
[page break]
3/
P.S.
I have not as yet been able to procure a map, or even get a chance of looking at one, which shows the part of Canada where I am so I do not know how far away from you I am, but as I seem to remember that Paulson is reasonably near to the lakes I should think that [deleted] if [/deleted] the distance between us is about 500 miles at the least & probably more in the region of 900 miles., which I am afraid is not with [deleted] in reach of [/deleted] [inserted] in [/inserted] the scope of two days & the night between once a fortnight. Tell me the distance if you know it.
So long
Hab
WAR SERVICES
[postage stamp] [postmark]
1238597. Sgt. E. L. Ellis.
7 B & G. School
Paulson.
Manitoba
[page break]
[postmark]
[page break]
CANADIAN [crest] LEGION
WAR SERVICES
Saturday 12th June 1943.
1623902. L.A.C. Stevenson H.
Course 83.
No. 12. E.F.T.S.
R.C.A.F.
SKY. HARBOUR.
GODERICH.
ONTARIO.
Dear Lewis,
Well as you will have noticed I am now much nearer than I was when I wrote at the beginning of my stay in Canada. I thought on Wednesday that I would not be leaving Moncton this week but I left a day after most of the other postings, i.e. Thursday. We travelled all [deleted] da [/deleted] Thursday night & until 1600 on Friday when we were free until 22.00 in Montreal. We walked round Montreal & bought one or two things that we were urgently needing. Today we had breakfast in Toronto & dinner & tea in 12. E.F.T.S.
I do not know much about the place yet, we have only had F.F.Ɪ’s & filled in the usual forms, but it is run by the R.C.A.F. & civilians & the billets food & general conditions all seem to be O.K from what we have seen up to now. Goderich is on the South Eastern shore of Lake Huron so I think that the new pair of trunks I procured yesterday will be well worn when I leave this station.
The weather was pretty hot at Moncton but
PLEASE USE BOTH SIDES
[page break]
here it is like being in an oven all the time. At present the R.A.F. personelle [sic] are wearing ordinary blue but the R.C A F have got summer dress & we were told that we should receive some during the next few days. If we do not I am afraid that I shall be able to work my weight out easier in lbs than stones.
Whilst we have been over here it has rained occasionally & it is now raining the hardest yet, in fact it is a beautiful thunder storm, I have noticed one thing though it always seems to rain at night if it is going to rain at all.
I wrote quite a bit at times to you about Marjorie well before I left home I regained my senses & cooled off, at last more or less I took Freds advice, & have once more crawled back into my shell as a woman hater. However if I spend much time in places such as Montreal, where nearly all the population is female & good looking too, I shall be pretty quickly converted to the ranks of the many, maybe.
Since last writing nothing much has really happened as the majority of my time has been spent on a train so I think that I will be closing now.
Have you heard from Stan. yet? If you have will you let me have his address & any news he gave you, when you answer.
Hoping for an early reply
So long
Hab
[page break]
3/
P.S.
I have not as yet been able to procure a map, or even get a chance of looking at one, which shows the part of Canada where I am so I do not know how far away from you I am, but as I seem to remember that Paulson is reasonably near to the lakes I should think that [deleted] if [/deleted] the distance between us is about 500 miles at the least & probably more in the region of 900 miles., which I am afraid is not with [deleted] in reach of [/deleted] [inserted] in [/inserted] the scope of two days & the night between once a fortnight. Tell me the distance if you know it.
So long
Hab
Collection
Citation
H Stevenson, “Letter to Lewis Ellis from Hab Stevenson,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed August 14, 2026, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/collections/document/43255.