Letter to David Donaldson from his brother Norman

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Title

Letter to David Donaldson from his brother Norman

Description

Congratulates David on arrival of infant. Writes about his training and offers family banter. Writes about his current life and activities. Sends best wishes.

Date

1942-11-12

Temporal Coverage

Coverage

Language

Format

Three page handwritten letter

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

EDonaldsonGNDonaldsonDW421112

Transcription

12/11/1942
Pte Donaldson,
63 Platoon, Y Coy,
5 P.T.C.,
Catterick Camp, Yorks.
Dear Willie,
Many congratulations on the infant, which I hear arrived on Monday. I was pretty disgusted to be told that it was a niece, but the mere fact of being an uncle at all has swollen my self-respect immensly [sic] against the ravages made upon it by our Corporal. He isn't really so bad, but he has a somewhat excessively loud bark. The Sergeant is really a very decent young fellow, and we did have a charming Corporal, but he's in hospital.
Anyway, it's a very fine show. I
[page break]
had considered, if it was a boy, blackmailing you with the threat of sending Joyce the more loathsome pictures of you in infancy, to shew her what to expect; but perhaps Frances will take after [inserted] her [/inserted] Mother, in which case she would have some hope.
The militia spend their time grumbling solidly, while the volunteers tell each other how much they are enjoying it, to justify themselves for their folly. It hasn't been bad so far, though we have not yet come in contact with any Sergeant-Majors, so that joy is still to come. The most hectic time is is 6-8 a.m., when there seem to be so many things which you can't
[page break]
do the night before. They've even stopped us shaving in the evening, in hot water, now, on the ground that it grows again in the night. And to think I used to shave once every three days at home!
Give my best wishes to Joyce; I really am awfully thrilled about it all, and I hope they are both doing well. I'm sorry I can't attend the christening; but I hope I'll be further South after Xmas, and I might be able to get down for 48 hours and see my niece some time.
Your affectionate brother,
Uncle Norman.

Collection

Tags

Citation

Norman Donaldson, “Letter to David Donaldson from his brother Norman,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/14904.

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