Letter to David Donaldson from his brother Norman
Title
Letter to David Donaldson from his brother Norman
Description
Writes about David's new daughter and her naming. Mentions life and activities while in army training and upcoming leave.
Creator
Date
1942-12-06
Temporal Coverage
Coverage
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
EDonaldsonGNDonaldsonDW421206
Transcription
6/12/42
14410589 Pte G.N. Donaldson,
63 Platoon, Y Coy,
5. P.T.C.,
Catterick Camp, Yorks.
Dear Willy,
Many thanks for your letter; I'm sorry I've never answered it before. I should be very pleased indeed to go bail for the infant, and am greatly honoured by your invitation. I also think Anna Frances is excellent; the only thing is that, if you call her Frances as far as everyday use is concerned it might be better to put it first. I've found that it is generally assumed by people who know both [word deleted] my names that Gerald is the one used, being the first, & a certain amount of confusion had ensued. This is, of course, an extremely minor consideration, & deserves the contempt it will no doubt receive.
I'm sorry Joyce is having such a tough time of it; I hope she's pulling up now. Mama writes in glowing terms of her grand-child. Thanks also for your wishes regarding N.C.O's and hot water. The latter is flowing copiously, and all the N.C.Os
[page break]
have lost their voices and so your wishes have been well fulfilled. I'm busy going sick these days, with fair success; the others marched 5 miles in the rain & back last Tuesday, to throw 1 live grenade each, but 14410589 happened to have vaccine fever the night before; & he rather thinks he's going to have a slight relapse of his gastritis (a lovely name for tummy-ache) when they go on the moors tomorrow night. Hang it, it [underlined] is [/underlined] his birthday..... We've also got the Assault Course and various other joys this week. We leave on the 16th, 10 days hence, & we shan't be sorry – it's getting too overcrowded here, we have to queue up all day long. I don't know where I'll go yet. A bloke carved up my face with a bayonet the other day, which sounds jolly good, but actually of course he only pricked my upper lip; I can't even say he ran it though. Love to all,
[underlined] Norman [/underlined]
14410589 Pte G.N. Donaldson,
63 Platoon, Y Coy,
5. P.T.C.,
Catterick Camp, Yorks.
Dear Willy,
Many thanks for your letter; I'm sorry I've never answered it before. I should be very pleased indeed to go bail for the infant, and am greatly honoured by your invitation. I also think Anna Frances is excellent; the only thing is that, if you call her Frances as far as everyday use is concerned it might be better to put it first. I've found that it is generally assumed by people who know both [word deleted] my names that Gerald is the one used, being the first, & a certain amount of confusion had ensued. This is, of course, an extremely minor consideration, & deserves the contempt it will no doubt receive.
I'm sorry Joyce is having such a tough time of it; I hope she's pulling up now. Mama writes in glowing terms of her grand-child. Thanks also for your wishes regarding N.C.O's and hot water. The latter is flowing copiously, and all the N.C.Os
[page break]
have lost their voices and so your wishes have been well fulfilled. I'm busy going sick these days, with fair success; the others marched 5 miles in the rain & back last Tuesday, to throw 1 live grenade each, but 14410589 happened to have vaccine fever the night before; & he rather thinks he's going to have a slight relapse of his gastritis (a lovely name for tummy-ache) when they go on the moors tomorrow night. Hang it, it [underlined] is [/underlined] his birthday..... We've also got the Assault Course and various other joys this week. We leave on the 16th, 10 days hence, & we shan't be sorry – it's getting too overcrowded here, we have to queue up all day long. I don't know where I'll go yet. A bloke carved up my face with a bayonet the other day, which sounds jolly good, but actually of course he only pricked my upper lip; I can't even say he ran it though. Love to all,
[underlined] Norman [/underlined]
Collection
Citation
Norman Donaldson, “Letter to David Donaldson from his brother Norman,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed July 22, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/14906.
Item Relations
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