Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

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Title

Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

Description

Bill writes of the dreadful journey back to West Freugh after leave. Nearly had to report sick due to wasp sting on hand which had swelled up badly. Feels better for leave but seemed to go really quickly and journey back terrible. Catches up on news and is now back to hard work.

Creator

Date

1942-07-26

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Four 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

EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420726

Transcription

No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill.
Hut 20. 4. A.O.S.
West Freugh,
Stranraer.
Scot.
Sunday. 26.7.42.
Dear Mum,
I’ve just got my first Air Force meal resting very uncomfortably & insecurely on my stomach & am [deleted] jus [/deleted] wondering what you’ll be having for dinner at this minute. I must get my stomach used to it gradually!!
Thought I’d better get this off as soon as I could to let you know I got back to camp more or less in one piece this morning. We had a pretty awful journey. I met the Nottingham lad at Derby & the others at Crewe. We had to change at Carlisle & I thought we were never going to get to Stranraer. Gosh my behind hurt with sitting squashed there. Eventually got to Stranraer in pouring rain
[page break]
at just gone eleven to find that the 11.15 bus wasn’t running any longer. As nearly all 40 of us were there we got the R.T.O. to ring up the Freugh for transport. We stood in cold & rain, hungry & hardly able to keep awake until nearly one o’clock. My hand was an awful mess & had been most of the journey. Swelling went right up my arm & it felt as if it was going to bust. Eventually a lorry & a bus turned up & we piled in. On the way we in the bus nearly ended upside down in the ditch but at last reached camp (after our passes had expired) raided the cookhouse for a hot pie & a mess-tin full of cocoa, sorted out our sheets & bedding & didn’t get settled down till gone two.
We all overslept this morning & didn’t go on parade & finally trickled into the classroom very late & minus breakfast (though Ted D. did bring me a mess-tin of
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
tea) however we got away with it & with “overstaying leave” What a game!!
[underlined] Night [/underlined] Every body on the train & all the boys were horrified at my fist & I was more or less ordered to see the M.O. today. However it had gone down this morning & I hate reporting sick so I havn’t [sic] bothered. It really was a mess last night – never seen anything like it. I shan’t sniff at a wasp sting again!!! It’s still inflamed & stiff but itches more than anything. I squeezed out a lot of fluid from the spot where he punctured it.
It was great being home and I certainly feel better for it. It didn’t seem very long though. I’d hardly realised I was at home before I had to be off again. Somebody remarked that we should get 7 days leave & 3 weeks travelling allowance!!! That journey’s terrible – especially from Carlisle to Stranraer. Think I could like it as
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
quick – which reminds me I found Lizzie quite O.K in the shed. Well now to make by bed & get some sleeping hours in. I’m ready for it.
Well now its back to some real hard work for a few months & then – dear old home again. What a treat to look forward to!
Love to Ros Harry & Michael who I didn’t see to say goodbye. Please thank Mr. Henry again. He was very good. Tell Sis the sandwiches were super good - & the sausage rolls. Must stop. Writing’s not very good as my hand’s giving me some “hemp”.
Bless you all.
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]

Collection

Citation

William Akrill, “Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/18052.

Item Relations

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