Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420807-0001.jpg
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420807-0002.jpg
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420807-0003.jpg
EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]420807-0004.jpg

Title

Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

Description

Bill thanks her for her parcel and letter. Shocked by story of bombs jettisoned by friendly aircraft but shouldn't judge until know the facts. Worried about Lancaster base being so close to home ('Those Lancasters and the drome are a menace').

Catches up with friends and family news. He also writes that the Air Officer Commanding is visiting the base and that they have been busy cleaning and tidying. He has also been tidying up the garden outside their hut but was amazed at the ignorance of the other men about gardening. Has had interim bombing theory exam. Mentions he has just finished a drawing of hut 20 going to bed.

Creator

Date

1942-08-07

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]420807

Transcription

No 1436220 L.A.C. Akrill.
Hut 20.
The Freugh,
Stranraer.
Friday [deleted] Sat [/deleted] 7.8.42
Dear Mum,
Very many thanks for the parcel and letter which turned up this morning. I havent [sic] yet investigated the contents of the parcel as we’re all upside down but I dare say they’ll come in very handy tonight!! Pleased with the letter as I don’t write many these days & consequently don’t receive many.
I was simply shocked at the story of those bombs. David (who had just got home after walking from Newark) told me about it in great disgust in the letter I got from him tonight. I suppose we mustn’t find fault unless we know all the facts of the case but I’m glad that they were able to jettison the 4,000 lb &c anyway
[page break]
[underline] 2 [/underlined]
But if you say that you have a bit of a bomb they can’t have jettisoned all of them safe. Of course I quite see that they [underlined] may [/underlined] have been able to do no other than get rid of them there but why couldn’t they all be jettisoned O.K. Though I still think it bad to bring them back to a [deleted] overcrowded [/deleted] [inserted] thickly populated [/inserted] district like that. Still, as I said, we don’t know the true facts. I should certainly like to though. (By the way [underlined] I [/underlined] mustn’t say too much as I came back the other day with 3 bombs unaccounted for!!!) Has Mr. Henry let out any gen? Those Lancasters and the drome are a menace. I hate to think of them being so near home.
Sorry Jerry’s been bothering you lately. Glad you’ve got the hay in safely. I hope Mary’s had a successful camp. You’ll be glad when the visitors have gone Sorry Michael didn’t get a prize. But
[page break]
[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
never mind, he’s a grand lad.
David was home on Sat. & Sun. last but didn’t come up to see you as all he wanted to do, he said, was to get into civvies and lounge at home. He sends you all his love and has been asking if you’ve got the “Youth” finished – he thought Nip and Daddy had got a tough job. He said holiday crowds were terrible. I know there were [underlined] thousands [/underlined] on the week before – hence [underlined] our [/underlined] terrible journey. This in [underlined] spite [/underlined] of all.
This last week there’s been absolute panic in Camp as today the Air Officer Commanding announced that he was visiting us. Goodness what a scrubbing & polishing [underlined] everywhere [/underlined] Our very weedy garden plot (that is the officers & instructors garden plot) was handed to a bunch of us & we’ve made a lovely job of it. I spent all yesterday afternoon in it alone with a hoe. I must say the boys are pretty ignorant about gardening. Their efforts at digging made me want to scream
[page break]
[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
They didn’t know weeds from vegetables & thought I was a magician when I produced carrots and peas from a maze of greenery. They must have been dim not to know [underlined] they [/underlined] were there. We had a terrible time in the barrack – leaving it in sparkling nakedness. It’s very awkward as our things have to be hidden away and after all the A.O.C. now isn’t turning up until Sunday. What is worse this awful bulsh. Has to be kept up permanently – some hope! It’s crazy to expect it. We’re planning mutiny.
Nothing at all interesting has happened this week. We had our interim Bombing Theory exam. this morning. Got our leave confirmed – 6 weeks today. 18th September.
Love to all
[underlined] Bill [/underlined]
[inserted] P.S. Enclosing a few gaspers for Harry. Hope they’re alright. The boys complain that they give them a sore throat. Also sending 2 books I’ve got finished reading. The girls might be interest in the butterfly one.
I’ve just done one of the best drawings I’ve ever done – one of [deleted] the [/deleted] Hut 20 going to bed. 40 beds & 40 airmen! The boys have grabbed it & pinned it on the wall but when they’ve grown tired of it I’ll send it home.

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/18054.

Item Relations

This item has no relations.