Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

Letter from Bill Akrill to his mother

Bill thanks her for the parcel with apples and cake. Writes of weather, course progress - have finished all the ground subjects - and upcoming 48 hours pass, when he hopes to get home. Mentions improvements in dining hall and quality of sergeants mess. Mentions he intends going out to find a local chapel and comments on war news.

1942-11-14

Four page handwritten letter

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EAkrillWEAkrill[Mo]421114-02

[inserted] P.S. Tues. Decided to bring parcel [underlined] on Friday. [/underlined]
Sgt. Akrill.
c/o Sgts. Mess,
R.A.F. Station.
Upper Heyford,
Oxon.
Sat. 14.11.42.
Dearest Mum,
What a lovely parcel! I was pleased with it – just what I felt like, apples rolling out. The cake’s delicious too. And the rubbers. Its grand to know that somewhere you’r [sic] not just another body! I shan’t be able to get this off ‘til Monday but thought I’d get a batch of letters written now. Thank you for the snap. It’s grand.
Weather’s been dismal of late and life no more varied or exciting than usual. However today we’ve finished the first part of our training – the ground subjects only part. And tomorrow – believe it or not – we get the whole day off – [underlined] free [/underlined]!! Flying’s been held up so we’ll not move into Armaments Flight to begin flying ‘til next Thursday at the
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earliest. On Friday we are due for a 48 and I think we’ll be able to get it tho’ whether or not I’ll be able to get home I’m not sure. If I can, expect me about 6. on Friday night. I hope I can stay ‘til the 3 train from Newark. But I can’t be sure of anything. If I can I’ll let you know nearer Friday.
Hope the blue-stalks are still sprouting. I [underlined] shall [/underlined] enjoy being home for a while. I feel to be going into a decline here!
We’ve [deleted] been [/deleted] managed to get some wonderful improvements in our Dining Hall these last few days. Things & food havn’t [sic] been quite as they should be in a Sgts Mess. though absolute luxury to what we’ve been used to at Freugh. Anyway things are getting organised & meals & conditions have been really nice tho’ rationing affects us pretty badly & we live pretty much on porridge & sausages.
Going to have a lie-in tomorrow. That’ll be fine. And then go for a walk round and see if there’s a chapel at either of the
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Heyfords. Won’t it be grand to hear the bells again! I think it’s a great idea and will cheer every body along no end. I hope I can hear some near here. It really was a glorious victory & has got old Nastie thinking. But he’s not done yet. The opinion in the Raf seems to be that the war’s good for another 2 years. Our Bombing offensive is only just starting but I know that we’ve got something for them
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Well, hope to see you on Friday but don’t count on it. David was home at the week-end. He can count on regular monthly week-ends. Pity it didn’t fall together.
Love
[underlined]Bill [/underlined]