Letter to his mother from Rosemary Stapp, a girl friend of Hedley's in the United States

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Title

Letter to his mother from Rosemary Stapp, a girl friend of Hedley's in the United States

Description

Writes she is grieved shocked over Hedley going missing. Writes that initial contact through high school correspondence developed into something much more. Writes of Hedley's visit to her family and present of silver wings. Encourages them to not give up hope.

Creator

Date

1943-10-08

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Two page handwritten letter and envelope

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

EStappRMadgettAG431003

Transcription

[front of air mail envelope]
From – Rosemary Stapp
611 Lincoln St.
Greensburg, Indiana.
U.S.A.
[post office stamp]
GREENSBURG IND. OCT 3 6PM 1943
Melisa[?] Amy Madgett
127 Longlands Road
Sidcup, Kent,
England
[page break]
611M Lincoln St.
Greensburg, Indiana
October 8, 1943

Dear Melisa [?] Madgett,
I received your letter today and I can’t tell you how grieved and shocked I am about Hedley being missing. It just doesn’t seem possible that something has happened to him.
Although Hedley’s and my friendship started through a high school correspondence, I can’t help but feel that it developed into something much more than that. I was so excited when Hedley was able to visit us in America. It’s very needless to say that my whole family fell in love with him from the very beginning because of his politeness, his quick sense of humour and his sweet English ways. That visit is something I will always remember and hold very dear to me, as well as I shall treasure the sweater of his that I love and the silver R.A.F wings he sent me.
I know how proud you must be of him for being such a brave pilot, and for being gallant enough to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.
I’ve thought of Hedley so very much, ever since the day I said goodbye to him live in America and he returned to England. I’m afraid that I thought about him much more than I wrote although I did try to write quite often.
[page break]
Please do not give up hope, Mrs Madgett, we must hope and pray that he is safe. You may know that I shall pray for him – because ever since that first February there’s been a special little spot in my heart reserved for Hedley.
When you do hear, and I pray you shall, that he is safe, I’d be ever so grateful if you would be kind enough to write. I shall be waiting so anxiously, and then too, if possible, I’d like to write to him and send some things.
Please extend my sympathy to Hedley’s father and to his brother, Peter, and God bless you all.
Sincerely,
Rosemary Stapp

Citation

R Stapp, “Letter to his mother from Rosemary Stapp, a girl friend of Hedley's in the United States,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/18808.

Item Relations

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