Letter to Ursula Valentine from Red Cross prisoner of war department

Letter to Ursula Valentine from Red Cross prisoner of war department

Letter on headed paper to Mrs Valentine about the delay of parcels she has sent to her husband in Stalag Luft 6. She is advised to refrain from sending further parcels at the current time because of the difficulties of the transport system on the continent. They are also sure that he will be transferred to camp in Germany due to rapid advance of Russians.

1944-08-04

Two page typewritten letter

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EThorntonEMValentineUM440804

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ST. JAMES'S PALACE,
LONDON, S.W.1
4th August, 1944.

RAF/M 2444

Mrs. Valentine,
Little Close,
Devon Road,
Salcombe, S. Devon.

Dear Mrs. Valentine,

re: [underlined] 1251404 Warrant Officer J. Valentine [/underlined]

Thank you for your letter of August 2nd. We hope you will try not to worry about your husband who is a Prisoner of War at Stalag Luft 6. Although we have received no official information to this effect, we feel sure that in view of the rapid advance of the Russian Armies this camp will have been transferred to another part of Germany, but you should continue to send letters to your husband addressing them as before and they will, no doubt, be forwarded.

The first clothing parcel you sent this year did not leave this country until the beginning of February and as parcels at that time were taking quite five months to reach their destination, it is unlikely that your husband could have received it by the time he wrote to you in May. We are sorry that so

P.T.O.

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[inserted] - 2 - [/inserted]

many of your parcels appear not to have reached your husband and hope that it is only due to his transfer from one camp to another and that the parcels will eventually catch him up.

It must have been very disappointing for your husband to receive the skates which were sent through our Stores Department without the boots, but the boots were despatched in your July parcel and we hope they will soon arrive. Once parcels are despatched from the Packing Centres, they are the charge and responsibility of the Postal authorities and we regret that we can do little to trace them.

We certainly advise you not to send the parcel which you now have ready until a further announcement has been made by the Post Office. They have advised that the next of kin of Prisoners should for the time being refrain from sending parcels owing to the dislocation of transport on the continent.

Yours sincerely,

p.p. E.M. THORNTON [initials]

Director.
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