Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Number 48. Reports two letter from her have arrived. Deals with matters raised in her letter including her job, tax and how pleased he is with photographs of daughter. Catches up with other family news. Sorry to hear bad news of another acquaintance missing. Discusses types of tobacco and how much he appreciates her letters. mentions mild weather.

1943-02-01

Two page handwritten letter

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EValentineJRMValentineUM430201

NUMBER 48.
1-2-43

My Darling Wife: To my exceeding joy 2 letters arrived today. Nos. 35 & 39. I now have all yours up to 39 except 36 & 38 & as more mail seems to be coming in just now, I may be lucky enough to get these soon. Incidentally your new method of numbering is much more efficient than the old. Dealing with No. 35 first, I was delighted with the Xmas card & your loving wishes, bless you. Pity it arrived nearly 6 weeks too late, but it was all the more appreciated. Your factory job is still a mystery to me because the censor obliterated all remarks about it. All I can hope is that you don’t overdo things & I applaud your determination to aid the war effort to such an extent. Strictly speaking you should pay tax on your 1/4½ per hr. but you needn’t be in any hurry over it. [underlined] Letter 39: [/underlined] I am thrilled, charmed, delighted with those wonderful photos of Frances. What a lovely little creature she is & how I long to be back to you two again. One of the photos is magnificently superb. Please give Ba my hearted [?] congratulations on the excellence of her handiwork & my truly grateful thanks. Also give the model a loving kiss. I was glad to hear of your birthday gifts & to know that you hadn’t been forgotten entirely. Was also very glad to hear of your investments for our future home. [inserted] Method of payment OK. [one indecipherable word] Tax[?] a/c is surplus [/inserted] Make as many of them as you can for opportunities of so doing will become progressively rarer. Sorry to hear that there is now news of Frank Routledge I’m afraid that we here represent only a small section of those reported “Missing” Today a small parcel of ¼ tobacco arrived, which was very welcome. I definitely prefer my old favourite tobacco to any [inserted] other [/inserted] blend & am most grateful for your gifts of it. I still have quite a lot in hand & am not smoking to excess. I do love your letters, my dear. After writing my last letter to you & feeling most despondent because I hadn’t heard from you for a month, I spent 2 very happy hours reading through everything you had written to me up to that time. It made me long for you more[?] than ever – sometimes the longing gets almost intolerable. Of course I hate this place & the life, as do all of us but there is nothing to be done but to grin & bear it, knowing that every other prizon[sic] camp is more unpleasant than this. We have had an exceedingly mild winter here so far. Nov was cold & damp – Dec mild. Jan opened with some very low temperatures but was thawing soon after & we[?] have had practically no skating which is quite exceptional. The winter isn’t over yet but we are well into it. Hope you are fighting fit & not doing too much. John

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[reverse of letter]

GEPRUFT 64

MRS U.M. VALENTINE
“LIDO”
TENTERDEN GROVE
HENDON
LONDON, N.W.4
ENGLAND

Sgt. J.R.M. VALENTINE
450

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