Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula

Number 32. Writes of arrival of book parcel and asks her to track down sender and thank them. Mentions his sense of taste return briefly and describes relations with fellow Dutch prisoners. Still vague news of a move.

Two page handwritten letter

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EValentineJRMValentineUM430506

NUMBER 32
6th May 1943
My Dearest Ursula: I have little news tonight for you. A book parcel arrived yesterday from the Christine Knowles organisation. I don’t know who the actual donor is & the books were an odd selection, they comprised “Oliver Twist, a manual on “Fortune Telling by Cards”; The Little Bible – a publication of the Oxford University Press of extracts from the bible; & a tract Booklet “Of Comfort for those in Captivity”. – a pocket set of dominoes was included. If you know the sender, would you offer my thanks The weather has been quite nice here recently but a cold wind has made the sunshine less pleasant than it otherwise might have been. Today, however has been really lovely & for a glorious 15 minutes my sense of taste returned & I hurriedly demolished part of a bar of chocolate which I had been saving for such an occasion. The lucid interval was unhappily of a fleeting nature & I am now back to my usual state. When one lives so intimately with people whose company is not of our own choosing, it is incredible how one can work up an intense dislike of someone else. A case in point is one of the Dutchmen in my room, Mike Loos. I simply don’t like him but, as he is always with me, there are times when I find it difficult to conceal my animosity. He is utterly selfish, mean & at times exceedingly bad tempered – especially when he awakes. Every morning he is like a bear with a sore head & the other 3 of us in the room are afraid to do anything that might provoke a crisis. There was one once, when after a battle of words Mike & Louis Den Boer – one of the others – came to blows in real earnest. Hans & Louis share my opinion of Mike & we three get on well together. Having had plenty of time to study my roommates I like Louis best although Hans has some very good points. However, as far as Mike is concerned it is a case of smothering ones real feelings & showing always a false face of friendship although it is incredibly difficult at times, & as time goes on it becomes more so. Was ever ones patience & tact tried more than here? News of any move from here is vague but my opinion is that we [underlined] shall [/underlined] move but not for some months yet. I am particularly keen to hear how many of my letters get through & I hope you will tell me in each letter. As far as yours are concerned I have Nos 1 -51 & 56. Keep yourself & Frances well & cheerful. Ever yours, with love
John
[page break]
90
[underlined] Kriegsgefangenenpost [/underlined]
[stamp]
An MRS U M. VALENTINE
LIDO
Emfangsort: TENTERDEN GROVE
Strasse: HENDON
Kreis: LONDON NW4
Land: ENGLAND
[stamp]
Absender:
Vor- und Zuname: Sgt John Valentine
Gefangenennummer: 450
Lager-Bezeichnung: M.-Stammlager Lufte 3
Deutschland (Germany)