Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Title
Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine
Description
Writes hoping they operate on him whatever the effect on his flying career. Thanks him for money and complains about his poor view of her brother's unwillingness to join up. Continues with gossip and baby news. Concludes with domestic news and that she is concerned over war news of battle in Libya.
Creator
Date
1941-11-26
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Six page handwritten letter
Publisher
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
EValentineUMValentineJRM411126
Transcription
Start of transcription
Lido
Wed. 26.11.41
My darling Johnnie,
I wonder what is happening to you today – probably you are simply waiting about, as usual. Though maybe important things are happening and the next months or even years being decided for us. Anyway, I do hope they operate on you, whatever the effect may be on your flying career, because a thing like that can become really dangerous if neglected too long. All my thoughts and best wishes are with
[page break]
2.
you, my own darling husband.
This morning I received your letter with P.O.’s for 30/- and a tirade on Peter. I can and will deal with the former, for which many thanks, but as to the latter, there is not much I can say. It’s alright for you, you can simply dislike and despise him, and leave it at that. But I can’t however much I may share your feelings about the military service question, because he’s my brother, and while Mother is away I feel I have more than a sister’s duty towards him. So
[page break]
3.
please try not to bring the subject up again, because it only puts me in a most uncomfortable position, which I can do nothing about. It is not [underlined] my [/underlined] duty to urge him to join up, and I’m not going to say anything about it, altho’ of course I should be very pleased if he did.
A parcel arrived yesterday from Auntie Mary containing a pair of socks for you. I have written to thank her and have sent a photo of Frances in her christening gown. I explained that you couldn’t write just now as you were going into
[page break]
4.
hospital, but perhaps you cold drop her a line later.
Frances has blotted her copybook properly over this weighing business. She has gone [underlined] back [/underlined] to 20 lbs this week, from 20 lbs. 3 oz. It may, of course, be her tooth, which is [underlined] almost [/underlined] through. I’m really going to try to take her to a clinic as soon as I can. Yesterday & today I gave her spinach for lunch, & today she really took it quite well, so that’s a minor triumph.
I had already taken your shoe to be repaired. The man didn’t say much but accepted it philosophically.
[page break]
5.
The milkman has let me have 3 pts both yesterday & today, which is very decent of him. He asks me to pay cash for one pint so that he needn’t book it, otherwise the management might reduce his surplus supply, if they say he was letting me have 3 pts.
My WAAF is going on 7-days leave next Monday. She’s married & her husband is with the army in the middle east. I’m getting awfully nervous about this great battle in [deleted] Ly [/deleted] Libya. It’ll certainly be very important if we win it, but I’m afraid we’re suffering heavy casualties.
[page break]
6.
I’m longing to hear from you & to know what they’ve decided to do to and with you, if anything. I do so hope you’ll ring me up if you get an opportunity.
With all my love and best wishes
Yours for always
[underlined] Ursula [/underlined]
Lido
Wed. 26.11.41
My darling Johnnie,
I wonder what is happening to you today – probably you are simply waiting about, as usual. Though maybe important things are happening and the next months or even years being decided for us. Anyway, I do hope they operate on you, whatever the effect may be on your flying career, because a thing like that can become really dangerous if neglected too long. All my thoughts and best wishes are with
[page break]
2.
you, my own darling husband.
This morning I received your letter with P.O.’s for 30/- and a tirade on Peter. I can and will deal with the former, for which many thanks, but as to the latter, there is not much I can say. It’s alright for you, you can simply dislike and despise him, and leave it at that. But I can’t however much I may share your feelings about the military service question, because he’s my brother, and while Mother is away I feel I have more than a sister’s duty towards him. So
[page break]
3.
please try not to bring the subject up again, because it only puts me in a most uncomfortable position, which I can do nothing about. It is not [underlined] my [/underlined] duty to urge him to join up, and I’m not going to say anything about it, altho’ of course I should be very pleased if he did.
A parcel arrived yesterday from Auntie Mary containing a pair of socks for you. I have written to thank her and have sent a photo of Frances in her christening gown. I explained that you couldn’t write just now as you were going into
[page break]
4.
hospital, but perhaps you cold drop her a line later.
Frances has blotted her copybook properly over this weighing business. She has gone [underlined] back [/underlined] to 20 lbs this week, from 20 lbs. 3 oz. It may, of course, be her tooth, which is [underlined] almost [/underlined] through. I’m really going to try to take her to a clinic as soon as I can. Yesterday & today I gave her spinach for lunch, & today she really took it quite well, so that’s a minor triumph.
I had already taken your shoe to be repaired. The man didn’t say much but accepted it philosophically.
[page break]
5.
The milkman has let me have 3 pts both yesterday & today, which is very decent of him. He asks me to pay cash for one pint so that he needn’t book it, otherwise the management might reduce his surplus supply, if they say he was letting me have 3 pts.
My WAAF is going on 7-days leave next Monday. She’s married & her husband is with the army in the middle east. I’m getting awfully nervous about this great battle in [deleted] Ly [/deleted] Libya. It’ll certainly be very important if we win it, but I’m afraid we’re suffering heavy casualties.
[page break]
6.
I’m longing to hear from you & to know what they’ve decided to do to and with you, if anything. I do so hope you’ll ring me up if you get an opportunity.
With all my love and best wishes
Yours for always
[underlined] Ursula [/underlined]
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter from Ursula Valentine to her husband John Valentine ,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed August 26, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19684.
Item Relations
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