Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Acknowledges receipt of his postcard number 5 and is worried about his health. Asks if he has received Red cross parcels yet and mentions parcels of cigarettes and tobacco she has sent. States her plan to send him agricultural books for study. Continues with domestic chat of weather and house painting.

1942-08-01

Two sided type and handwritten letter card

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.

EValentineUMValentineJRM420801

Start of transcription

WRITE [underlined] VERY CLEARLY [/underlined] ON THE LINES TO AVOID DELAY IN CENSORSHIP

24/8

No. 11 DATE 1st August 1942

Darling Johnnie,

I received today your postcard No. 5, in which you say you are not feeling too fit yet. This is a bit worrying, because the last letter said you were feeling fine, but letters 3 and 4 have not arrived yet, so perhaps they could explain. Anyway I do hope you are feeling quite alright again now. I am so sorry too that you are not eating half so much as usual, have you received any Red Cross parcels yet? Unfortunately there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I have sent off a parcel of tobacco and cigarettes today - your Father said he was going to look after that side of it, so I will see what is being done. We have [inserted] been [/inserted] waiting all this time for your p-o-w number, but as it doesn’t seem to be forthcoming I have now arranged for your agriculture course and textbooks to be dispatched to you, and hope they will get through eventually. How I long to be able to do something more for you, but I can only write to you and be patient. The weather is grand now and Frances wears a wee cotton sunsuit all day. This afternoon I gave her an icecream [sic] cornet and she had a blissfully sticky time with it! I have now got an estimate for painting the outside of the house, and the back bedroom, and walls and ceiling in our room - £34. It doesn’t seem too exorbitant to me, but the work probably won’t get done till the spring. I shall accept the estimate anyway, because it needs doing. Then it will be all spick and span when you and my parents come home. Frances & I have been left in charge of John Neal’s rabbit, while he is away, & have to go in twice a day & feed the brute.

CONTINUE IN BOTTOM PANEL OVERLEAF

[page break]

[underlined] IMPORTANT [/underlined] FOR A PRISONER IN GERMAN HANDS THE PRISONER OF WAR No. MUST BE CLEARLY SHOWN. IT MUST NOT BE CONFUSED WITH HIS BRITISH SERVICE No.
[underlined] PRISONER OF WAR POST [/underlined]

KRIEGSGEFANGENENPOST

SERVICE DES PRISONIERS DE GUERRE

AIR MAIL

PAR AVION

[postmark] [postage stamp]

RANK & NAME: Sergeant VALENTINE J.R.M. No 1251404

(SURNAME IN BLOCK LETTERS) British Prisoner of War

PRISONER OF WAR No.: not yet allotted

[censor passed stamp]

CAMP NAME & No.: STALAG LUFT III

(INCLUDING SUBSIDIARY NUMBERING OR LETTERING IF ANY - E.G. WORKING CAMP)

COUNTRY: GERMANY

FROM (SENDER’S FULL NAME & ADDRESS)

Mrs J.R.M. VALENTINE

Lido,

Tenterden Grove,

Hendon, London.

[underlined] BOTTOM PANEL [/underlined]

The first day I let him out for a run & had an awful time catching him. Frances wasn’t a bit afraid, tho Jill Lloyd was, & stroked him & pulled his ears with complete sangfroid! She isn’t afraid of anything & I have to keep a sharp lookout that she doesn’t get into real danger. We both send you all our love. I have a vase of lovely red roses (from Keal’s garden!) By your photo. Yours always darling. Ursula.