Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

She writes that she had visitors for tea including his parents who brought some tomatoes and peaches, also a gift for their daughter. She mentions that she will be sending him a book she had ordered called Agriculture, which she hopes will arrive safely. She has been to tea with Mrs Boyd and has been busy tidying up the garden, and managing her vegetables. She writes that she is enjoying spending time with her daughter and is looking forward to the day her husband is brought safely back to her.

1942-09-27

Two page typewritten letter with handwritten addendum

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To Sgt. J.R.M. Valentine,
British P.o.W No. 450,
Stalag Luft III, Germany

From Mrs. J.R.M. Valentine,
Lido, Tenterden Grove,
Hendon, London, N.W. 4.

25

Sunday September 27th 1942

Johnnie my darling,
Yesterday your parents and Ann came to tea. The afternoon passed away very amicably and uneventfully, politics were avoided and you and Frances naturally formed the main subjects of conversation. I showed your people the things I have collected for your next parcel, your father inspected the garden and gave me some tips on pruning roses – he seemed to think our tomatoes are quite good. They also brought some tomatoes and peaches from their garden, and also a thumb spoon and shover for Frances which you had in your youth and furthermore another wee gold bracelet for her to replace the one we lost on the fatal weekend when you were missing. Your Mother will doubtless have told you the news that Irene’s engagement is off, much to their relief I gathered, the man didn’t seem to be at all the right type. Considering that they were to be married the time they got a week’s leave at the same time, sometime before Christmas, it all seems rather sudden. The reason seems to be that the Australian whom Rene met earlier on in the battle and who is now back in his own country proposed to her by cable and so she is engaged to him instead. So it looks as though we shan’t have to worry about wedding presents until after the war!
Frances behaved very well, made a bee line for Grandpa as usual and was really very charming. During tea Grandpa insisted on having her on his knee and feeding her with tomatoe [sic] sandwiches, which as you know is entirely against the rules. I managed to get her away after a while and gave her some bricks to play with instead, and much to my relief and their astonishment, she went quite quietly and played by herself. Ann bathed her for me, and soon afterwards they went home. Ann is coming to spend the weekend with me soon when your people go down to the country, and I hope she will come whenever they go away. I enjoy having her and apparently she likes coming, for Grandpa said there are other places she could go but she said she would rather come to me. So that is very nice.
I have at last got a copy of “Agriculture” for you. It is new, a revised edition only just published, so it should be up to date. Foyle’s sent it to me off their own bat – I had enquired with them for a second-hand copy some time ago, and they seem to have filed my request and sent me one as soon as the new edition arrived. I’ll have to take it back to them to have them send it. I do hope it arrives safely, for it certainly is a solid and informative volume and should keep you busy for a long time. incidentally, this is a grand opportunity for intensive study of the subject. I hope that the correspondence course will have arrived by then too.
Last Wednesday Frances and I went to tea with Mrs. Boyd again. This time we were the only guests, and so it was a quite informal tea-party, I helped Mrs. Boyd to peel apples for preserving and when I went away she gave me a great basket full of cooking apples from her garden, which I haven’t finished coping with yet, there are so many of them. During the winter the vicar intends to get up a discussion group once a fortnight to discuss Temple’s penguin on “Christianity and Social Order” and similar subjects, and I should rather like to go if it can be arranged. I am still trying to get someone to live here, and in fact a woman is due to arrive any second to inspect – and be inspected! I answered an advert. in NS&S, so heaven knows what she will be like! I am not going to have anyone I
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do no care for personally, because that would be too much strain. Next week Barbara is having a few days off, and anyway there haven’t been any more burglaries recently!
I have been tidying up the garden recently, mostly in honour of your people. I’ve taken up the onions, which were not a good crop, being small and not all of them properly dried off. We had rather a lot of rain at the wrong time which made some of them sprout. However, they will be better than nothing and we shall need them this winter. I haven’t moved the carrots yet, I’m using them straight from the ground and we shall probably have finished them by the time the real frosts come, so that will have saved me another job.
I went to see another good film this week, “The Young Mr. Pitt”, with Robert Donat – it was very interesting though my history is too hazy to know whether it is very accurate.
I think Frances is getting more and more like you. The shape of her head and forehead is definitely yours, not mine, and so are her eyes. She inherits your precision in shutting doors too, at least I’m sure you will agree that she doesn’t get it from me so it must come from your side. But on the other hand she loves sucking her flannel in the bath, and that is not one of your vices! Perhaps that is common to all unformed mentalities! Yesterday when your people were here she pointed out your photo very sweetly and when it was given to her she kissed it most lovingly. I wonder just how much she remembers of you?
We have had good news from the influential friend of Saz in America. She enquired about sending you a parcel through the ordinary channels and was told it was possible; so she wrote to the president who is a personal friend of hers and has got some sort of special permit for sending what she wants, so I am fairly hopeful of receiving something from that source. People really are wonderfully kind.
[underlined] After Lunch [/underlined]
The aforementioned advertiser has been and gone, and I don’t think she would be much good for me. She is a young refugee, but not really the right person for me. So I must keep looking.
I don’t seem to have done anything very exciting this week We are going to tea with Catherine Mair this afternoon and afterwards I suppose I shall get on with my sewing which seems to accumulate faster than I can wade through it. I wonder how you are getting on with your darning and mending. You will probably be so expert when you come home that I shall never have to do your mending again! I do hope that you are still as good a boy as when you last reported, that would be grand. I am doing exercises in the morning these days and it is Frances’s delight to “assist” me by getting in the way wherever possible or trying to get past me when I am bending or turning without getting knocked over. In the end the whole thing generally degenerates into a scrimmage and tickling party and a good time is had by all.
I thought Ann was looking very pretty yesterday. Her hair is quite bleached by the sun and more wavy, and she is developing a nice little figure. She was as cheerful and sweet-tempered as ever, and as willing to help. I am looking forward to having her to stay here.
God bless you, my darling, and bring you back safely to me. How I long for the happy day. Frances sends you a big kiss, and so do I.
Yours for always, my dearest, with all my love, Ursula.