Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula

Thanks him for recent letters and mentions raining medical supplies issues with Red Cross headquarters. Glad he has joined church choir and decided to study English literature. Discuses other potential study and lack of mail from his family. She goes on to cover other points he raised in his letters and then catches up with news and activities of friends and family. Mentions daughter Frances going missing and search by neighbours until she was found sitting in a garage office drinking milk. Concludes with other news including that Frances had been in contact with case of measles.

1942-10-10

Two page typewritten letter

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.

EValentineUMValentineJRM421010

To Sergeant J.R.M. Valentine
British Prisoner of War No. 450,
Stalag Luft III, Germany.
28

From Mrs. J.R.M. Valentine,
Lido, Tenterden Grove,
London, N.W. 4.
Saturday 10th Octo

R&A 11/11/42

My darling Johnnie,

Your letter of 3rd and postcard of 6th September gratefully received. They were both cheerful in tone and made me feel happy. As regards the medical supplies you ask for, I went up to the Red Cross Headquarters today to enquire and was told that no more invalid food parcels can be sent to individuals, but was put in touch with the medical department. Unfortunately they had all gone home, as it was getting on for lunchtime on Saturday, but I have written to the lady in charge and will enclose your letter and hope that she may be able to do something, I am very glad to hear that you are in the church choir. You have a decent voice, and anyway signing in unison is such fun. I am glad you have decided to do English Literature instead of shorthand. I don't think you would have had much use for the latter, and a sound knowledge of literature is always an acquisition. Really I am getting quite jealous of you and all your new-found accomplishments, it is making me feel that I must take up something new, when I already haven't enough time to get through the things I have on hand! I hope your agricultural papers will have arrived by now. I'm glad you can borrow a copy of the textbook in the meantime, though I have now bought a new copy which ought to reach you in due course and which will be nice to add to our library as a book of reference. The next point in your letter is the paucity of mail from your people. I don't think you have offended them, I don't see how you could have. Your Mother and Ann have now taken to writing regularly - I think it was the summer holiday which interfered with it before. I was under the impression that your father was writing regularly all along and don't know why you haven't received more. I hardly like to catechize him on the subject. Your father did write to me when you were shot down, an encouraging sort of letter telling me to keep my pecker up and all would come right - and so it did! He offered financial assistance etc, but of course nothing like that was necessary. Bunty and Stewart wrote too, and Leslie's was the nicest letter of all.

You say I may expect you home for my 28th birthday. Right, I will, and mind you don't be late! I do hope you will be able to send me the photo you say has been taken, in time for my next birthday. Don't let any vain pride, because the photo isn't good-looking enough, prevent you!

Now to answer the points on your p.c. There was no photo enclosed in my No. 7 - you really can't expect one [underlined] every [/underlined] time! So glad you have got your own fiddle and are making satisfactory progress. Frances's hair is quite unchanged in colour, when it is just brushed and catches the sunlight it is really a glorious sight. It is getting longer and curlier now and sometimes looks very pretty indeed. I'll work out my chess move when I've had more time to think it over.

Ann is staying here this weekend. She came over on Friday evening and stays till Monday morning. This afternoon we have been to a special concert at the Nat.Gallery, the third birthday concert. We went up to town good and early, first to the Red Cross, and then to queue up for the concert, which was absolutely packed out. We were there early enough to get decent seats and took our own sandwich lunch. It turns out to be the first time Ann has been to a concert, and I believe she was thrilled. It was a long and varied programme, not quite what I should have chosen for her, as some of it was rather modern, but she seemed to

Just picked the remaining green tomatoes - 12lbs of them, making about 18 lbs in all from the 12 plants (2 died)

[page break]

enjoy it all, the crowds, the players, the instruments and the music, and thanked me most enthusiastically. We looked at the exhibition of paintings first, and had quite a good time. Barbara was looking after Frances all this time of course, although she had been on late duty, and she and Ann have now both retired to bed. Ann is certainly easy to entertain, she is so unspoilt and appreciative, but I think it is time she went out a bit more, at her age, and I shall try to take her to something whenever she comes to stay with me.

Last Wednesday was about the most awful day I have spent since I knew you were safe. Frances ran away from home! Choosing a moment when I thought she was with Florence upstairs and Florence thought she was with me in the garden, and when the front door had somehow been left ajar, she calmly took her yellow beret and walked out. She must have been gone a few minutes before I came in and missed her; then of course I dashed out in search of her, which was made the more difficult by a swirling mist; I went down to Finchley Lane first but she was nowhere in sight so then I went back up the Grove and met Mr. Moss who joined in the chase; then back up to the Quadrant and to the police station to see if she had been found and taken there, but no, and then a bobby on a bike joined in; I met Mrs. Greenish and Helen and Mrs. Regan and they all started searching. I was getting really desperate by this time, not knowing who could have taken her in, when Mrs. Greenish ran her to earth in Hill's Garage, sitting up on a stool in the office drinking cups of milk! She was perfectly good-humoured and thoroughly enjoying herself, of course, and I was so over come when I got her back that I couldn't even scold her, let alone spank her - not that it would have done any good anyway. I took me nearly an hour to pull myself together enough to get on with my washing! But imagine it, at the ripe age of 17 months! What she will do when she is old enough to think out escapades, I dread to think. The thought of her crossing Finchley Lane on her own still sends cold shivers down my spine.

In the afternoon we pulled ourselves together sufficiently to go to tea with Mrs. Boyd and enjoyed ourselves as usual. But now there is another trouble looming up, which I sincerely hope will come to nothing. I have discovered to my horror that Frances has been in contact with a case of measles. It was out of doors, luckily, and 8-year-old neice of Clare's, who played with Frances a bit while we were out for a walk, and then developed measles the next day. Bethune says there is nothing to be done about it, so I am just praying that her natural good health will carry her through. By this time next week I ought to know the worst. Unfortunately she has got a bit of a cold, from those that Barbara and I had I suppose, so I am trying hard to cure that and get her on top of her form again. She is full of beans as ever and eating lots, so the cold hasn't pulled her down much.

Sunday 11th Oct.

(Frances 18 months old)

s regards the 1st chess game, you moved PxP(Q5). I take this to mean PxP(K5) since you haven't yet moved your King's pawn which could have taken my Queen's pawn. On this assumption, my 3rd move is P-KB3. I must say I think this method of describing the moves is open to grave objection!

Had a letter from the squadron yesterday about the £5.10.0 As I thought he regrets that this must be presumed lost (except £3.0.0 which was credited to you) and points out that aircrew are not guiltless since money ought to be deposited with the Adjutant or something. Pity. A dividend from Aspros has come too, to the tune of 11.3d which I have put in our joint account. My allowance has now gone up 1/- a week, increase on child's pay.

With all my love to you, my dearest,
Yours always,
Ursula.