Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Title
Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula
Description
Writes on about getting nervous of the responsibilities of owning a house and whether she should have stayed with parents and saved money instead. Mention she will be sending his quarterly parcel and writes about Red Cross labels, Concludes with news of daughter's progress and activities
Creator
Date
1943-10-14
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Two 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
EValentineUMValentineJRM431014
Transcription
Start of transcription
To Sgt JRM Valentine
British P/W No 481
Stalag Luft VI via Stalag Luft III
Germany.
[inserted] R 8/12 A 10/12 [/inserted]
[stamp GEPRUFT 25]
From Mrs JRM Valentine
Little Close, Devon Road,
Salcombe, Devon. Tel. Salcombe 229.
October 14th 1943.
My darling Johnnie,
Here we still are, enjoying a pleasant lazy life by the sea, while somebody is presumably doing something about our house, but nobody tells us what. As the moment draws nearer for me to plunge into the responsibilities of a householder, I get more & more nervous, however its got to come sometime It wouldn’t do for Frances & me to stay on here permanently, pleasant as it would be in many ways. I think Mother often finds Frances a bit wearing, specially if she is in one of her devilish moods, & there is of recently more work with us here, altho’ of course I help to do it. Altogether I am very glad I didn’t accept their invitation to live with my parents till you return. I should have saved money but I feel sure it will be wiser to spend the money & have a home ready for you. How I wish I could get a letter from you expressing [underlined] your [/underlined] opinion on all this!
Tomorrow I have to send off your quarterly parcel. I’m terribly sorry that it is a fortnight late in leaving here. The Red Cross sends the labels etc. for the next parcel soon after one parcel has gone, & all the necessary forms & labels for your September parcel were safely tucked away in my desk. I remember looking at them when I packed up my desk & thinking I should surely have got into my new house by Sept 26th (at that time I thought it was to be High House
[page break]
Bromfield) so I left them there. Now I have written to the Red Cross & they have kindly sent me fresh labels, tho’ not of course clothes coupons. However I’ve only spent 3 of Frances’s for sock wool - & she can afford them! Since you so sternly forbid me to send unasked for things, I am sending 2 pairs of long stockings, the usual toilet requisites, a khaki hold-all to hang on the wall & hold some of your belongings (I feel sure you will find this useful) & as much chocolate as I can muster, with our love. Your people have procured a tin teapot & plate for you, but tell me they have already sent it off, how I don’t understand, but I hope they arrive safely.
Frances has learnt to blow her nose! You probably don’t realise how great a triumph this is, but it will certainly make things easier for me. The other day we passed some sailors who called out to her “Hello Ginger”. Frances turned to me indignantly “T’isn’t Ginger, its Frances” she said. She won’t be called Baby either, & if she cries I call her Baby & she sniffs & says “T’isn’t Baby, its girl”. Her tears, when she falls down & hurts herself, which frequently happens, are very soon over. We have been having really glorious weather & almost every afternoon Frances & I go down to the beach, & I knit & read while she bathes & paddles & digs. I have just finished reading Arthur Bryant’s “the Years of Endurance”, a history of the first part of the Napoleonic Wars which provides many striking parallels with this battle. I’m sending you a photo of Michael Bowack which Vera sent me last week. He is the gent on the left, about to fall over backwards. I recently met Sybil Graham & her husband here, do you remember meeting them once at Brent Bridge when we were dancing there? All my love to you darling, keep busy & well & [underlined] do [/underlined] come home soon! Yours for always, Ursula
To Sgt JRM Valentine
British P/W No 481
Stalag Luft VI via Stalag Luft III
Germany.
[inserted] R 8/12 A 10/12 [/inserted]
[stamp GEPRUFT 25]
From Mrs JRM Valentine
Little Close, Devon Road,
Salcombe, Devon. Tel. Salcombe 229.
October 14th 1943.
My darling Johnnie,
Here we still are, enjoying a pleasant lazy life by the sea, while somebody is presumably doing something about our house, but nobody tells us what. As the moment draws nearer for me to plunge into the responsibilities of a householder, I get more & more nervous, however its got to come sometime It wouldn’t do for Frances & me to stay on here permanently, pleasant as it would be in many ways. I think Mother often finds Frances a bit wearing, specially if she is in one of her devilish moods, & there is of recently more work with us here, altho’ of course I help to do it. Altogether I am very glad I didn’t accept their invitation to live with my parents till you return. I should have saved money but I feel sure it will be wiser to spend the money & have a home ready for you. How I wish I could get a letter from you expressing [underlined] your [/underlined] opinion on all this!
Tomorrow I have to send off your quarterly parcel. I’m terribly sorry that it is a fortnight late in leaving here. The Red Cross sends the labels etc. for the next parcel soon after one parcel has gone, & all the necessary forms & labels for your September parcel were safely tucked away in my desk. I remember looking at them when I packed up my desk & thinking I should surely have got into my new house by Sept 26th (at that time I thought it was to be High House
[page break]
Bromfield) so I left them there. Now I have written to the Red Cross & they have kindly sent me fresh labels, tho’ not of course clothes coupons. However I’ve only spent 3 of Frances’s for sock wool - & she can afford them! Since you so sternly forbid me to send unasked for things, I am sending 2 pairs of long stockings, the usual toilet requisites, a khaki hold-all to hang on the wall & hold some of your belongings (I feel sure you will find this useful) & as much chocolate as I can muster, with our love. Your people have procured a tin teapot & plate for you, but tell me they have already sent it off, how I don’t understand, but I hope they arrive safely.
Frances has learnt to blow her nose! You probably don’t realise how great a triumph this is, but it will certainly make things easier for me. The other day we passed some sailors who called out to her “Hello Ginger”. Frances turned to me indignantly “T’isn’t Ginger, its Frances” she said. She won’t be called Baby either, & if she cries I call her Baby & she sniffs & says “T’isn’t Baby, its girl”. Her tears, when she falls down & hurts herself, which frequently happens, are very soon over. We have been having really glorious weather & almost every afternoon Frances & I go down to the beach, & I knit & read while she bathes & paddles & digs. I have just finished reading Arthur Bryant’s “the Years of Endurance”, a history of the first part of the Napoleonic Wars which provides many striking parallels with this battle. I’m sending you a photo of Michael Bowack which Vera sent me last week. He is the gent on the left, about to fall over backwards. I recently met Sybil Graham & her husband here, do you remember meeting them once at Brent Bridge when we were dancing there? All my love to you darling, keep busy & well & [underlined] do [/underlined] come home soon! Yours for always, Ursula
Collection
Citation
Ursula Valentine, “Letter to prisoner of war John Valentine from his wife Ursula,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/20064.
Item Relations
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