Letter from Terry Ford to his family

Letter from Terry Ford to his family

Terry Ford writes about flying, the cold weather, the sociable nature of the Canadians,

1942-11-10

Two handwritten sheets

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EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421110-0001,
EFordTAFordAG-[Mrs]-Y-M421110-0002

MR & MRS A. G. FORD,
26 CORONATION AVENUE,
FISHPONDS,
BRISTOL
ENGLAND

1585520 LAC FORD, T.A.
A2 Flight 67 Course
35 EFTS,
Neepawa
Manitoba
Canada

10-11-42.

Dear Mum, Dad, Yvonne & Moira,

I have now been here a fortnight & have soloed O.K. & am getting in more solo hours. However the standard is still very high & there is a chance of being washed out any time.

It is now well below freezing point & the ground has been covered with snow for some time. We spent last weekend in Winnipeg, & had a very good time. The people are remarkably hospitable & all the flight were put up & fed at private houses. I bought a watch & fountain pen, & also an electric razor, as my skin gets very sore shaving with an ordinary razor. I went to see an American rugger match, Dad, but it is not nearly as entertaining as our rugger, as it is much less open & much more restricted. Winnipeg is a very nice town, much more open & spacious than England towns & the illuminations beat anything I’ve ever seen.

I’ve got into touch with Don who is stationed about 200 miles away, & he is going to try to get to Winnipeg on my next 48 hour leave. I should certainly like to see him.

Neepawa is quite a pleasant village although it is marked on the map as a large town. Cliff Freeman, Dicky Douse & myself sometimes go to see a film show there. In Winnipeg when troops are travelling

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(cont.)
and stop at the town for an hour or so, the people take a band, & girls down to the station & have a dance there. There is also an Airman’s Club, run for us & lots of College girls go there to dance with us.

The news in Africa is grand isn’t it. I can see the length of the war being shortened at last.

We have a cinema here in camp & we get quite good films.

This part of Canada seems to be very similar to U.S.A. & there are quite a few Americans about. In fact the people I was staying with are American.

I’ve had letters from John Fisher, who is at Detroit, & Pete Lamb. Pete has sent me some photographs taken at Moncton.

I hope you are all well & happy, & I shall look forward to hearing from you soon.

Please give my best wishes to everyone, especially Jack, & maybe when I am trained we can get in the same crew.

Love
Terry

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