Letter from Donald Baker to his mother

Letter from Donald Baker to his mother

Apologizes for being gloomy in his last letter. Mentions that there had been talk of sending long standing prisoners to neutral countries but does not think much chance as many had been there for over 3 years. Comments that no mail had arrived from her and there must be some holdup but mail was arriving from other parts of world. Mentions snow and brewing raisons and drinking result but only once as raisons were too good a food source to use for this more than once.

1943-11-28

Handwritten prisoner of war letter form

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SBakerDA19210428v20134

[date stamp]
[inserted] Recd 15 Feby [/inserted]
[underlined] Kreigsgefangenenpost [/underlined]
[inserted] MIT LUFTPOST [underlined] AB KAIRO [/underlined] [inserted]
[five ink stamps]
[date stamp]
MRS. C. BAKER
CHARLTON
Empfangsort: INYAZURA
Strasse: SOUTHERN
Kreis: RHODESIA
Land: SOUTH AFRICA
Gebührenfrei!
Absender:
Vor- und Zuname: F/O DONALD ARTHUR BAKER
Gefangenennummer: 665
Lager Bezeichnung: M.-Stammlager Luft 3
[underlined] Deutschland (Germany) [/underlined]
[page break]
28.11.1943.
My Dearest Mother, Since my last letter I expect you have been rather worried about me as it must have seemed rather bitter. I am sorry I wrote that way but I must have been in a rather gloomy mood & its very hard not to feel that way occasionally. There has been a lot of talk about sending prisoners of long standing to neutral countries but I shouldn’t think Ant or I stand any chance at all as there are so many who have been prisoners for over 3 years. It is high time that something really got organised for the older ones as they are beginning to look pretty worn out & tired. Still no mail from you (nearly 2 months) but it must definitely be a hold up on the S. African side as mail has been coming through fairly regularly from other parts of the world. George Halles (Carmichaels brother in law) has had about a dozen letters from S. Africa in the past year so I should not complain. It is getting steadily colder, but not permanent snow has fallen yet. We are thinking of “brewing” the raisins weve [sic] saved, for a Xmas “binge up.” The idea seems to be to get “blotto,” which sounds pretty bad but it will probably be the one & only time we get cheery, & raisins are too good as food value to afford brewing again. A few bottles of Dad’s “dop” would probably put us all under table. Cheerhio [sic] for now dear mother. Im [sic] always thinking of home & seeing you all again. Yr [sic] loving son
Donald