Letter to Mrs E Peadon
Title
Letter to Mrs E Peadon
Description
The letter is to Alec Peadon's mother confirming that her son is missing in action.
Creator
Date
1943-09-01
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
One typed 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
ELawrenceGPeadonE430901
Transcription
No. 78 Squadron,
Royal Air Force,
Breighton.
nr. Selby.
Yorkshire.
1st September, 1943.
Dear Mrs. Peadon,
It is with the very deepest feelings of sorrow that I have to confirm my telegram telling you that your son Sgt. Alec Henry Peadon, failed to return from the raid on the Rhineland on the night of 30/31st August. I am afraid that there is absolutely no information I can give you as no signal was received after the aircraft took off and none of the other crews operating that night had anything to report.
It is quite possible of course, that he and the other members of the crew landed safely on enemy territory, and are now prisoners of war, which we sincerely hope is the case, but nothing definite is known at the moment. You may be assured that I will let you know at once should any news come through. If you hear anything before we do, as sometimes happens, we should be very grateful if you would let us know immediately.
Your son’s going has left a ad [sic] gap not only in the work of the Squadron where his enthusiasm for his work made him one of our most promising Air Bombers, but also in the Sergeant’s Mess, where he had found many true friends. We all realise that nothing we can say can do anything to relieve the grief and anxiety this news must cause, but we should like you to know that we share these feelings. I trust that you will accept this letter as a sincere expression of the grief we all feel for you in your loss.
If there is anything I can do to help, I trust that you will let me know without hesitation. I feel that you might like to know the names of those who were with your son on the night in question and enclose a list giving their names and next of kin.
Yours sincerely,
[signature]
Wing Commander, Commanding,
[underlined] No. 78 Squadron. R.A.F. [/underlined]
Mrs. E. Peadon,
56, Lake View Road,
[underlined] LINCOLN. [/underlined]
Royal Air Force,
Breighton.
nr. Selby.
Yorkshire.
1st September, 1943.
Dear Mrs. Peadon,
It is with the very deepest feelings of sorrow that I have to confirm my telegram telling you that your son Sgt. Alec Henry Peadon, failed to return from the raid on the Rhineland on the night of 30/31st August. I am afraid that there is absolutely no information I can give you as no signal was received after the aircraft took off and none of the other crews operating that night had anything to report.
It is quite possible of course, that he and the other members of the crew landed safely on enemy territory, and are now prisoners of war, which we sincerely hope is the case, but nothing definite is known at the moment. You may be assured that I will let you know at once should any news come through. If you hear anything before we do, as sometimes happens, we should be very grateful if you would let us know immediately.
Your son’s going has left a ad [sic] gap not only in the work of the Squadron where his enthusiasm for his work made him one of our most promising Air Bombers, but also in the Sergeant’s Mess, where he had found many true friends. We all realise that nothing we can say can do anything to relieve the grief and anxiety this news must cause, but we should like you to know that we share these feelings. I trust that you will accept this letter as a sincere expression of the grief we all feel for you in your loss.
If there is anything I can do to help, I trust that you will let me know without hesitation. I feel that you might like to know the names of those who were with your son on the night in question and enclose a list giving their names and next of kin.
Yours sincerely,
[signature]
Wing Commander, Commanding,
[underlined] No. 78 Squadron. R.A.F. [/underlined]
Mrs. E. Peadon,
56, Lake View Road,
[underlined] LINCOLN. [/underlined]
Collection
Citation
Wing Commander 78 Squadron, “Letter to Mrs E Peadon,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed June 20, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/26048.
Item Relations
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