Letter to Joan Wareing from Muriel

E[Author]MWareingJ440821.pdf

Title

Letter to Joan Wareing from Muriel

Description

She writes that she is sorry she was unable to visit her when she was in Scunthorpe but is now back in London. She has been to the Red Cross to obtain information regarding Prisoners of War and to check that they had received Joan’s letter informing them that Bob was missing. She explains what the Red Cross told her regarding notifying them when she hears either from the Air Ministry or Bob himself of his address. She offers to give help in any way she can as she has been in the same position and hopes that Joan will get news very soon.

Date

1944-08-21

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Eight page handwritten letter

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

E[Author]MWareingJ440821

Transcription

“St Denis”
Sandringham Rd
Laindon
[underlined] Essex [/underlined]
[underlined] Monday [/underlined] Aug 21st/44
Dear Joan,
I am back in London once again.
These few lines are just to say how sorry I am that I did not manage to get over to see you before I left Scunthorpe. I told your Mother I would be round to see you on Friday evening, but in the morning I made an appointment to have the ends of my hair permed, the appointment was for 4 pm and I did not get home until 7-45 pm, and by the time I had had tea it was quite late so I put it off until Saturday. Well you know
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
what the weather was like don’t you. I went down the town twice to do some shopping for Mother and got soaked each time, so did not venture out again. Sunday I did not go out of the house, it was a shocking day wasn’t it?
Although I was home for a fortnight I did not find time to visit any of my relations, somehow or other I seemed to be busy doing odd jobs, sewing etc, which I can-not [sic] settle down & do here with those wretched Buss Bombs flying about. I had a good reception on my return here, just as the train was pulling into Kings Cross the old Siren screamed forth, however I soon reached the office and here I am not feeling at all like work, so thought I would scribble these few lines to
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[underlined] 3 [/underlined]
you before attempting to do any. I did not get the opportunity of going to the Red Cross today as I had to be at the office at 1-30 pm, so came straight here from the train. Tomorrow lunch time I will go, until then I will leave this letter open then I can tell you what they say.
Bye-bye until tomorrow must make an effort to do some work now.
[underlined] Tuesday [/underlined]
Well Joan, I have been to the Red Cross, and given all Bob’s particulars again. I told them you had written to them, they then found the the [sic] docket in which your letter was filed. The person told me that she expected you would have received an acknowledgement from them by now. Unfortunately she said she
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[underlined] 4 [/underlined]
could not give me any more information regarding Bob & his crew as time was so very young yet. This person was very nice indeed and asked me to tell you that everything possible was being done to help trace your husband. She said that they do not get the names of the missing men straight away, but it is sometimes two or ever three weeks before the Air Ministry notify them, so with you sending Bobs particulars straight away Joan, it has been very helpful to them, they have been able to get to work much quicker than they otherwise would have done.
If you hear from Bob, before you get any news at all of his safety from either the Red Cross or the “Air Ministry,” will you let the Red Cross know Joan, apparently this quite often happens, or if you have any news from any other source at all they would like you to inform them,
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5
because in the event of him being a “Prisoner of War”, they will want to give you all particulars regarding parcels & letters etc.
You will also be notified if they receive news of any member of Bobs Crew.
I think that is the extent of all they could tell me at present, but I was told that if there was anything at any time you wanted to know, they would be only too pleased to try and help you, and to let me know, then I can go along and see them for you. Oh! one other thing, It usually takes at least six weeks before the Red Cross receive news of any [deleted] Red [/deleted] [inserted] kind [/inserted], so I was asked to tell you that if you do not hear under that time, not to get unduly worried.
Well Joan, I think I have remembered everything I was told. Don’t forget if there is anything at all that I can do for you
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[underlined] 6 [/underlined]
do not hesitate to let me know, and I will do what I can. If by any chance you should want to get in touch with me quickly, my office phone number is “Mansion House” 6533, Extention [sic] 100 but do not ring between 12-50 & 1-50 as I should be at lunch at that time. I thought it would be as well to have my number just in case anything turns up that I could help you with.
I do hope you can decipher this scribble, but I am writing it in the office, so I know you will excuse the scrawl.
Your Mother told me when I saw her on Thursday that your friend Margaret was going to spend a few days with you, it will be nice for you to have company, especially someone who has experienced the same thing. I do not know her, but give her my Best wishes and I do hope she has news of her fiancé very soon. You know how ([indecipherable word]) I feel
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[duplicate page]
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[underlined] 7 [/underlined]
for you both Joan having also experienced the same awful ordeal of waiting, and I feel that I have been so very fortunate. I hope with all my heart Joan that you are as fortunate and hear from Bob as quickly as I did from Jimmie. Although I am sure that Bob is safe somewhere I know it is the ghastly waiting period, but I know you will have faith and keep on hoping, for that is half the battle. All I can do now is hope and pray with you, and I shall be anxiously waiting for news from you telling me of Bobs safety.
Give my Best Wishes to your Mother & Father, I hope they are both feeling better.
Keep your chin up Joan and keep smiling.
Don’t bother to answer this letter just now if you do not feel like it, I shall quite understand, but I will drop you a few lines again in
[page break]
a few days.
Look after yourself Joan for when you hear from Bob you want to be feeling fit so that you can do any running about if necessary.
Now I really must ring off, as I shall be getting the sack for being behind hand with my work. Bye-bye for the present.
Love
[underlined] Muriel [/underlined]
[underlined] PS [/underlined]
Excuse the different colour paper, I ran short of the blue.

Collection

Citation

“Letter to Joan Wareing from Muriel,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 29, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/28152.

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