Letter from Ernest Tansley to his brother Albert's wife Dolly

Letter from Ernest Tansley to his brother Albert's wife Dolly

Thanks her for letter and comments on how lucky she is to have his brother as husband. Mentions he would be leaving current location soon and has only a little night flying to finish. Writes he will be happy to get home as he has been away so long. Says he asked for Coastal Command flying boats.

1942-08-23

Two page letter and envelope

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.

ETansleyEHTansleyD420823

[post mark]

Mrs A. E. Tansley,
41 Claxton St.,
Landport
Portsmouth
Hants.
England.

[page break]

OPENED BY EXAMINER 5232

A/C Tansley. E. H.
42 H.
Moody Fld.
Valdosta
GA., U.S.A.

[page break]

[U.S.ARMY AIR CORPS crest]

Aug 23rd Sunday.

Dear Dolly,

Thanks a lot for your letter. I'd have written to you before if I had known where you lived; thought perhaps you were living in a tent or something.

There's one question you put right at the bottom of the page and its the most important. “What do I think of your sailor?” Do I have to tell you how lucky you are: you picked the best of the bunch & no mistake. He is certainly looking well & I hope you are too. I don't blame you a bit for enjoying yourself while you can; life is short enough anyway.

It certainly took a war to make Albert do the “High Spots” though; how is he at the “Rumba”?

Will be leaving this place in [indecipherable words] thank the lord; these last few weeks seem to drag terribly.

I have one turn more of night flying to do, to finish the course. Should do that Monday, providing the weather is O.K. It's rather treacherous here, thunderstorms spring up so suddenly. So far I have been very lucky, many have not.

I am certainly looking forward to

[page break]

Seeing you all again. In fact that's all I do look forward to now. It will be simply grand. I can't tell you how [indecipherable word] I have felt being over here all this time. It's seemed simply ages.

I have asked to go on Coastal Command Flying Boats, want to see if I can help to protect Albert a bit, he seems to need it. I'd like to watch over his little old tub.

Tell Albert I am sending him some books. Here's to the next time and may it be soon.

Take care of yourselves

Love

Arnie.