Letter from Mervyn Adder to his brother Alex
Title
Letter from Mervyn Adder to his brother Alex
Description
Letter and explanatory note. Written from RAF Bruntingthorpe letting Alex know that he would be home on leave next week. Mentions previous visit home and plans to take time off with Mary in Scarborough. Comments on lack of mail and news from home and need of a clean shirt. Mentions flying last trip that went well and seeing Joe Loss in Leicester. Continues with description of a night out in Leicester where he drank a lot and went to a dance returning at late hour to base.
Creator
Date
1943-09
Temporal Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
Seven page handwritten letter and printed explanatory note
Conforms To
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
SAdderM175073v10067, SAdderM175073v10066
Transcription
Sgt M. Adder
Sgts Mess
RAF Station
Bruntingthorpe
Sunday
Dear Alex,
How’s tricks! This will only be a short letter to let you know that I will be home on leave some time next [inserted] week [/inserted] as we have finished the Course here, and perhaps if I let you know you might like to ‘pop over when I am home. At the moment we are just ‘standing by’ and are rather cheesed off at not being able to get away sooner.
I suppose Mother will have told you that I was over for the weekend again a fortnight ago, it was the usual rush and only stayed Friday night at home as I was away to Doncaster on the Saturday afternoon. Mary and I were hoping to go to
[page break]
Scarborough for a few days of my leave, she has managed to wangle another week off but of course I cannot give her a definite date to ask for and am hoping that they will let her off at short notice. It hardly seems the weather for Scarborough at the moment but if we have a fine day we shall most probably go over [inserted] just [/inserted] for a day, and perhaps look for digs to spend a few days there.
Have you heard from home recently? I haven’t heard since I came back from my ‘48’, a fortnight ago. I have had the weekend papers, one of which was addressed to Bitteswell so perhaps Mother has written there in error. I have written twice, one letter was an SOS for a clean shirt, I have had this one
[page break]
on for a fortnight now, it’s becoming rather high and will most likely drop off very soon.
We did our first ‘ops’ trip last Wednesday night, everything went off O.K and I think we had fairly decent results, this was our last trip and have been hanging about ever since.
Last Monday night I went into Leicester with one of the boys, we went to the Opera House to see Joe Loss who was appearing in the Variety Show there and took a couple of women – nothing to it old boy just feminine company. Joe Loss was on for about forty minutes and we certainly enjoyed it, especially his ‘In The Mood’, ‘Begin the Beguine’ and ‘Jealousy’.
Friday night was the ‘Crew Night Out’
[page break]
and oh boy – what a night!
We hitch hiked into Leicester and went to the YM as soon as we reached there to book beds, as we have slept on the hard horsehair sofa’s [sic] in the billiard room too often to risk having to do it that night. From here we went to the ‘flicks’ & saw a very good musical ‘Hello Frisco Hello’, starring Alice Faye, John Payne, Lynn Beri and Jack Oakie and when this was over left for the nearest pub. It was halfpast [sic] nine then, which left us half an hour to make good and believe me we did ourselves well, managing by a little persuasion and drinks to obtain the individual attention of the barmaid, who was kept busy all the time.
[page break]
I had four Ports, two Rums, a Gin and Lime and numerous beers and felt very merry after it as did we all when the time came to search for amusement. We set off in search of a dance kicking up a hell of a row, couldn’t get in at the Astoria, nor at the Corn Exchange and I think it was about here that we found ourselves in a First Aid Post complaining about not being to get in at the Corn Exchange next door, however we left here after being told that if we couldn’t find a bed anywhere we were quite welcome to stay the night there. We pushed on to the ‘Palais’ and were successful at last, we walked past the S.P’s and everybody at the door and gate crashed a private
[page break]
dance, I think it was a B.T.H. dance. I started dancing with the W.OP but two girls fortunately cut in and we danced the rest of the evening with these two, and saw them home afterwards. They were sisters so that we walked back together, part of the time I was carrying Johnnie on my back and vice versa until we reached the coffee stall where we stopped for hot dogs and met the rest of the boys with a couple of girls in tow. It was time for bed after this so Joe (rear gunner) [deleted] and [/deleted] Gerry (bomb aimer) and I went to our beds at the Y.M while Johnny and Arthur took the girls home, they reached the YM at
[page break]
two o’clock and couldn’t get a bed.
Well Alex I don’t think I have anything else to tell you at the moment and it’s time for dinner so will say cheerio here.
All the Best,
Mervyn
[page break]
[colour head and shoulders photograph of Mervyn in shirt, tie and suit jacket]
Mervyn reported to RAF Bruntingthorpe on 29 June 1943. He complains in this letter that he needs a clean shirt from home. It appears to have got lost in transit! He saw Joe Loss in Leicester on 6 September 1943. His diary says that ‘Jealousy’ was Mary’s favourite tune. The binge night he describes (I can’t believe how much he drank in half an hour!) took place on 10 September 1943. Can’t find a photo of any of the venues he describes but The Corn Exchange is still there.
Sgts Mess
RAF Station
Bruntingthorpe
Sunday
Dear Alex,
How’s tricks! This will only be a short letter to let you know that I will be home on leave some time next [inserted] week [/inserted] as we have finished the Course here, and perhaps if I let you know you might like to ‘pop over when I am home. At the moment we are just ‘standing by’ and are rather cheesed off at not being able to get away sooner.
I suppose Mother will have told you that I was over for the weekend again a fortnight ago, it was the usual rush and only stayed Friday night at home as I was away to Doncaster on the Saturday afternoon. Mary and I were hoping to go to
[page break]
Scarborough for a few days of my leave, she has managed to wangle another week off but of course I cannot give her a definite date to ask for and am hoping that they will let her off at short notice. It hardly seems the weather for Scarborough at the moment but if we have a fine day we shall most probably go over [inserted] just [/inserted] for a day, and perhaps look for digs to spend a few days there.
Have you heard from home recently? I haven’t heard since I came back from my ‘48’, a fortnight ago. I have had the weekend papers, one of which was addressed to Bitteswell so perhaps Mother has written there in error. I have written twice, one letter was an SOS for a clean shirt, I have had this one
[page break]
on for a fortnight now, it’s becoming rather high and will most likely drop off very soon.
We did our first ‘ops’ trip last Wednesday night, everything went off O.K and I think we had fairly decent results, this was our last trip and have been hanging about ever since.
Last Monday night I went into Leicester with one of the boys, we went to the Opera House to see Joe Loss who was appearing in the Variety Show there and took a couple of women – nothing to it old boy just feminine company. Joe Loss was on for about forty minutes and we certainly enjoyed it, especially his ‘In The Mood’, ‘Begin the Beguine’ and ‘Jealousy’.
Friday night was the ‘Crew Night Out’
[page break]
and oh boy – what a night!
We hitch hiked into Leicester and went to the YM as soon as we reached there to book beds, as we have slept on the hard horsehair sofa’s [sic] in the billiard room too often to risk having to do it that night. From here we went to the ‘flicks’ & saw a very good musical ‘Hello Frisco Hello’, starring Alice Faye, John Payne, Lynn Beri and Jack Oakie and when this was over left for the nearest pub. It was halfpast [sic] nine then, which left us half an hour to make good and believe me we did ourselves well, managing by a little persuasion and drinks to obtain the individual attention of the barmaid, who was kept busy all the time.
[page break]
I had four Ports, two Rums, a Gin and Lime and numerous beers and felt very merry after it as did we all when the time came to search for amusement. We set off in search of a dance kicking up a hell of a row, couldn’t get in at the Astoria, nor at the Corn Exchange and I think it was about here that we found ourselves in a First Aid Post complaining about not being to get in at the Corn Exchange next door, however we left here after being told that if we couldn’t find a bed anywhere we were quite welcome to stay the night there. We pushed on to the ‘Palais’ and were successful at last, we walked past the S.P’s and everybody at the door and gate crashed a private
[page break]
dance, I think it was a B.T.H. dance. I started dancing with the W.OP but two girls fortunately cut in and we danced the rest of the evening with these two, and saw them home afterwards. They were sisters so that we walked back together, part of the time I was carrying Johnnie on my back and vice versa until we reached the coffee stall where we stopped for hot dogs and met the rest of the boys with a couple of girls in tow. It was time for bed after this so Joe (rear gunner) [deleted] and [/deleted] Gerry (bomb aimer) and I went to our beds at the Y.M while Johnny and Arthur took the girls home, they reached the YM at
[page break]
two o’clock and couldn’t get a bed.
Well Alex I don’t think I have anything else to tell you at the moment and it’s time for dinner so will say cheerio here.
All the Best,
Mervyn
[page break]
[colour head and shoulders photograph of Mervyn in shirt, tie and suit jacket]
Mervyn reported to RAF Bruntingthorpe on 29 June 1943. He complains in this letter that he needs a clean shirt from home. It appears to have got lost in transit! He saw Joe Loss in Leicester on 6 September 1943. His diary says that ‘Jealousy’ was Mary’s favourite tune. The binge night he describes (I can’t believe how much he drank in half an hour!) took place on 10 September 1943. Can’t find a photo of any of the venues he describes but The Corn Exchange is still there.
Collection
Citation
M Adder, “Letter from Mervyn Adder to his brother Alex,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 19, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/33252.
Item Relations
This item has no relations.