Letter to L V Rosser from Johnny Cantrell

ECantrellJRosserLV460117.pdf

Title

Letter to L V Rosser from Johnny Cantrell

Description

Note on envelope 'Johnny Cantrell - deceased 21 Feb 46'. Writes that he had not received to his invitation and then tells a story about spending 12 days at Bari. Continues with news and gossip about the squadron and his activities. Concludes that he is dreading the day he has to go back to 'civvy street' and work.

Creator

Date

1946-01-17

Temporal Coverage

Language

Format

Three page handwritten letter and envelope

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

ECantrellJRosserLV460117

Transcription

[postmark]
HUNTINGDON
11 30 AM
18 JAN
1946
[/postmark]

[postage stamp]

Mr. V. Rosser,
30, Oatlands Rd.,
Oxford

[inserted] Johnny Cantrell – Deceased 21st. Feb. '46 [/inserted]

[page break]

[postmark]
HENLEY-ON-THAMES
10 15 AM
19 JAN 1946
OXON
[/postmark]

[page break]

OFFICERS' MESS,
R.A.F.
GRAVELEY,
HUNTS.

17th Jan 1946.

Dear Vic,

Well how are things going? Have you settled down to work yet or are you like I fear I shall be – ruined by idleness in the air force.

I haven't had a reply to my invitation to a party but there's quite a long story to that. Last time I wrote was on 31/11/45 and on 1/12/45. I s/c Bari and arrived same day. Spent 12 days in that mud swamped, poverty blighted, filthy place and then did a short hop to Pomi.

Once again circumstances were against us and I was quite worried

[page break]

in case you'd accepted my invitation and found me missing. Anyway apparently you didn't. Pomi was honoured with our company over Xmas and the New Year (hence no Xmas card to reciprocate your seasonal greetings). Unfortunately I boobed again and made a fool of myself in front of the C.O. and Squadron Commander so had double cause for delight when we eventually made the return trip on 3/1/46.

We had a pretty ropey Xmas even though I was as p--d as a newt on Xmas eve – we finished up by throwing drinks at one another and crawling back on our

[page break]

hands and knees. New Year was even worse so I won't say any more about it. Anyway I'm back to normal now and today I did a 5 hr X country and landed at the wrong airfield when I came back (Remember what I called you when you landed at Waterbeach – I'm one too)

Anyway Vic I'm dreading the day when I have to go back into civvy st. and work for shillings. I'd stay in but I haven't even got the nerve for that.

Must close now but let's hear from you and make your own suggestion for a re-union.

Yours,
Johnny.

P.S. Ken Holt & Bill Gannie are posted.

Citation

J Cantrell, “Letter to L V Rosser from Johnny Cantrell,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/36608.

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