Letter from Jack Darby to Jean

Letter from Jack Darby to Jean

He has been kept busy training. The weather has been changeable and he has been doing a lot of walking. Food is good.

1944-05-10

Two double sided handwritten sheets and envelope

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EDarbyCAHWellandJ440510

[postage stamp] [postmark]

[R.A.F. Censor rubber stamp]

[inserted] 11.5.44 [/inserted]

Miss J. Welland,
7. Queens Drive,
Surbiton
Surrey.
England

[Censors date stamp]

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P/O. J. Darby. 154676.
R.A.F. Officers Mess.
Bishopscourt,
Co. Down,
N. Ireland.

10.5.44

Dear Jean,

Here's just a few lines to let you know I'm still in circulation. I hav'nt received any mail from you yet but the censorship is very slow and even our letters are kept hanging about.

We are very busy these last few days, up at 5AM. a disgustingly early hour and not getting to bed till after midnight, this is [underlined] work [/underlined] not any other interest, in fact from what I've seen of Irish girls, well they're pretty ropey, certainly not in the same street

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as English girls.

The country, at least what we've seen of it is quite picturesque, typically Irish with plenty of rain, small fields & farms surrounded by stone walls, little villages. we are some miles from the nearest town and we get tons of walking, in fact a normal day we do at least twelve miles, can tell you I wish I had my bicycle here, would save my legs, you know I've walked so much that when I get back I'll be shorter than you, now won't that please you, be able to bully me right, left and centre.

The weather has been very changeable, quite cold in fact, luckily it has’nt made any difference to our work.

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3/

The mess stills [sic] continues extraordinarily good, this makes this place bearable, we’ve had roast chicken twice and have plenty of fresh fish, expect I shall get a shock when my mess bill is presented but its worth it, you know what care I take in feeding, its one of my many interests in life.

I hope you got the ticket for the tennis balls O.K. apparently we can play as guests here, but we must provide balls so of course nobody is able to play, have you started yet? should think the grass is sufficiently dry now.

We had to go into Belfast the other day for some training, we had

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4/

some time off, and as the locals are open all day – well I’ll leave the rest to your imagination, I was on draught Guinness, boy, I’m so strong now I can nearly tear a telephone directory in half, you better look out when I come home.

Well, will pack up now, take care of yourself, am looking forward to your letter arriving.

All the best,

Yours

Jack