Letter from David Boldy to his father

EBoldyDABoldyAD410207.pdf

Title

Letter from David Boldy to his father

Description

Letter from Leading Aircraftsman David Boldy to his father about waiting for a posting while at Wynberg Military Camp. He has now re-mustered to air gunner, and wants to apply for pilot. He has bought gifts from Oudtshoorn for his father, mother and Steve. He has made many friends and been out for dances. He is taking lots of photographs.

Creator

Date

1941-02-07

Temporal Coverage

Coverage

Language

Format

Four 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

EBoldyDABoldyAD410207

Transcription

[RAF crest]
[deleted] 45 Air School, [/deleted]
[deleted] Oudtshoon, [/deleted]
[deleted] South Africa. [/deleted]

Cape Town.
7/2/41.

My darling Dad,
At the present moment we are in Cape Town awaiting posting. There was a slight hitch somewhere. We were supposed to go somewhere but it all fell through so we are here for the moment. I have remustered [deleted] [indecipherable] [/deleted] [inserted] as [/inserted] an air gunner as I couldn’t manage the navigation. I was never really happy sitting at a desk and working out a lot of stuff. You know my nature was never one which allowed of sitting down & working out things at great length. As a matter of fact if we go home I am going to apply for remuster as a pilot, failing which I shall be quite happy as an air gunner especially in view of the fact that I like shooting so much. The only disadvantage is that one has to go back to 2/6 a day. However it is only for a short time & once you finish the course you get [indecipherable] good pay again.
Everyone thinks I should make a very good gunner. My navigation instructors last words to me were “please shoot down the first Meschersmit [sic] [deleted] to [/deleted] [deleted] for [/deleted] to me.” Thanks for the money it has come in very useful in view of the fact that I am now getting 2/6 a day. I sent you a present a wallet made from ostrich skin. They are quite valuable & I thought it would be a good [indecipherable word] as Oudtshoorn is famous for ostrich. I hope you like it. I have bought
[page break]
one for Steve. For Mum I bought a leather key holder with a map of South Africa stamped on it & some quite expensive silk stockings which should come in useful.
Now don’t be worried if at any time you don’t hear from me. You will know I have gone on somewhere. I shall cable as soon as I arrive at any particular destination & give you the address.
I have taken any number of photographs lately, mostly landscape while the train was moving. I have also taken a number here in Cape Town some of them are jolly good. Actually I had 56 snaps developed, and I still have several spools to be done. It costs a lot of money but it is worth it as it is a permanent record of my stay in this country. Also it is interesting for you & Mum. I hope you liked the second lot I sent you. I shall send you some more very shortly as soon as I have had some more developed.
We are having a smashing time here. It’s the first time we are really having a fling. Mind you despite petty irritations we have always been very happy. My friend at Torquay, Ajan who came here on the second course has also remustered as an air gunner. Several chaps have remustered. At the moment we are at Wynberg Military Camp. There is a fine canteen here, where all the work is done voluntarily by women. They are damn decent and work terrifically hard. One of them has been a real brick & introduced us to any number of very nice girls all damn pretty too. We have swum twice at a swimming pool in a private house & then to several parties. The other night [deleted] I [/deleted] two of us went to a party. It was a wedding anniversary celebration. The husband
[page break]
is up north. We had a real party, champagne etc. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We went to a place called the blue moon [sic] where there is dancing till about 2 o’clock. You take your own drinks. It was the first time for six months that I got anywhere nearly pickled. Mind you it doesn’t how much I drink I can still always behave myself. It was my job to cheer the girl up as she was feeling somewhat blue. [indecipherable words] A few nights ago we went to a house & had dinner. Half the party then went to the blue moon [sic]. I stayed behind & we danced at home so to speak. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a very nice girl there called Shirley. She is rather spoilt but otherwise she is O.K. I am seeing her to-day at 5.30. Both Shirley & her sister – the latter is one of the nicest sweetest girls I have ever met – do secretarial work at their father’s farm. Shirley is picking me up in her car & I am going to watch her do her work. We are then going bathing at a sea side resort a few miles out. The bathing is lovely there. After that she is taking me home to supper & the two of us will then dance. I hope all this sort of stuff doesn’t bore you Dad as it is quite a long rigamarole. Anyway you will be glad to know
[page break]
I am really enjoying myself.
Nearly everybody here has been jolly decent to us. The day after we arrived here a couple of us rang up a girl we met at Oudtshoorn & she took us home to dinner. We drove all round & I took some snaps of the Rhodes Memorial etc. We then went dancing to the blue moon [sic]. Another night a gentleman stopped in the street in his car, took us to a place called the Delmonico & gave us some drinks & then something to eat. It was damn decent of him. Last night we had a quiet party at a lady’s house. No frolics just a nice quiet evening at home. They gave us a good dinner & lots of beer & were awfully decent altogether.
You can have no conception what the scenery is like here. It is a revellation [sic] as you will see from the photographs I shall send in a day or so. There are still a few places I should like to photograph. Places of interest both historic & social. My camera is doing fine now.
It was a pity my not getting through the navigation course but I said right at the beginning that I was just temperamentally unsuited for the job. It is no good if you are not really happy at. I like the idea of air gunning. You will be hearing about me shortly in that respect!
No more today. Look after yourself. God bless you.
Lots of love from
Your loving son
[underlined] Dave. [/underlined]




Collection

Citation

David Boldy, “Letter from David Boldy to his father,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/507.

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