Letter from David Boldy to his father

Letter from David Boldy to his father

Letter from sergeant David Boldy to his father about leaving East London and CapeTown and his journey thus far. He was upset to leave his girlfriend Babe.

1941-06-07

Three page handwritten letter

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928995 Sgt D.A. Boldy.
R.A.F.
7th June, 1941.

My darling Dad,

Thanks awfully for your letter which I received about two days before we sailed. It was sent on to Cape town from East London.

I hope you didn’t mind my cabling you to send Shirley Versfeld three pounds. We were all pretty short of cash as we had so many things to buy so I borrowed £3 from Shirley who was damn decent about it & wanted to let me have some more. If you remember she was the girl I was friendly with when I was in Cape Town for three weeks some time ago. I think I sent you a photograph of her.

It will be lovely seeing Mum & Steve again it’s a shame you won’t be with us. As you see I am homeward bound so I will not be able to cable you for your birthday. This letter may get you [sic] in time with luck. Many happy returns of the day Dad. God bless you. I shall send you a nice present as soon as we get home.

It is a nice feeling going home, but I must admit I was terribly sorry to leave S. Africa. The people were really good to us it is a damn fine country. I was very upset at having to leave Babe, she

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is the girl I am in love with. Any way we had a lovely time together but the parting was rotten. I bought her a little pair of gold R.A.F. wings. It was a beautifully finished job & she [deleted] was [/deleted] thought them terrific. We have a lot of nice things to remember. I shall definitely try & return to S. Africa after the war.

We had about ten days in [deleted] East London [/deleted] Cape Town after leaving East London. Ajan my pal, & I had an enjoyable but quiet time for a change. The last time we were there it was one long party. However it was different this time, I missed Babe a lot so didn’t go out much, accompanied that is. We usually went to a flick or had a few drinks. A girl I met in [indecipherable], a nurse was damn nice to us & we had her car every day, we were there. It was jolly good fun. I phoned Babe from Cape Town a couple of times. She was very pleased about it. She is a jolly sweet kid.

There isn’t a lot to do on board but we are quite comfortable & the food is reasonably good. The only work we do, if it can be called work is half an hours P.T. every morning. Two hours aircraft spotting a week & an occasional day of duty as orderly sergent [sic]. Not too bad on the whole. There are only R.A.F. on board & all in cabins so it isn’t too bad at all. This boat is not a patch on the Cape Town Castle, the ship we came out on.

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[underlined] 2. [/underlined]

our main problems here are the heat & no fresh water baths. The heat indoors is terrific & we all sweat like blazes most of the day. In conjunction with the lack of fresh water baths it makes things quite uncomfortable. Every body is getting acclimatised daily though, so everything is under control. We spend most of our time, writing letters, reading books, drinking beer & playing cards.

The friends we made in East London were really jolly decent to us. The fortnight which followed the end of the course was terrific. Tennis in the morning a couple of drinks in the afternoon & a party in the evening. Babe & I always went out together. I suppose all good things must come to an end sometime though we only knew each other for six weeks.

I shall probably be at home by the time you receive this letter. About four days before we sailed some English mail came in but as it hadn’t been assorted [sic] we missed it. We shall probably get the letters when we go home. Awful shame. Still it doesn’t matter actually & we should be home in a few weeks.

I shall write again as soon as possible Dad. I want to write several more letters & post them before we get to our [deleted] next [/deleted] first port of call.

No more to-day. God bless you. Lots of love from your ever loving [sic] son [underlined David. [/underlined]

[inserted] [three indecipherable words] [/inserted]