Letter from David Boldy to his father
Title
Letter from David Boldy to his father
Description
Letter from sergeant David Boldy to his father about sailing to London from South Africa, visiting Gibraltar and swimming in the sea. He misses his girl friend Babe.
Creator
Date
1941-07-07
Temporal Coverage
Spatial Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
Three page handwritten letter
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
EBoldyDABoldyAD410707
Transcription
923995. Sgt D.A.Boldy.
R.A.F.
7th July. [inserted] 1941 [/inserted]
My darling Dad,
We are very near the end of a long trip. By the time we get home it will have taken us just over six weeks, more than double the trip out.
The voyage at the beginning was very comfortable but later on we picked up a lot of evacuees, consequently we lost our cabins etc things became very crowded. Anyway we are nearly home now so it doesn’t matter.
Though it has been rather boring on the whole we have had a fairly amusing time. We called at Gibralter [sic], a most unusual direction from the normal route whatever that may be. Gib was very interesting I bought a few things there for Mum. I was able to cable for your birthday after all & drop the short air-mail letter also. Shall post this letter as soon as we get home. Will also send you a birthday present when we set foot on terra firma once again.
I shall miss my little girlfriend, Babe, but it can’t be helped.
The first part of the trip we spent in playing cards, reading & drinking, the second in reading
[page break]
and fixing my photograph album. It is nearly complete now and looks awfully nice. I have stuck the photos in, then drawn a white pattern round the snaps & have written appropriate explainations [sic] opposite the snaps. It looks jolly snappy too. I shall have finished it before I get home.
At Gibralter [sic] we hired a kind of [two indecipherable words] & went to the frontier. It was most interesting. Not knowing the place at all, at one stage of the journey we thought we had passed the frontier into Spain, did we panic. It was only imagination on our part. We were allowed ashore every other day & after going ashore a few times, & buying all the necessaries I did not go ashore any more. A couple of us went swimming in the sea near the ship ever day. It was grand fun & we are as brown as berries now. – Sorry my ink has run out.
We had a spot of bother a couple of days ago. A couple of enemy aircraft dropped a couple of bombs which missed by a fair margin then dashed off. We still have spotting duties every day now instead of once a week as formerly.
To-day for the first time it has not been calm. There is a biggish swell though I am not feeling sea-sick, I am certainly not feeling terrific.
Mum will be awfully pleased with the stuff I am taking home. Have bought some
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
good cigarettes for Steve & will get him a 21st birthday present as soon as I get my back pay as a Sergeant. That well be within a short time of getting home.
When I have time to get organised at home, shall send you a lot of the snaps I took in East London. A couple of Babe also, taken at night. They are very nice.
Every evening in the lounge there is a sing-song & amusing stories are told. One fellow who is returning home for leave after over-sea’s service is terrific. He is very versatile & keep [sic] us all in fits of laughter. He taught us all a native song called Bongo-Bongo. It is really good & quite the hit of the moment on this ship.
Some R.A.F. Aircrews on board who have been in action have told us what to expect etc. What further training we shall have [one deleted indecipherable word] & other useful information. They are jolly interesting.
May add a line before we get home. Will write more from home. No more to-day. God bless you Dad.
Lots of love from
Your ever-loving son
[underlined] David. [/underlined]
Just arrived home have cabled you. With Mum & Steve at the moment. Writing again soon.
Love David
R.A.F.
7th July. [inserted] 1941 [/inserted]
My darling Dad,
We are very near the end of a long trip. By the time we get home it will have taken us just over six weeks, more than double the trip out.
The voyage at the beginning was very comfortable but later on we picked up a lot of evacuees, consequently we lost our cabins etc things became very crowded. Anyway we are nearly home now so it doesn’t matter.
Though it has been rather boring on the whole we have had a fairly amusing time. We called at Gibralter [sic], a most unusual direction from the normal route whatever that may be. Gib was very interesting I bought a few things there for Mum. I was able to cable for your birthday after all & drop the short air-mail letter also. Shall post this letter as soon as we get home. Will also send you a birthday present when we set foot on terra firma once again.
I shall miss my little girlfriend, Babe, but it can’t be helped.
The first part of the trip we spent in playing cards, reading & drinking, the second in reading
[page break]
and fixing my photograph album. It is nearly complete now and looks awfully nice. I have stuck the photos in, then drawn a white pattern round the snaps & have written appropriate explainations [sic] opposite the snaps. It looks jolly snappy too. I shall have finished it before I get home.
At Gibralter [sic] we hired a kind of [two indecipherable words] & went to the frontier. It was most interesting. Not knowing the place at all, at one stage of the journey we thought we had passed the frontier into Spain, did we panic. It was only imagination on our part. We were allowed ashore every other day & after going ashore a few times, & buying all the necessaries I did not go ashore any more. A couple of us went swimming in the sea near the ship ever day. It was grand fun & we are as brown as berries now. – Sorry my ink has run out.
We had a spot of bother a couple of days ago. A couple of enemy aircraft dropped a couple of bombs which missed by a fair margin then dashed off. We still have spotting duties every day now instead of once a week as formerly.
To-day for the first time it has not been calm. There is a biggish swell though I am not feeling sea-sick, I am certainly not feeling terrific.
Mum will be awfully pleased with the stuff I am taking home. Have bought some
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
good cigarettes for Steve & will get him a 21st birthday present as soon as I get my back pay as a Sergeant. That well be within a short time of getting home.
When I have time to get organised at home, shall send you a lot of the snaps I took in East London. A couple of Babe also, taken at night. They are very nice.
Every evening in the lounge there is a sing-song & amusing stories are told. One fellow who is returning home for leave after over-sea’s service is terrific. He is very versatile & keep [sic] us all in fits of laughter. He taught us all a native song called Bongo-Bongo. It is really good & quite the hit of the moment on this ship.
Some R.A.F. Aircrews on board who have been in action have told us what to expect etc. What further training we shall have [one deleted indecipherable word] & other useful information. They are jolly interesting.
May add a line before we get home. Will write more from home. No more to-day. God bless you Dad.
Lots of love from
Your ever-loving son
[underlined] David. [/underlined]
Just arrived home have cabled you. With Mum & Steve at the moment. Writing again soon.
Love David
Collection
Citation
David Boldy, “Letter from David Boldy to his father,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 20, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/515.
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