Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother
Title
Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother
Description
Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother. States his opinion on the latest Churchill’s speech; writes about his evening out with his friends and going to see a Bing Crosby film. He also writes doing Morse code and maths and about having no physical training due to the air raids.
Creator
Date
1940-07-08
Temporal Coverage
Coverage
Language
Format
Four page handwritten letter
Conforms To
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
EBoldyDABoldyLM400619
Transcription
[inserted] from Boldy
59 Bathurst Mews,
Lancaster Gale,
London. W.2. [/inserted]
[deleted] R.A.F.
St. Leonards [/deleted]
19 [underlined] th [/underlined] June.
My darling Mum & Steve,
Many thanks for Steve’s letter recd [sic] to-day. I wrote yesterday but forgot to post the letter as Cecil came dashing in about 7.30 so I am enclosing this.
Glad to hear Steve enjoyed the Tennis. It is a pity I shan’t be able to see Peter for a Time. I shall drop him a line when I have some Time to spare. Up the L.D.V.V’s. I hope we give them Hell. I have just had Winstons speech. It’s smashing He’s a great fellow there is no getting away from it.
The situation is certainly very bad, but one never can tell we may yet give Hitler & Mussolini something to think about. We were woken up by the sirens at 12.30 last night. The All clear was given after half an hour. They got a lot uapsin [sic]
[page break]
allright [sic]. We didn’t hear anything at all. I was woken up by Ajan & one had to scramble down over 100 steps in the dark. I would not have woken up if Ajan hadn’t got on to me.
Last evening Cecil (his friend Bill) [deleted] RJ [/deleted] Ajan & I went out for a bit. We had a couple of drinks and a meal. On Thursday we are going to a Bing Crosby Film.
This afternoon instead of parades etc. we had organised games. I played Tennis – one set – we won 6-5. The balls were Terrible, so was the Court & the wind was still worse. Still I quite enjoyed myself.
I heard to-day we are definitely moving. Where or when I am not yet sure. You can carry on writing however as they will forward the mail. Don’t bother to get the
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
pyjamas just yet (I think the size is 34”) anyway I am having a bath to-day + will begin using the silk pair I have, which I have not used yet. I only want one pair from Selfridges.
We did Maths & Morse to-day. I like Morse, though I shall have to get down to it & learn the alphabet properly. We are all so tired at this end of the day that we just haven’t the energy to look at [deleted] the [/deleted] a thing.
By the look of things most of us will be up at night in the Air Raid shelters Anyway we had no P.T. this morning due to the raids. Poor old Dad must be Terribly worried.
The weather here on the whole has been very disappointing we have had only a couple of
[page break]
sunny days.
While waiting to go on parade to-day we amused ourselves by watches some belles bathing on the beach. One had a Terrific Tan. She was like a Red Indian. Tan girls were O.K. too.
I got my second pair of boots the other day. They are smashing. Very neat and the leather is like Kidd [sic], also they have a rubber back, the present pair is almost in ruins.
No more to-day, God bless you both.
[underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined]
P.S. 8 th July.
I am sending these letters by ordinary mail having sent the latest by air mail. They are such delightful, spontaneous, happy affairs that they are worth reading & keeping. Please keep them. Together in one of the drawers in my cupboard with their school boy things. Will send more later. Love Dave
59 Bathurst Mews,
Lancaster Gale,
London. W.2. [/inserted]
[deleted] R.A.F.
St. Leonards [/deleted]
19 [underlined] th [/underlined] June.
My darling Mum & Steve,
Many thanks for Steve’s letter recd [sic] to-day. I wrote yesterday but forgot to post the letter as Cecil came dashing in about 7.30 so I am enclosing this.
Glad to hear Steve enjoyed the Tennis. It is a pity I shan’t be able to see Peter for a Time. I shall drop him a line when I have some Time to spare. Up the L.D.V.V’s. I hope we give them Hell. I have just had Winstons speech. It’s smashing He’s a great fellow there is no getting away from it.
The situation is certainly very bad, but one never can tell we may yet give Hitler & Mussolini something to think about. We were woken up by the sirens at 12.30 last night. The All clear was given after half an hour. They got a lot uapsin [sic]
[page break]
allright [sic]. We didn’t hear anything at all. I was woken up by Ajan & one had to scramble down over 100 steps in the dark. I would not have woken up if Ajan hadn’t got on to me.
Last evening Cecil (his friend Bill) [deleted] RJ [/deleted] Ajan & I went out for a bit. We had a couple of drinks and a meal. On Thursday we are going to a Bing Crosby Film.
This afternoon instead of parades etc. we had organised games. I played Tennis – one set – we won 6-5. The balls were Terrible, so was the Court & the wind was still worse. Still I quite enjoyed myself.
I heard to-day we are definitely moving. Where or when I am not yet sure. You can carry on writing however as they will forward the mail. Don’t bother to get the
[page break]
[underlined] 2. [/underlined]
pyjamas just yet (I think the size is 34”) anyway I am having a bath to-day + will begin using the silk pair I have, which I have not used yet. I only want one pair from Selfridges.
We did Maths & Morse to-day. I like Morse, though I shall have to get down to it & learn the alphabet properly. We are all so tired at this end of the day that we just haven’t the energy to look at [deleted] the [/deleted] a thing.
By the look of things most of us will be up at night in the Air Raid shelters Anyway we had no P.T. this morning due to the raids. Poor old Dad must be Terribly worried.
The weather here on the whole has been very disappointing we have had only a couple of
[page break]
sunny days.
While waiting to go on parade to-day we amused ourselves by watches some belles bathing on the beach. One had a Terrific Tan. She was like a Red Indian. Tan girls were O.K. too.
I got my second pair of boots the other day. They are smashing. Very neat and the leather is like Kidd [sic], also they have a rubber back, the present pair is almost in ruins.
No more to-day, God bless you both.
[underlined] Love Dave. [/underlined]
P.S. 8 th July.
I am sending these letters by ordinary mail having sent the latest by air mail. They are such delightful, spontaneous, happy affairs that they are worth reading & keeping. Please keep them. Together in one of the drawers in my cupboard with their school boy things. Will send more later. Love Dave
Collection
Citation
David Boldy, “Letter from David Boldy to his mother and brother,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed November 8, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/676.
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