Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife

Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife

He writes of his duties at RAF Cark and domestic and social arrangements.

1943-09-03

Five handwritten sheets

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.

EGortonHGortonLCM430903

OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE,
CARK,
NORTH LANCASHIRE.
TELEPHONE GRANGE 390.
3/9/43
Dearest,
I’ve had no letter from you since Tuesday. I hope it doesn’t mean that you have caught this dysentery. Take care of yourself darling, won’t you, as when you are so far away, I can’t do anything to look after you. Anyway I shall be with you in just under a fortnight, so I shall see that you are looked after properly then, even if you aren’t now.
I was very bucked to get this chit from the bank yesterday. £152 is pretty good isn’t it? I thought it might have gone up £10 or so, but not £50.
I apologise if this letter isn’t what it should be, but I’m
[page break]
2
not feeling my best today, as I’m tired, I was flying on Wednesday night & didn’t get to bed until after 7.0 a.m. When I got up, late yesterday afternoon, I found I’d been put on as O i/c., although it wasn’t my turn. I agreed to do it for one night, until Moodie came back today, & as we were trying a new system of dispersal for aircraft, my duties began at 6.0 p.m., & continued until 7.0 a.m. Of course, after I’d agreed to do the O i/c., I realised that I was Orderly Officer today, so as it didn’t seem worth while going to bed, I just carried on.
This morning we had a big parade so that a bloke could be presented with a “Mention in Despatches”, and then a parson gave us a long dull service in connection with the day of
[page break]
3
prayer. The rest of the morning I was busy with my orderly officer duties, but I’ve been dozing in the Mess all afternoon.
You will be interested to know that “Hoppy” from Ossington has got his F/Lt. – I learned this from one of the pupils.
I’ve finished one of those law question papers, so that’s half of a load off my mind.
All my love, darling. Write to me soon, won’t you?
Harold.
Sunday 9.0 p.m.
Got back from Tern Hill in time for lunch.
Both the Crown & the Netherwood at Grange are booked up this week, but I’ll go in to Grange personally to –
[page break]
4
morrow & get a place. If that fails, there’s a good hotel in Kendal that usually has a room or two to spare. I’ll also enlist Miss Westwood’s knowledge of lodging houses etc.
I’ll ring you up tomorrow night unless you send me a letter tomorrow morning to say that you aren’t coming.
As for leave, I don’t know what to do. I was talking to Mrs. Moodie this evening & she says she knows a good olde worlde pub 9 miles out of Shrewsbury – plenty of fishing & walking, home made food aplenty of ham & eggs etc. Would that suit you, or would it be too quiet?
You shouldn’t talk rot about Dad not wanting you to come to Farnworth. I admit that it was a remark not in the best of taste, but he’d be very hurt if he thought
[page break]
5
you'd understood him like that.
I’m glad you’ve got the car back. It should make your shopping a good deal easier. I haven’t liked to hear of your doing all that walking.
Sorry about the unstamped envelope. 5d is a lot, isn’t it?
I don’t mind [deleted] y [/deleted] whether you send Seversky back to Smiths’ or to me. It’s far more important that you have a book to read than that I have.
All my love,
Harold.