Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife

Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife

He writes of his possible operations postings.

1944-03-03

Three 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.

EGortonHGortonLCM440303

TEL. SILVERSTONE 252
OFFICERS’ MESS,
ROYAL AIR FORCE STATION,
[deleted] SILVERSTONE [/deleted] [inserted] Turweston [/inserted],
[deleted] NR. TOWCESTER, [/deleted] [inserted] Nr. Brackley. [/inserted]
NORTHANTS.
[Royal Air Force crest]
Dearest,
I got yet another letter from you today! If you keep on at this rate, I’m going to be badly disappointed if you ever miss a day!
I sent the T. E. Lawrence book off [deleted] yesterday [/deleted] this morning, & I am enclosing the book list so that you can send for another book.
I don’t think I shall be able to go to Brackley until Sunday. I am supposed to be flying tomorrow, & may be busy all day. On Sunday I should be Orderly Officer, but I am going to do it tomorrow & so ought to be free on Sunday, apart from Church Parade. I’ll then fix up somewhere for you to stay, & write on Sunday night so that you will have the address. I must say that I am becoming very thrilled about the idea of having up here.
[page break]
2.
Now you have decided to come, I am all for the idea.
I got a letter from Bence this morning. He sends you his best wishes, and hopes that you “will soon be happily settled at home.” So do I.
A letter from Bob arrived today, too. He seems to be O.K., & has just put up his Africa Star ribbon. He says that Norman Seddon spent Christmas & New Year in No Man’s Land. Not very good, I should think.
I’ll try & get a room in a hotel for you for next Friday (provisionally) & then you can look around & see what you fancy.
It is just possible that I may be sent abroad for my Ops, but practically everyone from here goes to Bomber Command, so I don’t think there’s much danger of it.
All my love,
Harold.
[page break]
3.
P.S. I’ve just realised that you’ve filled up the book list, so I’ll send it off direct.
Your list seems a very interesting one. Quentin Reynolds should be good, & the reviews of Shinwell’s book were very favourable, on the whole. I rather fancy I’ve read a summary (Readers’ Digest, I think) of “Father was a Handful”, and it sounded good. “Random Harvest” I’ve read, & didn’t enjoy it as much as the film. I’ve also read “Put out more flags”. It’s a rather biting satire on the phoney war period – 1939 – 40, with a particularly brilliant bit in the middle about billeting evacué [sic] children.
I hope the next to the last book on the list “Men are just marvellous” makes you agree with the title, at least as far as I am concerned!
Harold