Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Title
Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife
Description
He writes of his car and the start of the allied invasion.
Creator
Date
1944-06-07
Language
Format
Three handwritten sheets
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
EGortonHGortonLCM440607-01
Transcription
Scampton.
Wed. 12.00 hrs
7/6/44.
Dearest,
I was going to write to you last night, but was unable to do so.
I collected the car on Monday night. It certainly runs very well & seems to have nothing wrong with it – except, perhaps, the fact that 40 m.p.h. is its top speed.
Swaby hadn’t much petrol on Monday, so he just gave me enough to take me to Scampton & back, & then I collected some more (2 galls) last night. I took a car-load with me, because an Australian on the course wanted to buy Swaby’s Ford, so I took him & a friend out too.
[page break]
2.
The rest of my time yesterday I was either busy packing or talking to blokes who were continually dropping into our room yesterday. As one of the blokes said, “This course has gone car mad.”
I’ve got only half a gallon coupon for the journey as it is less than 18 miles to Wigsley.
The invasion doesn’t seem to have caused much excitement here (The “Times” went mad, however, its headlines were in print 1 1/2 “ big!) My chief feeling, apart from relief now it’s started, is regret that I wasn’t on that raid on Monday night.
[page break]
3
There seemed to be lots of things I wanted to say, but I’m writing this in the Mess & find it hard to concentrate.
Anyway darling, you can be sure that I shall use as little of my petrol as possible, so that I shall be able to take you out in it. I really begrudge every teaspoonful I use until the time when you are sitting next to me.
All my love, darling,
Harold.
Wed. 12.00 hrs
7/6/44.
Dearest,
I was going to write to you last night, but was unable to do so.
I collected the car on Monday night. It certainly runs very well & seems to have nothing wrong with it – except, perhaps, the fact that 40 m.p.h. is its top speed.
Swaby hadn’t much petrol on Monday, so he just gave me enough to take me to Scampton & back, & then I collected some more (2 galls) last night. I took a car-load with me, because an Australian on the course wanted to buy Swaby’s Ford, so I took him & a friend out too.
[page break]
2.
The rest of my time yesterday I was either busy packing or talking to blokes who were continually dropping into our room yesterday. As one of the blokes said, “This course has gone car mad.”
I’ve got only half a gallon coupon for the journey as it is less than 18 miles to Wigsley.
The invasion doesn’t seem to have caused much excitement here (The “Times” went mad, however, its headlines were in print 1 1/2 “ big!) My chief feeling, apart from relief now it’s started, is regret that I wasn’t on that raid on Monday night.
[page break]
3
There seemed to be lots of things I wanted to say, but I’m writing this in the Mess & find it hard to concentrate.
Anyway darling, you can be sure that I shall use as little of my petrol as possible, so that I shall be able to take you out in it. I really begrudge every teaspoonful I use until the time when you are sitting next to me.
All my love, darling,
Harold.
Collection
Citation
Harold Gorton, “Letter from Harold Gorton to his wife,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 25, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/9245.
Item Relations
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