Letter from John Brittain to 'Boss'

Letter from John Brittain to 'Boss'

Starts with apologies and arrangements for upcoming events. Mentions no operations since Bremen but is now doing supply drops in the Netherlands. States he has done 13 2/3 operations but missed his crews last three due to illness. Talks of taking a Daily Mail reporter on a supply sortie and that these only count for 1/3 of an operation. Concludes with talk of rations.

1945-05-01

Six page handwritten letter

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.

EBrittainJT[Recipient]450501

Sgt. Brittain J.T.
Sgts Mess
195 Squadron
RAF. Wratting Common
near Cambridge
Cambs.
Tuesday. 1/5/45.
Dearest Boss!!
Go - what a letter!!
Now for your questions your Highness :-
Sorry about our letters crossing. - Sorry about Bruce - Sorry that Joyce can’t come - Sorry about the tyre - Sorry about the petrol - Sad about Uncle Bert.
As far as I know we are still getting leave on the 8th - it is pretty certain, so I
[page break]
think that you can organise things for the 12th without worrying unduly. If - however - there is a last minute change - and I think it unlikely - i’ll send a telegram immediately. Don’t bother about Joyce Barratt as it would be very hard for them to get home anyway.
Jack will be staying on [deleted] for [/deleted] Saturday and Sunday nights I think. Bob and Brownie will be staying for the Saturday night only, but Jack may go with the [one indecipherable word] on Sunday and stay that night with him. They will all be staying for the Saturday night anyway.
As for the petrol
[page break]
situation - don’t worry - everything is under control.
Up to date I have done 13 2/3 trips - the others have done 16 2/3 - I was ill for 3 trips with that synovitis business. We haven’t done any more bombing since that Bremen do, but we’ve been on this supply dropping thing twice. We flew over Rotterdam at 500 feet and dropped the stuff on an airport. There were thousands of people waving like mad and running towards the dropping area to get at the food - it was really pathetic to see them. Everywhere you looked you could see people waving - all over
[page break]
the roads and house tops. You could pick out the Jerrys quite easily for the fact that they were the only ones not waving - It must have been a great temptation for them [deleted] one indecipherable word [/deleted] to open fire on us, but as the agreement with the German Government stated that we were to be left unmolested they couldn’t do anything. Yesterday we went again and took a newspaper reporter with us - Mr Proctor of the Daily Mail - he was quite excited about the whole thing, particularly when I told him the time by a clock in the middle of
[page break]
Rotterdam town!! Try to get a Mail [deleted] one indecipherable word [/deleted] for May 1st and see what he says - He took our names and addresses - what for I don’t know. If you get anything from the “Mail” keep it until I get leave.
Bruce sends an apologetic cough and says that he may have to come home as his master can’t find anyone to keep him - Grrrr Grrrr, Grrrr.!!!
I don’t think that I shall be able to get anything else in the ration line, but will try, although you say you can manage - they’ll always be useful
[page break]
No more time now for anything else.
I am, madam, your obedient servant
John. T. Brittain. (Sgt)
[underlined] P.S. [/underlined] The supply dropping trips only count as 1/3 of an op. each!!!