1
25
229
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Kriegsgefangenenlager Datum:
[inserted] NUMBER 45.
Your No 59 came today – 57/8 are the only missing ones up to 60. I never have worried about your doing to me what Hans Lensing’s girl friend did [inserted] one indecipherable word [/inserted]. I have absolute implicit trust in your loyalty & love & I hope you have the same faith in me. I had a letter from Joan[?] Moore Coulson today which I was absolutely delighted to receive. I haven’t had any facts about her husband but I gather that he is free & well. We are definitely moving shortly but much further than we had anticipated – East [one indecipherable word] is the [one indecipherable word] tip[?] the (&, I think, a reliable one). I too wish we could provide Francis with a brother (or sister) but he or she, also, must bide awhile. Yes I was jealous at the thought of Stewart spending a night at Lido but gather that he didn’t do so after all. Fondest love, darling. John.
[page break]
[back of postcard rubber stamped with ‘PASSED P.W. 3037 and GEPRUFT 64]
Mrs U M Valentine
Lido
Tenterden Grove
Hendon, London NW4
England.
[page break]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Postcard from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes saying that he had absolute trust in her loyalty. He wrote that they would definitely be moving shortly.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two side handwritten postcard
Language
A language of the resource
eng
deu
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM43XXXX-[430601-430531]
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Germany
England--London
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
prisoner of war
Stalag Luft 3
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Uxbridge
18-10-40
My Dearest Ursula
As I have just abt. Two minutes for this, it is going to be very hurried. I tried ‘phoning last night, & again just now but no luck.
We had hopes of leave tonight only to have them dashed & we have also been promised some hours off on Saturday afternoon.
If that, too, is a false hope I will write a long letter about my doings. I am quite fit except for a little seediness[?] as a result of inoculation & vacc.
I hope you are not too lonely. I felt almost heartbroken to see you in tears. Cheer up my dear – I love you
Fondest love
John.
[page break]
[Letter card front]
[postmark] Uxbridge, Middx. 7.45 pm
18 Oct 1940
[page break]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that their hopes of leave that night had been dashed and they had been promised some hours off on Saturday afternoon.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-10-18
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401018
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-10-18
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
love and romance
military service conditions
RAF Uxbridge
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1251404
A/C II VALENTINE J.R.M.
[inserted] ROOM 5, STRUMA BLOCK [/inserted]
NO 1 R.CENTRE
R.A.F. DEPOT
UXBRIDGE
MIDDLESEX
Sunday 20/10/40
[inserted] Started over a week ago & finished in very distracting conditions. Everybody shouting at me for writing for so long to my old woman. A number of things were thrown at me & I have been interrupted many times so please be uncritical.
[deleted one indecipherable word] John
My Dearest Ursula,
You were quite right – I did get back here at 9 pm. On Saturday. I had only five[?] minutes to wait for an 83 bus but when it got to Kingsbury there were ‘planes overhead & the driver decided to stop. I got out and started walking with a party going to a Demolition & Rescue Squad post. After about 10 minutes the bus started again & overtook us & we reached Wembley Park by 8 o’clock. A train came in about a quarter of an hour & although it went slowly we proceeded steadily & I was back as I said, with a whole hour to spare. I wish now that I could have spent that hour with you but I was fearfully afraid of being late on my first leave especially in view of the three[?] mile restriction.
However, [deleted] I [/deleted] it was really marvellous
[page break]
to see you again & be with you for a few hours & I look forward eagerly to being able to do so as soon as I possibly can.
One mildly[?] pleasant surprise awaited me. You remember my telling you that our sleeping quarters, in addition to being adequately blacked out, are hardly lit at all at night time. Those of the fellows who did not get leave very kindly made the beds for us who were out to save us floundering about in almost total [deleted] bla [/deleted] [inserted] darkness [/inserted]. A very handsome gesture which we shall return this afternoon when the rest of us get leave.
This morning we rose at the same time (6 am.) and at 9 o’clock paraded for Church. The common or garden C of E – Chiefly those whom had not sufficient imagination to think of anything else – were drawn up in two large Squadrons. R.C’s formed another but much smaller group (Scots) while the rest of us O.Ds (other decoms[sic]) were drawn up into the fourth & smallest squadron. The way we were sorted out was rather funny.
[page break]
All fellows in our block paraded at first immediately outside the building. Our own Sergeant, a very good fellow, told all those who were not C of E to fall out into a separate batch & after sending elsewhere the R.C. blokes he checked over the rest of us asking each his pet persuasion. There were Cong’s[?] Meths[sic] (not spirits) Presbs[sic] etc. When all the answers were given he said “What! Aren’t there no bloody Spiritualists? Then he handed us over to our Corporal & told him to lose us somewhere. Being full of resource the Corporal marched us off to another block hoping to palm us off on another Sergeant. The latter said “Nothing doing” & Corporal marched us back to our own Sergeant. When we reappeared his face flushed with strong & ill concealed emotion[?] & he told the poor little Corporal in no uncertain but very rude & unrepeatable terms just what he thought of him and us. Having a certain flair for bad language myself, I rathered[sic]
[page break]
gathered that he didn’t want us & the unfortunate Corporal had to march us back again to the place he first thought of. Upon our arrival he moaned to the Sergeant there “What am I to do with these bloody odds and sods?! Thereupon they went into a huddle & decided to march us on to a remote corner of the parade ground & leave us to our fate. This they did & one by one other misfits from other blocks joined us & soon we had a real misfit Sergeant & Corporal all to ourselves & under their direction we played a minor part in the grand parade – complete with band and march past. However, it was worth it for we eventually had an excellent little service of our own taken by the nonconformist Padre. He was a really fine speaker, being open & frank about certain subjects – e.g. sex and quite stirring about things in general. I really enjoyed the service immensely & proved it by putting a whole sixpence into the collection. He was a really charming fellow, full of sound and not too priggish advice & stressed the desirability of all taking up some hobby
[page break]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of his experiences at Receiving Centre. Includes account of journey back to centre. Says it was good to see her. Continues with description of activities and fellow trainees. Includes humorous account of being sorted by religion.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-10-20
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401020
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-10-20
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
faith
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Uxbridge
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Monday 27-10-40
Darling Ursula.
What you have read up to now, I wrote over a week ago so that most of it will be stale news. I wrote it before I started getting daily leave but you said that you wanted it & I have taken you at your word. Of course, I wasn’t here to go to the Griller[?] quarter concert last Wednesday, but I enjoyed myself much more with you than I could possibly have done here, and I didn’t go to the Sunday evening voluntary service as I said I would. By the time the service was due to start, the religous[sic] fervour inspired by the excellent Padre has worn off & I decided to have done with hypocrosy[sic] & to read the Forsyte Saga instead.
I enjoyed yesterday more than any previous day and was terribly sorry to leave you. I am afraid that I was rather a selfish pig to make you run home for all my tobacco etc. You are so eager to do things for me that I tend to take an unfair advantage of your wonderful good nature.
[page break]
[page 2 missing]
(3)
of special interest to while away the idle hours – as he said – to prevent the mind & the energies working along unwholesome lines.
He himself is trying to arrange for the Griller[?] quartet to play for an hour regularly once a week & has arranged it for certain on Wednesday. I hope I shall be here. He is taking a small voluntary service at 6.30 tonight & for half an hour beforehand is to play gramophone records of a serious nature & I shall go along to that too. Already I am heartily sick of the noise that we get every second of our spare time. In the NAAFI canteen we get nothing but hot pulsating rhythm (spelt correctly?) or those sickly sobbing love songs that stick in the throat & make me feel sick. In the dormitory all the fellows sing or croon these doting ditties & now one chap has produced a concertina of enormous dimensions which issues strains of colossal power. – going for dinner – XX
[page break]
crowded and all passengers came on to the platform & watched the show in absolute silence. Before we saw the sparks flying the railwaymen thought that the ghostly white light was caused by an H.E. on the track followed by a short circuit of the conductor rail. Then they thought that one of the fire[?] bombs might have fallen on to the track & burned through one or some of the [deleted one letter] many rubber cables that always run alongside of any electric railway, so the train had to stay in the station while patrolmen were sent ahead to inspect. Before they returned the flames had subsided but soon a more ominous dull red blaze started. However, the patrolmen returned to say that the track had been missed, most of the bombs had fallen in some allotments & had burned themselves out & one had set fire to a small wooden shed which was the cause of the red flames. This too soon died down & after a total delay of not more than 20 minutes the train restarted & we arrived here without further incident. – Going for dinner again. XX
[page break]
(4)
Of course, I left you far too soon, for I was back here at 9 o’clock. No sooner had I got to Wembley Park than an Uxbridge train came in. We had a little excitement at Eastcote. The train had just come to a standstill when we heard the now familiar sound o bombs coming down & I was flat on the carriage seat in two shakes. There were two or three large crumps & when the noise had died down I poked my head out of the window. The first thing I saw was the engine driver & a pal crawling along the platform on their hands & knees & then we saw an awe inspiring firework display. A bunch of incendiaries had fallen about 100 yards ahead just by the side of the track. They burned furiously with a curious hard silvery flame sending up clouds of white smoke and intermittent sparks. After a second or two one of them exploded & showered lumps of flaming metal all over the place. It was just like any Guy Fawkes display without the coloured effects and the whole affair was extremely vivid and quite eerie. The train was very
[page break]
(5)
Having just picked at a very cold and unappetising hot dinner I think I will try to get this finished & sent off to you.
I bitterly regret leaving you so early last night it was lovely to be with you & very selfish of me to come away so early. As it was, you might easily have accompanied me to Wembley Park & probably got home quite safely. However, you weren’t with me & I had to sit all by myself in solitary state & the abysmal darkness of the top of the bus. I tried imagining that you were with me, & with my arm around you & I started talking to you ever so softly. There was no one else on the top of the bus so I had you all too[sic] myself, & I told you all sorts of things and you listened and replied in equally intimate terms. Then at Wembley Park I had to leave you but we had a really touching farewell & I think you had tears in your eyes again.
It’s very difficult trying to write now. I am in my dormitory & there are about 2 dozen fellows near at hand laughing & banging & telling naughty stories. My concentration is constantly being interrupted & I must stop soon
[page break]
One fellow has just pulled his [unreadable word ‘shirt’[?]] [corrected] (SHIRT) [/corrected] up to stamp it without taking it off. Another has just asked him if he is holding a naval review.
Do look after yourself, my darling, be careful at night time & dont[sic] hesitate to go to the shelter. Don’t run any risks of upsetting yourself because even quite trivial shocks may have quite unexpected results. Don’t forget your pint of milk daily & ask Barbara to get extra [one indecipherable word] whenever she can. Don’t starve yourself & don’t neglect yourself in your efforts to look after your brother & sister. Don’t let any of my folks badger you into doing anything against your own will. If your weekly income from Barbara & the R.A.F. is inadequate don’t be afraid to encroach upon the of the Touche[?] money – e.g. Sundries a/c. Of course if anything is left over it will be very useful next March & April when you might be without any contribution from Barbara.
Tomorrow (29th) is the 1st anniversary of our engagement. Bless you my dear may we have many returns of the day in happier circumstances.
With all my love
John
[page break]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of his activities and that he was sorry to leave her. Describes bombing attack during his train journey back to Uxbridge and mentioning explosions and incendiaries. Writes of passengers alighting and watching bombing attack. Bombs had missed tracks and had fallen in some allotments. Continues by asking her to look after her self and use shelter if required. Concludes with domestic matters.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-10-27
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401027
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-10-27
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
bombing
love and romance
RAF Uxbridge
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1
1251400[?] A.C.II VALENTINE J.R.M.
Squad 25 Hut 40
E Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
R.A.F. Station
Bridgnorth
Salop
31-10-40.
My Dearest Ursula,
How I do miss you, now that we are really separated. I am always thinking of you, wondering if the bombs are falling anywhere near you & praying that you are not hurt or upset by anything. Do look after yourself for you mean to me far more than I can ever tell you. By the way I forgot to mention it in my last letter to you but I am not very keen on the idea of you going on duty with Barbara. If you want to do so, you must be the judge but I don’t think that it would be at all wise. Hendon is safer than[?] Euston & even if you are in a shelter you are much more likely to be upset because of the greater probability of bombs near you. Furthermore as it gets darker earlier & light later you are more & more likely to have to travel during A.A. barrages. That in itself is unpleasant & I know what London travel can be like nowadays.
[page break]
We travelled here from Uxbridge by special train but it was painfully slow & the whole of Tuesday was occupied in getting here, being allotted our quarters & generally settling down.
This place is really enormous but please don’t pass on to anyone any idea of its size. There are literally hundreds of single storey wooden huts giving the effects of a vast oilwell[sic] as seen on the screen or a town such as is usually depicted when a gold vein is discovered in the back of beyond. The huts are well made, though, & there is a general impression of cleanliness which was completely absent at Uxbridge. The population of the camp is several times as great as that of Uxbridge which accounts for the rather lengthy address. The food is incomparably better here. There are, of course, several kitchens all clean & sweet smelling & the food is really excellent. There are however, two great snags one of them being [underlined] cold. [/underlined] We live in little wooden huts holding 30 chaps, but we are not allowed to light fires until after 4.30 so that it is quite late in the evening before the temperature of the room is at all bearable.
[page break]
2
The other snag is that the washing place is separate & is not blacked out. Consequently as we get up at least an hour before dawn we have to wash and shave in total darkness. The washing is fairly easy but of course shaving isn’t.
Yesterday was a most miserable day for me. After the dreadful business of ablution in darkness there was a bright period of good breakfast. Then we went back to our rooms for a few instructions on various points but as it was bitterly cold outside & we had no fires in our hut we soon became horribly chilled. We stayed there for an hour & then had to stand outside for another 30 minutes when we were marched off to a large unheated lecture room where we were read a lecture by our Flight Sergeant. It was the usual tripe that is read to new arrivals or was quite a waste of time except when the sergeant couldn’t pronounce “despicably”. After that while we were still growing colder & colder our C.O. came in & said a few kind words. Still colder – then a Padre preached to us & when we were really like ice we were taken outside only to stand there for 30 minutes. By this time paralyses set in & we were marched off to the unheated camp concert hall where we sat for over an hour listening to a lecture on the facts of life. It covered everything from a description of the functions of the various parts of the body to a lengthy dissertation on the difference in the methods of procreation of flowers, fishes, birds & human beings. On the later subject the lectures became quite heated but we were even colder than ever. However he went on and on about women, children, contraception & disease. I think he did his job really well but unfortunately the fellows were on the whole, too old for that sort of thing.
However, that occupied a whole morning of unreleived[sic] frigidity which lunch only temporarily alleviated. After lunch we went back to our freezing room & spent the whole afternoon there being inspected by our Commanding Officer & getting instructions on [one indecipherable word] relating to kit. After tea 3 of us, all frozen, decided to restore the circulation by walking the 3 miles to Bridgnorth & to come back early before total darkness. So that we might walk quickly we didn’t wear great coats but after walking for a mile it started to pelt with rain. However we went on because one of the chaps wanted a hair cut. We didn’t waste any time in the town but nevertheless we were soaked right through before we got back. I intended writing to
[page break]
[you] in the evening but by the time I had changed, lit a fire & hung my things up for drying it was too late.
At the moment we have a free hour before lunch & I am writing in my room but of course there is no heat & both my brain & hand are chilled & I feel quite incapable of writing anything sensible.
We are here on a four weeks course but it might stretch to 6[?] weeks. Our Corporal thinks that we will get a 48 hour leave sometime during our stay. He also told us that the R.A.F. don’t recognise as an excuse for being late train delays on account of air raids. For that reason & also to save me having to waste my leave time travelling it might be an idea for you to come to Bridgnorth. Furthermore it would be a change for you and would also enable you [to] have a few nights rest in a bed & without the worry of German planes overhead. If you think you would like to do this let me know and I will make enquiries in the town.
When you write to me, if you have time, tell me every little details of your life – how you feel, how baby progresses, what you do in the house & garden, morning, noon & night, if you are hard up financially – in fact everything about yourself & your doings that you can call to mind. I should like you to send me at your leisure & if you have the cash the following:-
Pyjamas, German Grammar & Dictionary, Black tie, large tine of boot polish Kiwi or Nugget – not Cherry Blossom, R.A.F. shirt collar, 1 pair of R.A.F. (official) socks which I think I left behind, Dishcloth, a little fresh fruit but no other food, soap. I am still very badly constipated & that coupled with the cold makes things rather depressing for the time being. I am swallowing Beechams Pills regularly but they seem to have little effect & even that receding.
Just before leaving Uxbridge I went over to the camp Post Office to enquire about the two letters you sent to me but they could find no trace of them. Goodness knows when, if ever, they will reach me.
We were paid this afternoon & I received the miserable sum of 10/- which is to last me for two weeks. I am not begging for money just yet so don’t send any for I want to see just how much it costs to live here.
The cold is getting too much for me so I will close now. Next time I write I shall try to be a little more coherent & sensible[?]. In the meantime I long to hear from you so don’t disappoint me.
Do look after yourself, my dearest. I love you & want you more than ever. Best wishes to Barbara.
Your loving John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that he misses her and worries about danger to her of bombing. Continues telling of journey to by special train and describes new camp. Covers activities, food and accommodation. Mentions blackout and washing in dark. Continues with detailed descriptions of daily activities. Request that she tells every details of her life when she writes to him. Asks her to send a number of items on talks of his health. Talks of missing letters and being paid.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-10-31
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EValentineJRMValentineUM401031
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-10-31
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1251404 ACII VALENTINE J.
SQUAD 25 HUT40
E Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
R.A.F. Station
Bridgnorth
Salop.
2-11-40.
My Dearest Ursula
Your letter was a most delightful surprise. I had not expected one from you so soon & was truly grateful for it. I felt really excited when I was tearing open the envelope just like a school boy being given a present. Your earlier letter sent to me at Uxbridge and the two which you forwarded to me there located me yesterday so for two days in succession I have had some more. Todays[sic] was the most enjoyable though – I thoroughly appreciated all you wrote & can do with a whole heap more, I tell you. By the way, I hope you will forgive my awful scrawl & the way I cramp this writing. The first is due to the awkwardness of having to use my knees as a pad in addition to the distraction of a roomful of lewd men, and my inherent inability to write well. The second is my effort to economise in writing paper more in my [one indecipherable word] interest [one indecipherable word] that of the nation.
By the way, again, you nittoo, I live in [underlined]HUT [/underlined] 40 not HOT. My God! None of them is hot although just at the moment I am quite warm. On Saturdays we are allowed to light the fire at 12.30 & being leave time most of the fellows have gone down to Bridgnorth. It has pelted with rain almost incessantly since Thursday & this afternoon the heavens are [one indecipherable word] opening & a really continuous deluge is descending on the camp so I am luckier than most of the other boys in having a lovely & loving wife to write to instead of being forced, for want of anything better to do, to brave the storm to seek amusement out of camp.
There are so many things that I could tell you that I hardly know where to begin. In any case I might bore you so please tell me frankly if you dont[sic] want me to bother you with a recital of all my little details.
This camp is divided into 4 wings & each has two Squadrons. The latter are divided into Flights & ours consists of 7 but I don’t know if they all do
[page break]
Our Flight comprises 6 Huts each of 30 fellows but there again I don’t know if each Flight is the same size. I am also still a little hazy as to who commands us but we have had a lecture from our “Commanding Officer” but whether he commands a Squadron Flight or [one indecipherable word] I don’t know. He is a young chap very tall thin & pale with a rather lined face, quietly spoken with an unassuming manner.
The R.A.F. ranks are – AC2 & AC1 – neither has any badge or other indication of rank – or lack of it. Then Leading Aircraftman – wear propellors[sic] on sleeve. Then Corporal – 2 stripes – he is a junior N.C.O. Then Sergeant 3 strips. Then Flight Sergeant 3 stripes & brass badge – Senior N.C.O. Then Warrant Officer – wears uniform of officers material no bands on sleeve but a cloth coat of arms. Then Commissioned Ranks – Pilot Officer, Flying Officer etc.
A Corporal is in charge of each hut & they are all qualified P.T. Instructors & each drills his own hut. Ours is a particularly nice chap – a volunteer formerly gym master at a school near Arbroath. Our Flight Sergeant is also a particularly nice type of fellow – uneducated of course. He speaks like an old Cockney woman of the Char type & even has a face like one. On parade he doesn’t bark like most of them & is always full of encouragement. Off parade he is very human & I like him enormously. Our Warrant Officer is a young man – for the job – just a little over 30 but he is of an altogether different type. He is a real live wire – he snaps at one rather than talks & when he is roused he is just fury personified. I heard him go for a fellow who was walking about the parade ground with his coat unbuttoned & a pipe in his mouth. He was just like a hell cat (whatever that is) & went for the poor blighter like Hitler at Schusony[??]. Our Corporal says though that he really is one of the best if you behave yourself & approach him with tact.
Our training commences in real earnest on Monday & there won’t be much time to spare then. It is called a disciplinary camp & believe me it lives up to that name. We are in for hours of parade, marching, drill, P.T. & lectures – breakfast is now at 6.45 & there is no respite after that until 6.30 p.m. Up till now we have been doing fatigues, e.g. spells in the cook house, digging, preparing the gym for church parade – camp messages etc.
[page break]
(2)
You are right in paying the telephone bill out of the house %. I had expected it to be fairly stiff because I know about the war surcharge and the trunk calls re Barbaras[sic] holiday. The David Balme[?] £3 is not a [inserted] real [?] [/inserted] complication & the correct way to deal with it is to open a separate a/c for it & not confuse it with other “sundries”[?]
I am very mystified about the Local Fuel [?] overseers communication. What is meant by “basic quantities?” Does it mean that in the event of rationing being introduced, your basic quantities on your maximum permissable purchases. I should call on him, if I were you & find out. If he says “yes” ask him upon what basis he arrived at these figures and then protest against them. I have no idea yet what our normal annual consumption is, but I would point out to him that as far as coke is concerned our demand for it is steady throughout the year – more or less & suggest a basic allowance of 1 ton a quarter or alternatively 1 ton for the first & last quarter and 15 cwt. For the 2nd & 3rd. The latter is only ½ ton more than more than his total allowance. With regard to the coal tell him your an allowance of 15 cwt for Oct – Dec compared with 1 ton 15 cwt for Jan – Mar. is bloody silly. I would suggest increasing the allowance for the last quarter to 1 ton 10 cwt & as a [one indecipherable word] reducing the allowance for the first quarter with same figure.
I am almost certain that Belulas[?] figures are correct but there [underlined] is [/underlined]
a [one indecipherable word] estimate in my file. We pay this – so far as is possible out of our joint P.O. Savings Bank & thereafter out of Savings Certs in your name. If you will call at a P.O. and ask for a withdrawal form for an a/c in joint names (there is one in the desk, I think) send it to me with our joint Book. I will fill the form in send it back to you for your signature & at the same time tell [deleted] me [/deleted] [inserted] you [/inserted] how many certificates to withdraw.
I don’t want a Hot Water Bottle. I am quite warm when I get to into bed & only yesterday we were issued with an extra blanket each. We now have five so we can’t grumble on that score.
I no longer look like a bunny in a panto in my boiler suit. It was been taken away & I have been given instead a much better one so far as its size is concerned, but I haven’t worn it yet & cannot tell you what I look like.
“Schussing”[?] – I apologise – “Schuschnigg” but you did know whom I meant didn’t you?
[page break]
I hope you have fixed up with Mrs Miskleys[?] successor! Do let me know if you have -what she is like – what hours she is to work & what you are to pay her.
As far as my people and their country house concerns you – please don’t consider doing anything or agreeing to anything merely for political reasons! I want you to fall in with their arrangements on [one indecipherable word] only so far as they coincide with your own wishes. I am as much against interference as your mother. Nevertheless, I like in principle the idea of the birth taking place at their house and of the possibility of having our own furniture installed. Regarding Christmas we must await events. It is very difficult for me to be of much help [deleted] as far [/deleted] in making arrangements for babys[sic] entry into this world but if you want me to do anything let me know. Otherwise make all arrangements yourself & I know that they will be quite satisfactory.
By all means let mother do all your nappies if she really wants to. If you are glad to be rid of the job – so much the better.
I am not sure about a tin of jam but I can try. Send it soon otherwise I might leave before it is finished. If you can include an opener will you do so! It is impossible to borrow things from the Naafi & you know my income. A jar would be better I think & could be sent in a larger tin with other things should you happen to be sending anything.
No – I meant Silvo. We were advised to start using it after about 1 month of the usual Brasso. Apparently it produces a much brighter shine.
I think I have now disposed of all the points in your letters – now to deal with your parcels. First of all the cake is lovely and is being carefully [one indecipherable word] but nevertheless it shrinks after use. I am returning the tine just in case you want to fill it again. Thanks for the black tie. I am now wearing it & sending my R.A.F. one to you. Will you iron it for me? Thanks for the pyjamas. I am sending back a dirty pair but dont[sic] return them yet. I dont[sic] want more than two pairs. I am also sending [inserted] back [/inserted] a few surplus handkerchiefs. The fruit was very welcome although one of the apples was badly bashed. I have missed a pair of brown wollen[sic] socks, have you got them. I am enclosing a pair of socks for darning. It is a pair knitted by your mother – very comfortable but a little small hence the whole[sic] in the toe. My other dirty socks are intact & I have washed them myself. I am sending
[page break]
(3)
also, two brushes issued by the R.A.F. – well you keep them handy just in case I am asked to produce them for inspection? I have disposed of “Anna” and also “Guilty Men”. I too enjoyed (?) the latter if that word correctly describes the sensation it produces in one. I would like another book to read & wonder if you could get from the library one of Mary Webb’s[?]. Not “Precious Bane”[?] or the “Something coloured Arrow” (I forget its colour – golden or green). I enjoyed these two so much that I would like to read another by the same hand. I will now start another attempt at German & pray for more success than previously. By the way, I believe that there is a book in circulation now called “The answer to guilty Men”. I think it is a cheap one (6d) so could you see if you can get it?
Since my last letter to you the weather has temporarily relented & we have had two lovely days – Thurs. & Fri. On Thurs. your letter & parcel arrived and added to the exhileration [sic] produced by the absence of rain. They were full days – each filled by 6 hours of drill and one of P.T. On Friday evening we were given another inoculation 3 times more powerful than the one at Uxbridge. It has upset nearly all the fellows and we are excused duty for 48 hours but confined to camp. I don’t feel very ill but I have a very tender arm, slight headache & a feeling of sickness. Four fellows were unable to get up for breakfast & at least half the hut is in bed just now. I went back to bed after breakfast because the hut was so cold but being Saturday we are allowed fires at 12.30. I am sitting snugly by one just now really warm for a change.
Today the weather has reverted to normal – it has pelted continuously since daybreak so the fact that we are confined to camp isn’t making much difference. Luckily we haven’t had any parades because of the inoculation & have therefore escaped renewed[?] soakings.
On Thurs. evening I wrote solidly – Jones the fellow I met at Uxbridge – Don, Freeman, Moss & Cole (the Air Observer) were all favoured with letters. Last night I went to see “Love from a Stranger” and enjoyed it thoroughly. I shan’t[?] go to the camp cinema again though. They still rely on the conbined [one indecipherable word] heat of the audience to produce a bearable temperature and I was almost frozen. Because of the inoculation I have not had my
[page break]
Punishment of two days in the cook house yet – but I haven’t heard if it has been waived or merely deferred. I hope not the latter for I have been confined to camp for a week now – 4 days on fire picket & 2 inoculation. We have regular nightly warnings here and occasional daily ones. Bridgnorth itself was bombed slightly[?] recently. We are not far from B’ham [Birmingham] & can see their barrage balloons on clear days.
There is just one more thing I want to say. Reluctantly – very reluctantly I am going to ask for money. I have got only 3/6 to last until Thursday & it is obvious now that I shall have to borrow. Will you send me a few shillings – not more than 5/- so that I will be able to repay and not start with my pay reduced for that purpose. I bitterly regret having to ask for money but I have no option now. Perhaps if the R.A.F. start paying me the full rate of 1/6 a day instead of the paltry 9d I may be able to live on my earnings. At any rate I shall do my best to avoid asking you again because the cost of the things you have sent me & are still to send including postage must have an appreciable effect on your own budget.
I have now been on this letter for about two hours & can think of very little more to tell you. Keep well & cheerful won’t you – I love you more than ever & look forward to being with you sometime. That reminds me – I knew I had forgotten something. I have had no hard facts regarding this leave question but from the best of my information it appears that we don’t get leave until the completion of our course probably 3 weeks hence – But & I am afraid it is a big “but” most Air Crew & Ground Defence [one indecipherable word] are posted immediately upon the completion of their course & do not get their first leave until they settle down in their new surroundings. Furthermore I understand that “posting” cannot be forseen [sic] & is very sudden so that even if leave is granted when the course is finished it may be cancelled if one is posted between the time of granting & the time of enjoying the leave, so I can’t be at all sure as to when I will next be able to kiss you & I can merely hope that it will not be long.
In the meantime, I send you all my love. Don’t take my remarks about your Mother’s moaning[?] too seriously. I repent of having written them already – just please yourself.
Affectionately
John.
[page break]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife
Description
An account of the resource
Thanks her for her letters. Apologises for his awful writing. Describes camp and day to day activities. Covers RAF ranks and badges. Mentions his instructors and training schedule. Concludes with domestic and finance matters as well as general banter.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-02
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401102
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-02
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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Creator
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John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
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Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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1251404 A/C II VALENTINE J.
Squad 25 Hut 40
E. Flight
2 Squadron. 2 Wing
R.A.F. Station
Bridgenorth
Salop.
Wed. 6-11-40
My Dearest Ursula
Your letter last Saturday was so welcome that I have been eagerly looking forward to hearing from you again. Yesterday your parcel arrived safely and most acceptable it was too. Thank you very much, my darling, you have no idea how I love getting something from you. Please do write as often as you can – it is such a real comfort to me to know that I have your love & to hear that you are well & what you are doing with yourself. The cake is excellent – how glad I am that you sent it & I am afraid that the cost of postage was a bit high – 10d. It is going to be quite a problem if we are to send much one to another. To cut down the amount to be posted I think I will try to wash all my socks except those that require darning. Will you give me a few hints as to what to do, & if you could let me have the appropriate soap or flakes I would be grateful. Another thing that I would like is a small pocket dictionary. In my letter from Uxbridge I made one bad spelling mistake that I know of apart from the probably many that I didnt [sic] spot. The word I am thinking of is hypocrisy which I spelt with an “o” and not an “i”.
I might as well confess that I am very unhappy here. I miss you & long for you terribly. The chief trouble is the weather. It has now rained almost uninterruptedly for a solid week. It has been real rain too with no half measures about it. In these wooden huts everything is damp & as we are allowed the fire for only a few hours a day nothing gets a chance of drying. Because of the weather, a lot of our outside drills are cancelled & we have to spend the time in partially wet clothes shivering in the unheated room waiting for something to happen. Another annoying thing is the way we have to use our boots. As you know, we have two pairs & I started by wearing them on alternate days. Here however we have to keep one pair in reserve for our passing out parade. We have to polish this
[page break]
pair ad infinitum so as to have a surface like patent leather at the end of our month. The result is that we are unable to use this pair, wheras [sic] our everyday pair was thoroughly soaked long ago & gets no chance of drying. A lot of fellows have bad colds but I am more fortunate. Apart from a slight soreness off the throat each morning & loss of sense of taste I feel little the worse for the life. I am sorry to paint such a gloomy picture but I am just thoroughly depressed – a letter from you would alter everything – it is nearly a week since the last came – but it feels like a year.
I wrote to you last on Saturday. On Sun I had to act as sideman at the Church parade, take the collection, count it & then put 1000 chairs away – with one or two others. We had to count the cash in the Vestry & I forgot where I was & that the Padre was standing behind us & I swore violently on two occasions when I upset a pile of pennies. I regret to say that I used the word that astonished you when I was mending a puncture on our cycle tour at Easter. However he said nothing but I had an anxious & penitent moment after each outburst. When we started on the putting away of the chairs, most of the helpers silently stole away & eventually only three (myself included) remained. When the job was over we too thought it was time to disappear but had got only a few yards before we were called back by the Padre. Reluctantly we obeyed thinking that there was more work to be done. However, he gave us instead a copy of the Gospel according to St. John & an invitation to tea that afternoon from some ladies in Bridgenorth. Apparently these good folk had compiled a list of ladies each of whom expressed her willingness to entertain two airmen to tea on Sunday afternoons. I took the Canadian Grant with me to the address that the Padre gave me. Our hostess was a very very [sic] sprightly widow of 86. Beleive [sic] me she looked no more than 70 & she had a companion of about 50. They were exceedingly hospitable & gave us an enormous tea of white & brown bread & butter, jam and cake. It was a delightful change to get into a decent warm room & to feel like gentlemen. The dear old soul had even bought a packet of cigarettes for us to smoke & after tea the companion played & sang to us. She asked us first if we could do either but we shyly said that we couldn’t. Her effort was appaling. [sic] She only played about 1 note in a dozen & that merely for the purpose of correcting her voice. However, we managed to preserve straight faces & to express polite appreciation of her efforts. When [deleted] that [/deleted] her repetoire [sic] was exhausted – she had about 3 songs only the old lady entertained us with stories & anecdotes about
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined]
Bridgenorth & its history & showed us some rather interesting & very old etchings & books about the antiquities of the town. She is a widow of an architect & an educated woman and altogether a charming soul, extremely anxious to please us. We left with expressions of regret on both sides & cordial invitations from our hostess to come again.
I am writing this cold & wet as usual having come in from parade on account of the weather. It is too bloody cold to sit still any longer so I shall stop for a bit & return to the attack later when the old circulation starts again.
Cheerio my love xx.
[underlined] After lunch – Wednesday [/underlined]
I am now in a very chastined [sic] mood. When I finished writing above I started polishing my ceremonial boots in an effort to get warm but that didn’t prove very successful. Dinner is at 12.15 & at about 10 mins. to 12 I thought I would have a bath. I had a gorgeously hot soaker & feeling much better for it arrived back at the hut just as the last man left it for dinner. Knowing that if I went in then I would have to wait at least 10 minutes before being served I stayed in the hut for that time cutting my moustache & brushing my boots again and then went over for the meal. I had no sooner got into the canteen than a voice from the centre of the room roared “Come here – you.” It was that hell cat of a warrant officer. He asked me why I was late & when I told him he just about exploded, using every swear word know [sic] to me he told me [deleted] j [/deleted] exactly what he thought of me, then he took my name & number and has promised to find a really dirty fatigue duty for the week end. That means that I shan’t get out of the camp & will probably be peeling potatos [sic] all Saturday & Sunday.
As it is I haven’t been allowed out of the camp since last Sunday because I have been on Fire Picket all the week. All that that means is that one has to parade at 7.45 am & 5.45 pm for inspection & [deleted] bet [/deleted] for the rest of the day one does ones duty as usual & is free in the evenings to do anything within the camp boundaries. When the camp warning goes the members of the fire picket have to report at appointed centres. It is no bother in the ordinary way except that I can’t leave camp but it carries with it the liability to be hauled out of bed in the middle of the night.
I am now awaiting with considerable trepidation the fatigue that awaits me for the weekend – blast everything
[page break]
Last night I went to the Camp Cinema. It is a tiny little building – wooden – with a corrugated iron roof & I beleive [sic] that when it rains [inserted] hard [/inserted] the pattering on the roof drowns the sound of the voices. It was raining gently but steadily last night so it didn’t interfere with [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] hearing. The film showing was Gunga Din & I enjoyed it quite a lot. The projection was poor at times and occasionally they cut bits out to shorten the film, the programme being restricted to two hours. The cinema shows four different films a week. One on Sunday & then a different one on Monday & Tuesday, Change again for Wed & Thur, Change again Fri & Sat. At the end of the week, “Love from a Stranger” is to be on. I shall try to see it if I can.
Yesterday was the best day we have had. Rain was intermittent & each shower did not last for long so that we got quite a lot of drill and a little P.T. All other days the rain has been so persistent that we have had long spells of waiting in our huts.
Many thanks for “Guilty Men.” I shall read it as soon as I can and return it. I am progressing slowly with Anna but hope to finish it soon and return it to you. I don’t think that the second half of the book is as good as the first – it is much slower & contains a great deal of rather unnecessary detail. I – Interval XXX
Since writing the last paragraph I have read a bit more of “Anna” & am now very near the end. It is get [sic] a little more vivid now although rather sad. It is now Wednesday evening & with the hut fire alight the temperature is more bearable although there is a considerable amount of noise because as most of the fellows are on fire picket too, they are confined to camp like me.
My general impression of the camp, apart from the cold & wet, is a good one. The food is really good & quite hot when we get it. We are given enormous quantities to eat but my appetite is now considerable with the result that I never feel satisfied. The discipline is very severe especially in our wing chiefly because of the vigilant hell cat Warrant Officer Jones. I am still smarting under the punishment to be imposed on me at the week end for having a bath instead of queuing up for lunch. So think of me during those two days and send me your love
So far, this letter has been written entirely in the first person. Please forgive me & tell me frankly if you dont [sic] want me to prattle about myself. I am always thinking of you – that is not an overstatement but an absolute fact.
During one of our long waits today while it was pouring with rain, some of the chaps at my end of the room start discussing sex in a most filthy fashion. I was so sickened that I took out “Anna” & started reading it in an obvious manner. I noticed that one or two of them
[page break]
[circled 3]
saw me & later on when there was a spark of genuine humour from the other end of the hut someone said “Look – old frosty face is laughing.”
There are two main types of fellow in the hut. One section, my end unfortunately, is the most disgusting and the conversation at times is loathsome. The other consists of a number of boys of the very masculine type. Much cleaner in appearance and in mind they glory in displaying their physical prowess by repeated wrestling matches & gymnastics exercises. At the far end of the hut are those whose company would be most congenial. They are quieter & more serious than any [deleted] oth [/deleted] of the others but being on the whole more reserved they tend to go about singly instead of forming small groups as the others do.
I wrote to my parents a week ago & stupidly told them not to send me anything. If by chance you should see or speak to any of the family you might drop a hint that my appetite has improved & that my financial position has considerably worsened. That is a very serious problem for although my needs are simple my income is so minute that I haven’t yet succeeded in living within it. Nominally I should be paid 1/6 a day but it is going to be 5 or 6 weeks before I start getting it. By the next payday – Thurs. week I shall have been 4 weeks in the service & shall have received £1 – 5/- a week. There is a small but constant expense on cleaning material, the additional luxury items being usually:
a cup of tea & a bun at 10 am same after dinner & same or cocoa at night – 10 woodbines daily – I can’t afford tobacco & a flick or camp concert occasionaly [sic] – actually I have been only once. Fortunately most of the chaps are temperate so that I haven’t lost any cash by abstaining from alcohol. Nevertheless I am not exactly in the money & if you care to drop delicate hints if you should ever speak to Mother please do so. Don’t send me any of your money yet. If you can afford to buy & post [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] the things for which I ask you, you will be releiving [sic] or relatively considerable burdens.
We went for a dental inspection yesterday. I was one of four out of the 30 who did not require any treatment. The others started their treatment today and you can take it form me that the thing is being properly done. There is no butchery today – each man gets treated just as sympathetically as he would if he were being attended by his own private dentist. They are even scaling teeth where necessary. Mine didn’t even require that.
[page break]
Now let me stop blethering about myself & ask you a few questions. Have you had a week of almost solid rain? How is the shelter standing up to it? How is Barbara? What is the exact date of her birthday? Had you really forgotten the date of our engagement? Are my people bothering you at all? What are the raids on London like nowadays? Has there been much dropped near you lately? Have you used the shelter much? Are all its services still satisfactory e.g. heat & light? Are you keeping the rugs in the shelter free from damp? How is the gardiner [sic] getting on? What is the allotment looking like? How are the vegetables coming on? How are you keeping? Are you looking as lovely as ever? Do you long for me as much as I for you? How is your dressmaking progressing? I don’t want to be rude, but is your figure altering much? Are you taking proper care of yourself? Drinking 1 pint of milk a day? As much bullie as you can? Are you not overworking yourself? When does Mrs Mickley leave? Have you got as substitute? What are her working hours to be? And her pay? Can you read this awful c[inserted]r[/inserted]amped scrawl of mine? Have you heard from your Mother recently? Has she any [deleted] good [/deleted] news? [deleted] Can you [/deleted] Has the R.A.F. pay started working properly for you yet? A multitude of other details from you and about you would be greatly appreciated. A letter from you is like a half-holiday. If I don’t hear from you I begin wondering if anything has happened to you.
I probably won’t write again before the week end & then only if my penal fatigue doesn’t take up too much time. I have still four or five duty letters to get off my chest & if I wait much longer they will never be done.
We get another inoculation on Friday – 3 times as powerful as the one at Uxbridge but they tell us that it doesn’t hurt any more because our system is [inserted] now [/inserted] more used to such shocks. Next week we go through a gas chamber & start our musketry practice.
Just a few more lines & I must stop. I hope you dont [sic] mind my constant repetition of my longing for you. I am always conjuring up visions of our next meeting & longing eagerly, oh so eagerly for it. It was awful to hear of the Prime Ministers remarks about the years 1943 and 1944. How I wish I had faith in prayer.
All my love darling
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Thanks her for letter and cake. Says he is unhappy particularly over rainy weather and polishing boots. Writes of church parade and offending the padre with swearing. Continues with recounting visit to local ladies for afternoon tea. Continues writing about the camp, fellow trainees, activities, duties, going to cinema, better weather and the book he is reading. Asks about activities and acquaintances at home.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-06
Format
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Six page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EValentineJRMValentineUM401106
Coverage
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Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-06
Contributor
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Tricia Marshall
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
entertainment
faith
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
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Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
[inserted] PS. Will you send some of those envelope economisers of yours. love John.
PPS Let me know your Mother address love squared John, [/inserted]
1251404 A/C [inserted] 2 [/inserted] Valentine JRM
Hut 40 Squad 25
E Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
RAF Station
Bridgenorth
Saturday 9-11-40
12.11.40
My Dearest Ursula
Your second parcel with its enclosed letter and your next letter arrived together on Thursday, thank you very much for everything, my dear. It is good of you to supply me with my needs so promptly. I have not too much faith in the R.A.F. methods of dealing with the incoming mail here and every time I move there are likely to be delays in my receiving letters if I am posted in a hurry before I have time to let you know. In order to keep a check on all the letters you send me especially if you should happen to be sending me any money, I think it would be good idea if you were to number all your letters. Would you start this with your next to me (if any??) So far as I am aware I have had the following [deleted] really [/deleted] letters from you – excluding little notes put in parcels or books.
Letter No 1. Sent the day I left home but not received until I got here (handwritten)
Letter No 2. Sent to me here after you had mine from Uxbridge & a P.C from here – giving my address (typed)
Letter No 3. Sent with your second parcel (typed)
Letter No 4 Sent 6th Nov. – Handwritten.
Unless you have written another to me before you get this, would you head your next “No 5”. Dont [sic] think I am being too fussy about this, but I was sent to collect the mail for our Flight the other day & I saw the state of the correspondence in the Wing Mail Office – it was just chaotic & when we started [deleted] sto [/deleted] sorting out the mail for our Flight we found any number of letters for other Flights as well as other Wings. I don’t think it is necessary for me to number my letters because here & at Uxbridge (at any rate) I have been able to post my letters in pukkah (? spelling) G.P.O. letter boxes.
My darling, I have loved all your letters – they give me a real treat every time I get one & each makes me long more than ever for the next. I will now read through them all again and see if there are any points that I wanted to answer or comment upon.
I don’t remember whether I mentioned it or not but Touches allowance of £153.6/8 is correct & as you suggest income tax has still to be deducted from each monthly instalment of £12.15.9 leaving you, roughly £10-10-6
[page break]
I would be glad if you would send me my green sleevless [sic] pullover – knitted by your Mother. I am now keeping my fountain pen in my tunic & have no watch so my [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] waistcoat is not really needed & I think a pullover would be more comfortable. Apart from that, I don’t really want any extra clothes. When I am fully logged up with greatcoat etc. I have so many clothes on that I feel quite stiff – just as if I were wearing a suit of armour.
I’m very sorry to hear of your renewed spells of sickness I had hoped that these turns had gone for good and I can do no more than pray that they will soon finally disappear.
I am more than pleased that you invited yourself to Barnet. I had a letter from my Father saying how much they appreciated it. He very much admired your pluck in staying until it was dark & undertaking that fearful journey alone on such an awful night. Your journey back sounds as if it might have been rather unpleasant if all the bus conductors had been like the first. I don’t suppose you will want to go over too often but if you should please be as discreet as possible with regard to the journey back. I think that travel after the blackout is a thing to be avoided especially for you in your condition.
Quite frankly I am not impressed by your arguments in favour of accepting £10 a month from your Mother for Barbaras [sic] keep. To begin with we had £8 per month for Peter i.e. £96 a year. Barbaras [sic] £2 per week comes to £104 per year – not a great difference I admit but a fair percentage ( 8 1/3%). I am willing to wager that the cost of “most ordinary commodities” has not risen by as great a percentage for only this last week there has been a lot of discussion on the subject. [inserted] in the press [/inserted] £10 per month for Ba. i.e. £120 per year represents an increase of 25% which to my mind is obviously not justified. Furthermore you must admit that Ba will be cheaper to keep than Peter; that there are vegetables of fair value in store & in the allotment; and lastly that when the R.A.F. pay starts going properly you will be getting 28/6 per week which with Ba’s £2 makes £3.8.6 wheras [sic] we two tried to live on £3. I know, of course, that you now have a gardener to pay for. However, my dear, you & I could discuss this subject until we were black & blue in the face & never agree – so please accept your Mother’s generous offer & let us hear no more about the matter. Do try not to touch her other £10 a month unless a really serious emergency arises – and if you love me – do pay the £41 back to her bank less the cost of the dining room curtains.
Finally don’t try too much economy on the question of domestic help. Do have all that you want.
[page break]
[underlined] 2 [/underlined] Until your letter came I was really very unhappy & homesick & longing for you terribly. I feel better now though but I am not looking forward to the next few weeks. In addition to all the training we have to take our turn at dish washing, floor scrubbing lavatory cleaning, guard duty, fire pickets & a multitude of other jobs so that we may not have a lot of spare time. We have another inoculation too & our teeth inspected and attending too if necessary.
I am still very constipated & wish that I could get rid of it. My mail is becoming very awkward because more & more of it is flopping about in the wind. This morning I got one of the fellows to cut quite a large hunk of it off so that it feels more comfortable but looks even more unsightly.
It is curious watching all the fellows in the room getting to know one another & getting together in little groups of similar character. They [sic] way they do this gives quite an insight into their various types for like attracts like without a doubt. We have one professional actor in our midst. He poses the whole time & talks in a very mincing & artificial tone of voice. He was in “The Lion has Wings” – one of the observers in one of the planes. His crony is that bleating kid whom we all despised at Uxbridge.
This morning I was one of a party of 8 chosen on account of our height to put 1000 chairs in place in the gym for Church parade tomorrow. The same 8 have to act as ushers, take the collection & then put away thee 1000 chairs. They have issued us with boiler suits for all dirty work including fatigues. Mine of course was made for a fellow 12 inches shorter & [underlined] I look just like a bunny at a panto [/underlined] in a tight fitting skin.
While at Uxbridge I was told to have a hair cut but I received a similar order here. However a haircut has to be a haircut – no musicians locks are allowed & they shoot at side boards. I had to go the Camp barber & you should see me now. The barber had electric shears & ran them from neck upwards stopping just short of the pati. Then with scissors he removed most of [deleted] much [/deleted] [inserted] the [/inserted] top hair and tried to even out the sharp line left where the shears had stopped. My head (God how cold it is) is [deleted] almost [/deleted] naked almost up to the top and on that is a little short cropped stubble. Unfortunately nothing less will satisfy the raging Warrant Officer & I had no option but to submit
[page break]
I am glad that you are going to have the dining room black out attended to. As to taking it out of your mothers money I don’t really object because there is quite a case for it.
Thanks for the [inserted] letter [/inserted] enclosed [deleted] letter [/deleted] with yours. I have attended to both & am trying to get the income tax liability reduced still more. The inspector made what I think is a mis statement in his letter & I have written to him from “Lido” taking advantage of it, so you should have a reply within a few weeks.,
I am very sorry to here [sic] of Mrs Mickley departure. When does she leave? Give her my very best wishes when she does go. I hope you will find someone suitable to take her place. I am afraid that you will miss her for she seemed to me to be an exceptionally nice woman for the job, and it will not be easy to replace her adequately.
I like the idea of your helping at the neals Church but for heavens sake my dear, do look after yourself. If the building is moderately safe[deleted]l[/deleted] & you don’t have to do anything very strenuous it seems to be a good way of spending the hours when you are by yourself.
Do you mind if I ask you to send me things when I want them? My income is so very small that it requires very careful handling not to become an outcast from the rest of the hut. In addition to the things I asked for in my last letter I would like a jar of jam or marmalade – we get none for breakfast & only one piece at tea time. Also a large tin of Silvo that is to say not too large but not one of the size on sale here about 2 inches high which lasts only a week. Do pop in a stamp whenever you remember & send me your chess move sometimes. In my last letter I asked you not to send cake but I would like some after all. We nearly always have a cup of tea at the NAAFI to try to maintain the circulation & something to eat would be very welcome. Don’t send money yet until I am really on the rocks.
When Barbara has her few days off it would be quite a good plan for you to come down here if she would like to do so. Normally we get off at 4.30 until 9.30 on weekdays & 12.30 on Saturdays & Sundays. During training we sometimes have a lecture at 5.30, though, & fatigues such as canteen & guard also break into spare time. However let me know if you think of it again & I may know a little more about our timetable.
In the meantime my darling I send you all my love. I enjoyed your letter so much that I am impatient for the next.
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Thanks her for letter and parcel. Mentions poor mail handling, Lists letters received and asks her to number subsequent ones. Mentions financial matters and requests she sends him some items. Mentions he is homesick but not looking forward to next few weeks training and duties. Describes daily activities and visit to barber. Concludes with family and domestic chat.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-09
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four pager handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401109
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-09
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19095/EValentineJRMValentineUM401111-0001.2.jpg
cb7765422271b95fb9a30f06b4b71f53
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19095/EValentineJRMValentineUM401111-0002.2.jpg
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
1251404 AC II Valentine JRM
Squad 25 Hut 40
E Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
RAF Station
Bridgenorth
Salop
Mon – 11-11-40
[circled [indecipherable numbers] 40]
My Dear Ursula
Another of your ever welcome letters arrived today followed shortly after by your third parcel. The contents of the latter gave my conscience an uneasy turn for it gave many signs of your usual generosity and it came soon after my appeal to you for money. I am afraid that the cost of all your parcels to me must have had an appreciable effect on your strained purse especially in view of the apparent reluctance of the RAF to furnish you with its allowance, meagre as it is.
A jar of honey will be a real joy – thank you very much you darling – and I will do as you suggest about the jam. Those two should last me for some time now. The second lot of fruit too is very welcome. Unfortunately I don’t want the Duraglit. I bought some on my first day at Uxbridge & have been using it ever since but it doesn’t produce nearly such a brilliant shine as the liquid metal polishes. Everyone of experience here recommends Silvo but I shall carry on with the Bluebell just to see how effective it is – so please don’t send any Silvo for the time being. Can you use the Duraglit at home – let me know and I will return it to you.
I really must moderate by demands on you otherwise you will be ruined. I think that by now I have mentioned all my immediate wants so that you may have a week or two for recovery.
In your parcel, I couldn’t find the 2 1/2d stamp nor the letter from [indecipherable word]. I gather that our furniture has been destroyed & that they have repaid the cost. I am terribly disappointed & can only hope that they have sent a cheque for the right amount. There should be full details on my file, but if I remember rightly, we paid £25.7.6 for the suite. If you still have the letter do let me see it. We can conveniently use the money in part payment of Belula’s a/c & take the balance from the joint P.O. Savings Bk. Let me have full details when sending the latter. That will save disturbing your Savings Certs.
[page break]
This will be just a short note. I am taking advantage of another period of pouring rain & can just dash off a few lines before we go for a gas lecture.
Sunday was my most enjoyable day here It only rained at intervals & we were still excused parades because of our inoculations. I went voluntarily to the Church Parade in the morning & we were allowed out at 2.30 – 48 hours after our inoculation. It was my first time out of the camp for a week & Grant & I called for tea again on our aged lady friend. She made us very welcome again & provided us with a nice tea and home comforts for a few hours.
This morning was bitterly cold & we spent most of it lying on our [deleted] le [/deleted] bellies at the rifle range. It was the first time in my life that I had ever held a gun – let alone fired one and I was not such an utter boob as I had expected for my score was by no means the lowest. However we finished our firing and stood up again, frozen to almost solid masses of ice. Immediately afterwards it started to pour with rain & has been doing so ever since. We were soon wet as well as cold & we still are – sheltering in our usual unheated huts. What a life! What a moaner you must think I am! But I am standing up to these foul conditions far better than some of the fellows. Nearly all have coughs & some can’t even speak. Apart from the physical discomfort of the cold the only effects that I have suffered are complete loss of taste for two weeks and slight sore throat.
Do send a chess move sometime. I do want to start the game as soon as we can Dont [sic] forget our first move – each pawn to King 4.
And now I really must stop for our lecture is due fairly soon.
All my fondest love my dearest
Affectionately yours
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Thanks her for parcel but worries over cost to her. Discusses parcel contents. Discusses financial and domestic matters. Describes daily activities, visit to locals for tea and mentions first rifle range firing in poor weather.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-11
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401111
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-11
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19097/EValentineJRMValentineUM401115-0001.2.jpg
cbce63201b339c2fb757379b9cdc89ed
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19097/EValentineJRMValentineUM401115-0002.2.jpg
ab219534f5ab127a47c10d8375301171
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19097/EValentineJRMValentineUM401115-0003.2.jpg
c1ea941a48f5bcd3842c4282b96f5b4e
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19097/EValentineJRMValentineUM401115-0004.2.jpg
f843d492c2d05e9699422142c6a846c5
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19097/EValentineJRMValentineUM401115-0005.2.jpg
d91c87c834b619416e10fc373d07381d
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
[underlined] 15 [/underlined]
[underlined] 11 [/underlined]
40
1251404 AC 2 Valentine
Squad 25 Hut 40
E Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
R.A.F Station
Bridgenorth.
My Dearest Ursula
I have been looking forward all week to an opportunity for sitting down quietly to write a few lines to you, and I have so much that I would like to say and so little time left this evening that I shall probably forget some of the things I want to mention. However, first let me run through all your letters and see if there is anything that I ought to reply to.
Richards bill of £1-7.6 for the tiles he mended some weeks ago does seem a bit steep but it seems that you have no option but to pay it and his second, bill, when it does come, out of the house a/c.
Thank you very much for the soap flakes. I felt very guilty when I saw the cost of the postage for them. I suppose the flakes themselves must have cost much less than that. I really ought to have bought them myself. I have now washed six pairs according to your instructions but I think that after all I shall have to send the future dirty pairs back to you because the last two I washed have been stolen while drying. There is a drying room here but the pipes in it are never more than luke warm so that it is a matter of a day or two before such things as socks are dry. I looked in the room today only to find it empty – my last two pairs which I had left having disappeared. One of the missing pairs was your first pair and I am terribly disappointed because they are my most comfortable ones from all points of view – size, style, wool. Many thanks too for the tobacco – it was sweet of you to include the tin and also the bar of chocolate. I haven’t touched the [deleted] latter [/deleted] former yet because I simply can’t taste a thing.
I am so glad that the RAF allowance is now coming through properly. It ought considerably to simplify your financial arrangements.
The new Statesman arrived safely & when I get a chance I am very glad to be able to turn to it. I will send it back as soon as I finish with it.
[page break]
It is a pity about Mrs Mickleys second nominee, coming after you had engaged the less prepossessing of the two. I hope that you are able to get rid of her and take on the other.
I have now reached your letter 9. I agree that you have been spoiling me with mail and parcels “Parcel for Valentine in Flight Office” is becoming quite a well known phrase in the hut. I love you for all your kind attention to me but agree that if you can’t keep it up you ought not to worry unduly. In fact I think it would be a good idea if we were each of us to await a letter from the other before sending off one of our own. If we had time to write before receipt of a letter from the other, we could always jot down a few lines & add to them when replying to the other’s letter. If you follow me, it would obviate doing what I am trying to do now i.e. writing in answer to about 4 letters & two or three parcels. So I won’t send [deleted] [indecipherable letter] [/deleted] another until I get a reply to this & thereafter you do likewise.
Your Mother’s pullover is very welcome & so too are the lovely socks. I will see that they are not lost & I like yours the best of any that I have worn and, as it happened, my feet were wet when your parcel arrived so I immediately took off those I was wearing & put on the new ones.
I haven’t had time yet to try to interpret your German but will do so this week end, I hope.
So glad your visit to the dentist was comparatively painless. What did he say about your “receding gums”.
Now your letter 10. What exactly has happened to our furniture. You see I am still in the dark for you only refer to Yeandious letter which I have not yet seen. By all means lickle him up a bit if he doesn’t send a cheque soon.
As regards the coke allocation, surely the reasoning it [sic] that in the quarter where delivery is most difficult you want anything but the big allocation so that if delivery is scaled down you have the smallest disappointment. However I imagine that our coke consumption is more or less steady throughout the year & I think your idea of 15 cwts. per quarter is the most sensible. As to coal, I think that we ought to maintain a high quota in the summer months when delivery should be least difficult. My suggested allocation would be 1 ton 5 cwt; 1 ton; 1 ton; 1 ton 5 cwt In the meantime I should see that your stocks are fully maintained.
[page break]
I would be very glad of my watch sometime. I hate having to ask the time of other fellows perpetually. Herewith Mrs Hughes letter – no comments nice of MRS Grimfeld to ring up. I hope you enjoy the night.
That, I think, disposes of all your mail to date no it isn’t – thank you dearest for the packet of cigarettes & for the 4/6 enclosed in the packet. How nice of you to send so much – it quite put me on my financial feet again and I shall do my utmost now to avoid having to ask for any more.
This has been a lousy week – I haven’t had a moment in which I have been warm enough to write. Monday evening was a fearful one – torrential rain & bitterly cold – And having been frozen all day I went down to the gym after tea to try to restore the circulation. After an hour with a medicine ball I felt better but had to spend the rest of the evening cleaning boots & polishing [inserted] buttons [/inserted] because we had been severely reprimanded for them. On Tuesday, we had a lecture after tea & then supper & again cleaning until bed time. Wednesday I had to do my fatigue after all & spent from 1 pm until evening washing dishes, dishes and dishes. Thursday we had another lecture after tea & having again been thoroughly ticked off about our ceremonial boots we spent the rest of the evening doing nothing else but putting boot polish on and rubbing it off. So I haven’t [inserted] been [/inserted] able really to sit down quietly since the week end.
Quite honestly, my dear, I simply loathe this place with all the vigour that I can. I have a [sic] long last fallen foul of the cold germs and am feeling rotten just now. My face feels very hot & flushed – eyes sore nose streaming, throat sore & thick & I have quite a useful cough. Of course I can’t taste anything & as I never seem warm I long more & more for you, your company & your kisses.
Added to this we now have a hateful Flight Sergeant in place of the rather pleasant man who was here when we arrived. The new man, who took over at the beginning of the week, is not new to the Flight. He is just a promoted Sergeant, utterly uneducated horribly irritable, given to drinking I am told, and just thoroughly spiteful. His first acts were to make his presence felt by inspecting our buttons & boots and not being satisfied with any. Under threats of dreadful punishment we now have
[page break]
to devote quite a large portion of each evening to polishing & repolishing our stupid ceremonial boots – blast them. Then the blighter comes down to the drill square where we poor fools spend much (too much) of our time in charge of P.T. Corporals. He wanders from squad to squad venting his spite on each in turn. If he takes a particular dislike to one squad he takes them over for a bit & either races them to the point of exhaustion or else swears at them & occasionally punishes one unfortunate with a cook house fatigue. On the day when I was already in the cook house (while my fellow sufferers were playing football) the old swab snooped round the hut looking at the boots & noting those that did not satisfy him. When the boys came back from ball 12 of them were sent to the cook house without delay. Several times every day we are treated to long harangues upon the undesirability of not crossing his path & the innumerable ways there are of doing so, most of which we find somehow or other. He is always swearing & threatening and is he unpopular? All this week we have been shouted at like a lot of little schoolboys & yet in our hut not a single fellow is not really trying. However, enough of that.
We have now been in the RAF for a month & fully three weeks of it have been utterly wasted. That is no exaggeration – we have been fed, housed & clothed at the public expense for 4 weeks and three of them have [deleted] been [/deleted] [inserted] consisted [/inserted] almost entirely of waiting, [inserted] & [/inserted] idleness. Had the idle hours been warm ones it wouldn’t have been so bad but I have told you roughly what the temperature is like.
Blast all the noise going on around me. I simply can’t think because of fellows chattering, swearing & telling stories. In addition I don’t feel so good so I must stop soon.
Now about this leave question. Next week end six of us will have passes from lunch on Friday till midnight on Sunday. We shall probably have to ballot for them so that I may or may not be [inserted] allowed [/inserted] off. Do you think that you could make arrangements to leave home early on Friday morning in the event of mine being [inserted] one of [/inserted] the lucky chances. Come on Thursday if you like – I could meet you after 5 pm in Bridgenorth – we could spend the evening together – say goodbye until Friday afternoon & thereafter we could be together until late on Sunday evening
[page break]
If I am one of the fortunate ones & you could & are willing to come up here on Thursday it would be lovely & might even restore my sanity for a while. I would enjoy it more than I can say. I will make enquiries tomorrow afternoon as to trains & accommodation just in case. The only other snag is the notice which I shall have of my good fortune or otherwise.
I must stop now dearest. The chater [sic] of the other fellows, the poor light & my rotten cold are combining to stifle any mental effort.
Do come to me if I am allowed out. With fondest love & much longing for you
Yours affectionately
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Replies to issues raised in her letters. Writes of receiving soap flakes and doing laundry. Happy that RAF allowance is going through. Discuses mail and other domestic matters. Goes on with brief description of daily activities and a hateful new Flight Sergeant. Describes upcoming leave and her visiting Bridgenorth.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-15
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Five page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401115
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-15
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19100/EValentineJRMValentineUM401116-0001.2.jpg
325c6fcd202fd42a21931a05ed15da87
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19100/EValentineJRMValentineUM401116-0002.2.jpg
2381f2338efc70d2e5f85c64126acae4
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
125404[?] AC[?] Valentine
Hut 40 Squad 25
E Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
R.A.F. Station
Bridgnorth
16-11-40
Dearest Ursula
If I can manage to keep a pen in my hands in this frigd[sic] hut I will try to scribble a few lines despite my vow yesterday not to write again until I had a reply from you.
However your letter arrived just now together with Mary Webb, for which ever so many thank yous. As it happens, after I had written to you last night we had a draw for the 6 passes for next week end and I was not one of the fortunate ones. Sad though it is (and I am terribly disappointed) it means that you need not alter the arrangements you made with my Father for visiting their new place next week end. I am glad of this because I so want you to see the place as soon as possible so that we can go right ahead with a few more arrangements for the birth.
[page break]
I am debating with myself the possibility of applying for leave [inserted] for next weekend [/inserted] on compassionate grounds if I can catch our beastly Sergeant in a better mood than his usual. My chances of success are slender but if it should come off I will make my way to Priors Marston myself. It isn’t such a long way from here. However don’t bank on this darling, and, in any case, I shan’t be able to let you know in advance. Would you let me know the full address of my parents [sic] house just in case the miracle works.
I am just off to Bridgnorth to collect some washing etc & as soon as I get back I am going straight to bed. Tomorrow too. I intend spending all my free time in bed to try to shake off this lousy cold & cough.
I hope that Peter wasn’t affected by the awful raid on Coventry. We saw quite a lot of fireworks that night but none on us.
Keep well dearest – how I long to see you
With all my love for ever
Affectionately yours
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Thanks her for letter. Disappointed that he not win in draw for leave pass. Mentions her visiting new place and planning for upcoming birth. Debating applying for compassionate leave but doesn't hold out hope. Hopes that Peter was not affected by the bombing of Coventry.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-16
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401116
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
England--Warwickshire
England--Coventry
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-16
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
bombing
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1251404 ACII Valentine
25 Squad 40 Hut
E[?] Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
R.A.F. Station
Bridgnorth
17-11-40
My own Darling
When I wrote you those few hurried lines yesterday, I pictured myself spending most of today in bed in an endeavour to get rid of my cough/cold. I also imagined myself [deleted] writing [/deleted] composing in comparative comfort (allibration[?] – what!) a letter to you which was for once to be free from grumbles. Somehow, my plans have gone awry for I am at the moment engaged on a 12 hour fatigue – 9 am – 9 pm, - a punishment, too, for a most minor and entirely innocent offence. It happened that after duty on Friday a few more names were required for week end fatigue duties but as I had already done a gardening one (planting cabbages) I was, strictly speaking, immune from any more for some days. The Corporal, however, didn’t think of taking the names of those who hadn’t been on fatigues but without any warning they inspected our huts. You may or may not remember that I had put a few stitches in the centre of mine to prevent it from opening too much when on my head. That apparently is an offence of which we had been given no warning. Six[?] fellows who had tried to improve their appearance were caught in this way & given various fatigues as a punishment. Actually mine isn’t an awful one – I am wing Runner for 12 hours & my duties are to stay in the wing office & run any errands that become necessary during the day. I have had only a few to do but one of them was unusual. The Sergeant in charge of the camp hospital rang up to say that he had two dead German Airmen on his hands and he wanted a copy of Air Publications 1307 paragraph X? which apparently contains instructions as to disposal of same. It appears that a German plane was brought down very near here the other night & that two of the crew were brought to our own hospital. My job was to find a [deleted] likely [/deleted] person likely to have a copy of this particular publication but I was unsuccesful. [sic]
[page break]
After I had written to you yesterday, it occurred to me that I might have a shot at getting compassionate leave next week end & join you at Priors Marston. My idea is to catch the beastly Sergeant on one of his less aggressive moods & to say to him “Sergeant – I am married – my home is in London and my wife is expecting a baby in the Spring. We have been offered the use of a cottage not far from here & next week end my wife is being given a lift to the place with a view to seeing if it will be satisfactory & making arrangements as to doctors nurses etc. May I have leave to join her & help with the arrangements?” What do you think of that yourself? I am sure you would be moved but I am not so sure about the Sergeant. However, I can’t lose anything by trying, but I must wait until nearer the end of the week before & pop the question. If I am lucky I shall probably get off sometime on Friday & will have to report back at midnight on Sunday. I fervently pray for success for no one can imagine how I long for you. I have been trying to analyse my longing & to find out exactly what it is about you that I yearn for – but it isn’t so easy. It is a longing for something almost indefinable about you – your presence, your company, your being. I just want you all – not any one part more than any other & not for any one outstanding reason. You seem part of me, rather & I feel almost incomplete without you. I know you won’t follow this but it is very real to me.
Another thing I meant to mention to you in one of my last to[sic] letters was my German studies. I have read[?] my Grammar for about 2 hours – Mon/Tues evenings of last week but since then our new Sergeant has made things so hot for us that we have really had very little spare & even that has to be largely devoted to cleaning & polishing. I am more hopeful as to spare time after we have been posted but until then we have to strain every nerve to keep in the good books of the Sergeant.
Apart from fatigues our evenings are spent roughly as follows. Tea at 4.45 – Lecture (not always) 5.30 supper 6.30. Free 7 pm. Until about 8.30 or even 9 pm. No later [inserted] because [/inserted] for ones own safety one has to brush our clothes, take off the trousers & put them under the bed for pressing, make the bed, polish all buttons & two pairs of boots – wash oneself & clean the teeth – all this before lights out at 10.15. The free time you see is very limited[?] & as the only warm place is our own hut – fires being allowed in the evening – there are probably at least [deleted two letters] ten fellows or more there, all officers chating[sic], laughing or indulging in horseplay so there is not an atmosphere conducive to concentration.
[page break]
I don’t think I have ever described Bridgnorth stuff to you. Although I have been there seldom & then only in the worst of weather it has always struck me as an extremely attractive little town. It is quite old and quaint. It is built or rather I imagine that the oldest part is built on the edge of a steep cliff about 200 [deleted] yards [/deleted] feet high. The cliff is of a red or dull red brown crumbly rock & quite a lot of it is exposed. There is a rock railway up the cliff which costs 2d return but I have never used it. At the top of the cliff is the part of Bridgnorth known as high town [deleted] it[?] [/deleted] It contains the main street, shopping centre and a very quaint & congested market place. I haven’t explored this part but I am sure that there is a lot of interest to be had from examining the old & odd buildings there. Along the cliff is a path known as the Castle Walk from which one can look down the face of the cliff into the Severn valley. The river runs close to the foot of the cliff and on either said of it are quite a number of houses and a small factory or two constituting the Low Town. The cliff itself has a right angle turn at one part and in the corner of the angle a garden is set out containing a few beds and a diminutive bandstand. The garden was erected to commemorate one of Queen Victoria’s many jubilees. The Memorial of the last war is also in this garden, placed at the extreme[?] edge of the cliff. It is a rather [deleted] a [/deleted] fine metal statue of a soldier with full equipment about to hurl a hand grenade into the Severn valley which falls away to his feet and [inserted] partly [/inserted] owing to the fine position it is one of the best war Memorials that I have seen.
Coming from the High Town back to the camp is really a beautiful walk. Before descending the cliff [deleted] is a [/deleted] there is a grand view of the Severn in both directions while across the river the ground rises steeply to a very wooded ridge behind which is the camp. The trees are still very varied in their colours and there is still plenty of bracken with its light brown tints. Descending the cliff one crosses the river on a picturesque bridge below which the water is fairly tumbling down after these weeks of incessant r4ain. Just downstream from the bridge the river [deleted] splits [/deleted] divides for a few hundred yards and encloses a pretty little island well wooded with a small patch of green lawn in the centre and a boat house at the water’s edge. There is in fact a lot of boating here in the summer.
Having crossed the river, the road becomes a very steep hill – very steep indeed but halfway up there is a spot for a rest & the best view of Bridgnorth
[page break]
that I have seen. One can see the packed houses or rather their roofs, of the Low Town above which rises the cliff. Wherever the cliff breaks, though, or rises less steeply a house is built of the local red rock. These houses of course, are not built according to any plans but only where nature permits so that the whole effect of the cliff is odd with its patches of naked red rock interspersed with bracken & trees and houses built of the common stone in a most haphazard manner.
Even on top of the cliff is the High Town with a few Church towers & the usual motley collection of dwelling houses, shops etc. Incidentally, the Jubilee garden I mentioned contains a very ancient ruin what was once a royal castle and built of the local rock was almost completely destroyed by Cromwell who used gunpowder for the job. So thoroughly [deleted] has he done [/deleted] did he do it that the sole remains are one wall about 8 feet thick & 50 feet high leaning at an angle of, I think, 73 degrees, and an odd lump of [one indecipherable word] concrete and rock probably from this wall. The old lady who has entertained me to tea on two Sundays bitterly regrets that before the jubilee garden was laid down they did not do any excavation for she thinks that the ground round the castle has considerable potential antiquities – please allow the phrase for you’ll know what I mean.
From the same spot whence the view of Bridgnorth is obtained one can see also the local cemetry[sic] which is situate on a piece of land with contours similar to the golf course at [one indecipherable word] – all ups and downs – while beyond it is a lovely little hill of two hundred feet almost perfectly conical & covered with thick masses of trees save where slabs of naked rock peep through. Proceeding further up the hill, the road cuts quite deeply into the ridge & in places has walls of damp reddish rock many feet high. At the top, the country becomes generally level, undulating gently and it is on this plain that our camp lies[?.
Given good weather & regular hours off duty, one could spend many hours contentedly exploring the town and the pleasant country, given the company of a charming, loving & lovable wife. I’m glad the RAF does not issue these because I would much prefer to choose my own and am more than satisfied with my choices.
In the orderly room, dearest, when I am serving my fatigue, the light is so poor that my [two deleted letters] eyes are beginning to smart so I must stop now. I will do my best to join you next week end. If I don’t I hope you will like it. If you don’t please say so quite frankly to my Father. All my love darling.
Your John
[page break]
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Starts with description of punishment duty and reason for it. Writes of possibility of getting compassionate leave due to immanent birth. Goes on to describe daily activities and then provides a very detailed description of local town of Bridgnorth.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-17
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401117
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
England--Bridgnorth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-17
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Sue Smith
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
memorial
military discipline
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1251404 AC2 Valentine
Hut 40 Squad 25
E Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
R.A.F. Station
Bridgnorth
25-11-40
My Dearest Ursula,
This will probably be only a short note because it is fairly late in the evening already and I shall have to start on my polishing & cleaning shortly.
How wonderful it was to be with you again for those two precious days. I loved every minute of them except for the unfortunate periods when you were so upset. I pray that they will never recur for you ought to be spared every unnecessary worry. It was lovely to see you again & to be with you for 24 hours a day and in comparative peace. I look forward with all my heart to the next [deleted] indecipherable word [/deleted] chance of heavenly freedom with my own darling wife.
I hope your return to Hendon was safe and pleasant and that you had no tears after my departure & before you go back to Hendon; and indeed, after that too.
I had many uneasy moments after leaving you about the possibility of getting back to camp in good time but luckily everything turned out quite nicely. The train was over half an hour late in leaving Leamington because the railway in B’ham had been badly bombed, one tunnel entrance being hit. The train should have been a “through” to W’ton but we were told before we left that it would go to the Moor St Stn & that we would have to walk to Snow Hill Stn and that when enough W’ton bound people arrived at Snow Hill a special train would be run. We made good progress to B’ham but had a longish wait outside the Moor St. Stn then to our great joy we puffed through the station & into the bombed tunnel which had only just been cleared & so we got to snow hill without a change. The platforms of this station were thick with glass from the roof and we waited then for some 30 minutes but after leaving we had no more delays and arrived at W’ton at 8 o’clock. The last B’north bus leaving at 8.15. I arrived here at 9.30
The first morning back wasn’t pleasant. We all anticipated a few hectic days of intensive training for the passing out parade on Thursday but those in our hut were sadly disappointed. We paraded expectantly as
[page break]
usual at 8.15 brushed and polished only to receive the order to get into overalls & report to the cook house for a mornings fatigues. I spent a fairly varied time there starting with the boiler room scrubbing party (boilers being enormous cast iron saucepans or vats in which half a hundredweight of veg at a time can be boiled). This job was very wet, greasy and dirty and [deleted] was [/deleted} occupied us until 10.30 when we were given a mug of tea. Thereafter I transferred my attention to a meat mincer & alternately with a fellow sufferer I fed the machine and turned the handle. The monotony was to some extent relieved by a W.A.A.F from the next table cutting cake, who periodically surreptitiously slipped a slice into my hand. Having disposed of the meat I was instructed to render a few thousand slices of bread into crumbs for fish cakes. This job too had its compensation for I had to work at a bench on the lower shelves of which were stored the tins of cake cut up by the WAAFs. It was extraordinary how many slices of cake appeared to spring from the piles of sliced bread and I put “paid” to the accounts of quite a few. I then graduated to pot washing for the remainder of the morning which was completed by a “fatigues dinner” which is supposed to be the reward for our labours. It really was a blow out & I left the cook house feeling like a balloon.
In the afternoon we had the first inspection of our ceremonial boots, mine exciting no comments from Hell Cat who has now returned from leave. He proved to be in a thoroughly good frame of mind for he took us for half an hours arms drill and then dismissed us with instructions to spend the rest of the afternoon polishing again & again our boots and buttons.
We have not been told when we are to leave here, but as far as we can guess it will be Friday or Saturday. The destination, as yet, being unknown. Although my ceremonial boots are very poor, mainly because I wore them so much and spoilt the makers polish. I have no qualms about the Passing Out parade except that I am more than a little worried about arms drill. Our hut has been particularly unfortunate nearly every time the flight has had arms drill because we have either been on a fatigue or in disgrace or arrived at the rifle store after the other huts only to find all the rifles taken so that we have had to [deleted] finish up [/deleted] put up with broomsticks. As a broom stick hasn’t got a trigger or any of the other parts of a rifle it is very difficult to memorise the drill because there are quite a number of different movements in the whole of the syllabus.
I feel very tired after the week end. The two nights we spent together were quite short as far as sleep is concerned & last night I did a lot of polishing etc
[page break]
before settling down to sleep. Today we have had lots of food and little exercise so that I am rather drowsy just now.
I hope you found Barbara well when you got back and that she had managed by herself during the week end.
Whether it is the noise of the other blokes in the room, or the poor light or my tiredness I don’t know but I can think of little to say to you. Of course it is little over 24 hours since I saw you last and not much has happened since so perhaps you will excuse my lack of topics.
Don’t send anything but letters to me until you get my new address. If I am posted in a hurry I will try to send a wire letting you know roughly where I am being sent but if I am given good notice I will write as soon as I am told.
Oh damn it, dear, I know I am writing drivel – it must reaction from the ecstasies of the week end – for I feel in a thoroughly stupid mood, unable to think at all or to move my pen when it touches paper so please may I stop.
My darling – the week end was lovely. It was pure unalloyed pleasure to have you to kiss and kiss again. Your company makes all the difference in the world to me and the deprivation of it is the R.A.F’s biggest blow to me.
[page break]
It is, of course, impossible to guess when my next leave will be – I bet you that I look forward to it more than you. I am not mentioning stakes for I know that you wont pay even if you lose.
I bitterly regret Irene’s defection on Saturday. I can say nothing to excuse her but please do try to forgive her – I know you can do it and you wont lose anything by it. I don’t think you will have any more trouble like that for the sight of you in tears showed the family that some people are very sensitive.
Must stop now dearest. I long for a letter from you.
All my love & affection
John
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes it was wonderful to spend two days with her. Mentions journey back to camp. Describes activities and intensive training for passing out parade. Mentions cook house fatigues, food preparation and free cake. Goes on with more description of daily activities and that they have not yet been told when they are to leave. Asks her to only send letters until he can send new address.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-25
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401125
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-25
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Margaret Carr
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
1251404 AC2 Valentine
Squad 25 Hut 40
E. Flight
2 Squadron 2 Wing
R.A.F. Station
Bridgnorth.
[underlined] Tuesday 26/11/40 [/underlined]
Dearest Ursula,
I shan’t send this off tonight but I have a few minutes to spare and I can’t think of a better way of employing them than is writing to my own darling wife.
Today has been another gorgeous one – just like those lovely days we had together last week end. The weather has infact, [sic] been really good since last Friday and it does make life so much more pleasant. This morning we had practice AR warning. We had to dress in our anti gas clothing – smelly oil skin capes & hoods – and run out into the fields because the shelters aren’t finished yet. Then we had to lie flat on our stomachs so that our massed white faces wouldn’t be seen from the air and stay with our noses buried in the damp wet grass for thirty minutes Fortunately, the sun being in a genial mood, it wasn’t too nasty and one or two fellows boasted that they even slept.
After lunch we had 30 minutes to shave for the second time today. Change into our best pants, polish our boots (ordinary ones) for about the sixth time & our buttons for the second time – all this for an inspection by our C.O. in preparation for the real show on Thursday. Either I was up to standard or I am rather insignificant because the old blighter hardly even looked at me. After that we were all told to have a hair cut irrespective of the length of our whiskers and so my scalp has been shaved again. I haven’t been in the R.A.F. for six weeks yet but already I have been shorn four times. Three of them here. However, this last one is for Thursdays display and therafter [sic] I ought to be allowed to grow a little more wool to keep the draughts out. This evening I had a lovely shower a real warm soaker in which I had twenty minutes of pure joy.
There are rumours of a minor catastrophe. Our washing is sent to a laundry at Birmingham and gossip has it that the laundry has suffered a fate
[page break]
similar to our furniture. This hasn’t been confirmed yet so that we don’t know what they will do about replacing our losses, if any. If the “usual channels” are employed to produce fresh issues of pants, shirts etc. we shall positively “stink” before they arrive. I myself sent shirt, towel, pants & vest and as we have only two of each and my existing ones have been in service for over a week already I shall soon be unable to go anywhere without advertising my presence. [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted]
Have you done your four “fatigues” yet? You know what I mean – the consequences of being my wife – shelter, Beehive, nurse, book keeping. Do let me know what progress you make in each direction.
We are all quite excited about our next station. The Sergeant refused to tell us if we had been posted for the week end let alone drop any hint as to our destination. He said that the information has to be kept secret until the last moment to prevent the enemy from learning any troop movements & deducing theories therefrom. However, there have been fairly broad hints that we shall be leaving here before or at the end of the week. I shall be overjoyed when the time for departure comes for although I am fairly contented now especially since the delightful break which last week end provided. I shall always remember this camp as the place which has, at times, made me more miserable than ever before in my life.
It is amazing how different I have felt since I saw you. It seems to have altered my whole outlook and although it was a great wrench to have to say goodbye to you, I have come back here in a much more cheerful frame of mind, thoroughly refreshed by the joy of seeing you and living with you for two heavenly days.
My green pyjamas which I am now wearing have cooked almost as much derision as the red ones. They are advertised as the “girlish green” ones – but I think that it is only jealousy that inspires the scorn of my fellow internees.
And now dearest, I will shut down for the night. Tomorrow I shall add a few lines & then send it off. Sleep well won’t you darling, and [underlined] do [/underlined] look after yourself. Before I forget, many thanks for buying my ticket back here. I couldn’t have managed it myself. I hope it hasn’t impoverished you.
Sleep well, dear XX.
[page break]
[underlined] After lunch Wednesday 27/11/40 [/underlined]
My Dearest Ursula,
While waiting for another of those intimate and rather rude inspections, I will dash off another few lines. Your parcel of socks & fruit arrived this morning and gave me a most unexpected and pleasant surprise. I had not anticipated hearing from you for at least another two days, so that I was more than delighted to hear from you. It was typically sweet of you to write so soon after your return. The fruit was very welcome but alas is no longer. The apple disappeared on its arrival and the orange after lunch.
The postings for our flight have just been announced [deleted] by [/deleted] but mine was not included. It seems that all bar Aircrew are posted for Friday morning and that about 30 of us will be left behind. We may be posted any time, but after our passing out. I shall try to glean a little more information about my probable wherabouts [sic] next week. In the meantime, I suggest that you and Barbara make any arrangements you like for her few days leave and if, by any chance, I should learn something about myself, I will try to ‘phone and see if we can fit anything together. Mind you, I think it extremely unlikely that we shall be able to arrange anything so don’t hope for too much.
The reason for the “rude” inspection this afternoon is that there has been a minor outbreak of skin disease in one of the huts of this Flight. They have all come from one hut (not ours) but as a precaution the M.O. is coming round to inspect us all shortly.
This morning we had another inspection in preparation for tomorrow – this time from the Officer in charge of our Wing. I, as usual, attracted no special attention, this of course was not a medical inspection but one of kit, deportment, polished boots & buttons etc.
So far, today has been reminiscent of the first few days of our stay here. We have been on parade twice and each entailed about 1 hours standing in the cold – and today it is cold. The rest of the time we have spent awaiting events in these unheated huts and very shortly, when the M.O. turns up, we shall have to undress to display ourselves to him. You can imagine that we are all pretty chilly just now – I hope that there won’t be another outbreak of colds & coughs for most of the chaps are getting rid of these early ones.
In your letter, you more or less put your fingers to your nose & point them at me over my hint that you should transfer £4.2.8 to Sundries a/c.
[page break]
However I merely shrug my shoulders in a derisive fashion and laugh at your ignorance. It doesn’t matter two hoots if you have only £7.10.0 in House a/c and have spent more than that sum. It will be rectified by the next monthly credit of £4, so please dear make the entry just for my sake no matter how stupid you think I am. You see, according to my calculation £4 per month should be more than adequate for household expenses and the £7.10.0 I gave you represented the first months £4 plus £3.10.0 for unpaid bills. If you are slightly overspent at any time, the position ought automatically to right itself by regular monthly provisions.
I am so glad that you liked Priors Marston & that you enjoyed last week end despite the trouble with Irene. As I told you, I loved every minute of it that I spent with you and after reading your description of how you felt I think we may safely conclude that we get on pretty well together.
Look here, darling, it is getting very cold in this ice box and my hand is beginning to seize up so I shall stop now and return to the attack when the temperature is a little more to my liking
[underlined] Wednesday evening [/underlined]
Now to a final attempt to complete this letter. I have just returned from ‘phoning you. It was grand to hear your voice again and to speak to you but as is usually the case on such occasions I didn’t quite know what to say to you in the limited time at our disposal. As I told you, the cost of the call will be charged against you on the next account. It should be 1/4 but I don’t know if there was any excess on account of time.
Shortly after I had stopped writing this afternoon on account of the cold, we were told to commence undressing for the “rude” inspection at 2.30 and being by now thoroughly subdued, we obeyed like good airmen. As I said, it was chilly in any case but stripped to the waist with a jersey flung over the shoulders was infinitely worse but like that we had to wait until at 4.15 the Corporals came to the hut to tell us that the F.F.I. (as it is called) was postponed until tomorrow. Would you beleive [sic] it? A whole afternoon wasted, most of it half stripped, in an unheated hut on a cold afternoon near the beginning of [deleted] Nov [/deleted] [inserted] Dec [/inserted] ember. Of course we were furious & were giving vent to our annoyance by a display of mad rowdyism when a fellow with a sheet of paper in his hand entered the hut. It was the notice of our postings on Friday. We had previously been depressed because we were the only fellows from
[page break]
[circled 2]
the flight not to be posted and this news coming as it did after the futile & chilly wait sent the fellows almost mad with joy and excitement. They behaved like children at school, dancing shouting nay shrieking even kissing one another in their delerium. [sic]
As I told you, we are to be sent to Grantham. I haven’t been able to look it up on a map but I have passed through it by train many times and know it to be much more accessible from London than this place. I should also imagine that it will be nearer Priors Marston but I am guessing on that score. It is on the main L.N.E.R route to Scotland and is a fair sized town. Of course I can’t tell you yet whether we can arrange anything for next week for you and Barbara but I will see what I can do and will ‘phone if possible during the week end. I imagine though that Grantham won’t be nearly so pleasant as Bridgnorth for a few days holiday. It is much more like a city and the country in the neighbourhood, if I remember correctly, is much flatter and far less interesting. I think that this town is in Lincs. and not far from the bulb growing country which should give you some idea of the scenic possibilities.
This will be my last letter to you from Bridgnorth. I am heartily glad to get away from the camp because at times I have loathed it intensely. I hope the new place will be better but we have no idea what it will be like nor do we know if we shall be in a camp or in billets.
We are still anxiously awaiting news of our washing. It hasn’t turned up yet and another story is circulating that the laundry itself has not been bombed but the water supply to it was hit last week. If this is true, though mind you, I don’t beleive [sic] it any more than any of the myriads of rumours that float about, we ought at last to get our things back even if they are unwashed. I hope so, because the situation will soon be very serious, my present shirt for instance has seen at least ten days service
Nearly all the boys are in Bridgnorth tonight celebrating the news of their forthcoming release from this unpopular spot. I imagine that we more sober spirits in the hut will have to put up with a deal of noise & possible violence when they return. Some of them have been drinking every evening this week – on Monday they were particularly noisy on their return and two of them were violently sick soon after they got back to camp.
[page break]
Tomorrow they will have another celebration to mark their last night here and that promises to be the rowdiest of all. What a pity it is that they can’t give way to their feelings in a less objectionable (from my point of view, at least) manner. Sometimes one or two of them ask for special permission to stay out late while we go to be [sic] normally at 10-15. Then at midnight they will come blundering in, shouting stupidly and kicking chairs etc without a single thought for those who are striving to sleep. [deleted] Yet [/deleted] On Tuesday night I apparently coughed a lot during the night and woke up my neighbour who is one of the noisy crew. On the following day he remonstrated with me several times often quite rudely and made me very wild with him for his utter disregard for anyone else.
I haven’t yet had a letter from Barbara. Has she sent one? I mention this only because you said something about it and I heard that a letter arrived for me last Saturday and was sent back to the Flight Office. Enquiries for it have since been made but no satisfaction obtained. On Monday one from Stewart arrived so it may be that it was his which came on Saturday.
I think I have disposed of everything on my mind now, dearest. I can’t expect a letter from you alas until I give you my new address unless there is one in the N.S & N which you told me about on the ‘phone. Could you please send me a few stamps when you write?
I hope that we shall be able to arrange for you to come up to Grantham on Monday but I think it unlikely, so don’t turn down any opportunities that may present themselves to Barbara & you for occupying her holiday. Give her my very kind regards and tell her to look after you as well as you try to look after her. She is jolly lucky in having you to tend to her wants and to pour out all her woes upon, but I think she realises it.
I hope you manage to arrange something satisfactory about the shelter and that you are able to fix up with Nurse Kerr too.
Until I write again or we meet again (happy thought) all my best love – you darling girl.
I am [indecipherable word] of affection for you
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of very good weather, daily activities and problems with laundry. Exited about next station although they have not been told about it for security reasons. Postscript adds that postings have now been announced but he was not on list and 30 aircrew would be left behind. Mentions outbreak of skin decease. Continues with financial discussion and domestic matters. Mentions that posting finally listed and he will be sent to Grantham. Wraps up with more mention of activities.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-26
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Six page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401126
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-26
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19109/EValentineJRMValentineUM401128-0002.1.jpg
533d72e5f1b2d1e15dcd43e96f9abc91
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
[crest]
POST CARD
[postmark]
[postage stamp]
M [underlined] rs [/underlined] Valentine
Lido
Tenterden Grove
Hendon
N.W 4
London
[page break]
Thursday.
Darling Ursula
Just a very hurried card written in Bridgnorth P.O. I have put a parcel. (without any letter) of sock etc. It was tied up in a hurry but I hope it arrives safely. Your N.S [indecipherable letter] N has not arrived & I shall have left after the next post, but doubtless it will reach me sometime. We leave early tomorrow for Grantham & I have to arrive before 4 a.m. Will let you know my new address as soon as possible. The passing out parade went off without incident today in fact it was a complete farce, being little more than an inspection by the boss of the camp.
Strictly speaking I am confined to camp tonight & am thinking hard for a convenient excuse for the guard when I return. It is a bitterly cold night & having come to Bridgnorth without gloves, I have very little feeling in my hands – hence my scrawl. I am extremely glad to be leaving here – I never want to see it again. Lots of love darling John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Postcard from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Post card from John Valentine to his wife informing her that he has sent a parcel. He tells her that he is leaving for Grantham early the following morning and that he will write again when he has a new address. He ends by saying that he is extremely glad to be leaving Bridgnorth and never wants to see it again.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-28
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page handwritten post card
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401128
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Shropshire
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-28
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Margaret Carr
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19110/EValentineJRMValentineUM401130-010002.2.jpg
f97b90e8f03c0ea3a5997af93cc134f0
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19110/EValentineJRMValentineUM401130-010001.2.jpg
14adf463bb69299ee3e710291bbda93a
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
[post mark]
[postage stamp]
Mrs Valentine
Lido
Tenterden Grove
Hendon
London.
NW4
[page break]
R.A.F. Station
Grantham
30-11-40
Darling Ursula
Sorry I can’t let you have my permanent address. We have discovered
that our present quarters are only temporary. I am in the middle of writing a letter giving a little more detail of my activities & it should reach you shortly after this. I feel very dubious about the possibility of being able to arrange anything for Mon - Wed. We are still [underlined] completely [/underlined] in the dark about our duties & times therof. [sic] Will let you know everything as soon as I can.
Fondest love John
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Postcard from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
A postcard from John Valentine to his wife Ursula written from RAF Grantham. He tells her that this is not his permanent address and that they are still in the dark about future duties.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-11-30
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
One page handwritten postcard
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401130-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
England--London
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-11-30
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Alan Pinchbeck
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military service conditions
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19113/EValentineJRMValentineUM401130-020001.2.jpg
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2018-09-06
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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.
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Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
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Start of transcription
[inserted] Now permanent [deleted] [underlined] Only Temporary [/underlined] Don’t reply to it [/deleted] [/inserted]
[brackets] 1251404 AC 2 Valentine John
MQ 44
12 F.T.S.
R.A.F. Station
Grantham, Lincs.
Sat, 30-11-40 [/brackets]
Dearest Ursula.
I am afraid this will be but a very brief not to let you know my address.
_
1
[underlined] 1 [/underlined].
I had no sooner written the first two lines than a Sergeant popped in his head to say that we are not allowed out of camp until further notice, possibly tomorrow, so that I might be able to write a longer letter but you may not receive it so soon.
Our unanimous opinion of the R.A.F is just at rock bottom now. The waste of time is positively incredible while there appears to be no cohesion whatsoever in the activities of various departments.
As I hinted in my last letter, we commenced our last morning at Bridgenorth [inserted] by rising [/inserted] at 4 am with breakfast at 4.30. We were then given rations and paraded, many hundreds of us, in the large gym at 5.15. There we were herded into sleepy groups according to our respective destinations and led outside [deleted] f [/deleted] to form a long column of men. Luckily large lorries were in attendance to relieve us of our kit bags and after depositing these we stood awaiting developments for nearly an hour. It was a bitterly cold morning, with a thick deposit of frost and ice on all puddles and streams which abound in Bridgenorth camp. Then we moved off for the station where another wait ensued before we boarded a special train for Birmingham. Arrived there, we changed stations now carrying our kit and forming a disgustingly ragged column while we marched through the main streets of the city. London has little to show Birmingham in the way of bomb damage for we saw a great many nasty looking wrecks during our march. Having reached the station we had another agonising wait, crowded in hundreds on one of the smaller platforms. We managed, despite dire threats from our N.C.Os to buy a cup of tea at one of the refreshment rooms which partially restored the circulation and temper. They did not want us to leave the platform for fear that our next train, already much overdue, should leave during our absences
[page break]
However, it did at last come, and we literally had to farm ourselves into the very limited room at the disposal of the R.A.F. I was unfortunately unable to get away from the door of one of the Pullman type of carriages and, there being no heating on, became exceedingly cold during our journey through Derby to Nottingham. At the latter station we had to change stations again and as before we must have presented a sorry picture straggling through the main streets of the city (holding up all the traffic) burdened with our kit bags and forming an uneven column of men none of whom was in step with any other. At the new station, too, we had a wait of over an hour until the train [deleted] from [/deleted] for Grantham picked us up and deposited us [deleted] at [/deleted] there at 4.30. Again we waited while an R-A-F van came down for us but shortly after 5 pm as dusk was falling we reached this camp. It was a perfect evening, clear as a bell, while the sun set with a gorgeous display of crimson What time we waited and shivered, for it was [deleted] [indecipherable word] [/deleted] really cold, until we were lead off for a meal. It was now 6 pm. and apart from our rations given us at [deleted] Birmingham [/deleted] Bridgnorth, we had eaten nothing since 4.30 am. Nevertheless our meal consisted of a thin slice of cold [indecipherable word] sausage & some bread and jam – nothing to drink. When we had swallowed this snack out into the cold again we went and by now it was pitch dark. However waiting meant nothing to us now so we managed to endure another hour and a half in the hope that at least someone knew of us And even thought that we might like a bed for the night. Eventually someone did come along and his solution of the problem was to comb the camp in search of a bed belonging to someone on leave and to deposit one of us there for the night. I landed in a barrack tenanted by cooks & butchers and I slept in the bed and sheets of a butcher on leave. He must have been a tough customer for he had only three blankets and I spent a very uneasy night trying to forget the cold and doing my best to snatch an hour or two of sleep.
This morning was gorgeous but cold. There was a very severe frost last night and [deleted] there was [/deleted] any amount of ice was knocking about in the early part of today when we resumed our waiting. After breakfast we trooped over to the Medical Dept where after 90 minutes wait we had an F.F.I. & then began the longest hold up since our arrival here. We had fondly imagined that someone would know that we had come and would be deputed to house us, provide us with blankets sheets and toilet paper, [deleted] and [/deleted] tell us of our duties, times of meals the hours we would work and answer any questions we might like to ask. Yes we imagined all that but what
[page break]
[circled 2]
did we get? Nothing! Absolutely nothing. After the F.F.I. we asked an N.C.O. at the Medical Dept. what was the next step. He said he hadn’t the slightest idea, but suggested that we went to the Camp Warrant Officer. This we did and found our irritable Flight Sergeant to whom we addressed ourselves. His irritability was matched only by his lack of interest in our plight but he did condescend to say “Get into ranks of three and wait.” This was precisely what we had been doing for days but nevertheless we obeyed. After some time a clerk opened a window from a nearby room & took down our names, numbers etc and while each of us in turn went up to the window to give this information gusts of lovely warm air issued therefrom into our cold and pinched faces. When this operation was concluded the window was shut and we went on waiting. In time a Sergeant came out and called the names of 8 of us (not mine) who formed into a separate little squad. The Sergeant then disappeared & both squads of us started waiting again. Then another Sergeant came out and said “You spent last night in the married quarters didn’t you” We said “no” and after goggling at us in a rather nonplussed fashion he shook his head in disgust and took himself off. We, of course, went on waiting. After half an hour more had elapsed he reappeared, put the same question, got the same answer, again looked as if he didn’t believe us and again disappeared. Still we waited feeling very, very chilly especially about the feet. Finally out he came once more and bid the remainder of the original group to follow him, leaving behind those eight whose names had first been called. We were led to the nearest of the Married Quarters, [deleted] now [/deleted] rows of little immature brick built maisonettes. M.Qs aren’t used for their proper purpose in war times but they are still building them here. We were ushered into one only just finished, in fact it has been slept in but one night. There was no coal or central heating and no electric light. H & C water is laid on but the H function only if coal is available. Having [deleted] been [/deleted] parked us, our guide made himself scarce while we were left without any further instructions about what we were to do and when or what not to do and when not to do it It was by now, of course, lunch time and we had spent the whole morning idle & neglected standing in the open air stamping our frozen feet and swearing violently, so we hastened to the canteen for some corpse reviver in the form of cooked food. After dinner, we returned to our billets to see what could be done about heating them. I told you that they were newly built and there were others still in course of construction so that there was plenty of builders material lying about in the form of planks and wooden posts. We had no axe, of course
[page break]
but we managed to scrounge quite a considerable stack of wood of all shapes and sizes and somehow we were able to break it into a size more or less useful for the purposes of a fire.
The rooms in these quarters are small. The one in which I have been placed accomodating [sic] only three but I have got the two nicest of the whole bunch of fellows as my room mates so that if we three can stick together when we are moved I shall be perfectly content with my companions. One of them is the farmer, Bowack by name and an exceptionally pleasant fellow, quiet conscientious and sensible with quite a cheery personality. The other, Thompson by name is also of a quiet and rather gentle disposition. Bowack is married, seems to have plenty of money and is followed (sometimes preceeded) everywhere by his wife in their car.
During the afternoon, a Sergeant looked in to tell us that these quarters are only temporary & that we have to parade at 8 am tomorrow, Sunday. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that we may then be told something of the work in store for us and of the [deleted] times [/deleted] hours which we shall have to work. This Sergeant also left hurricane lamps because, as the billets are not blacked out, it is impossible to use anything but candles or hurricane lamps. It is by the light of this lamp that I am now penning this.
At half past three I went for tea after which all the fellows pushed off for the town while I stayed behind to look after our fire and to write to my little wife. After a while Bowack came in because he had been posted for guard duty from 5 pm to 7 am. This gave us some idea of the jobs in store for us. He went into the canteen for tea and I joined him thus having the whole meal twice over. I was dreadfully afraid lest someone should recognise me as having been served once already. It is a very serious crime in the R.A.F to appear twice for the same meal but it worked for me this time and I came out of the cook house after the second effort feeling positively bloated.
By this time my circulation had been [deleted] fe [/deleted] completely restored so that I was able to take up my pen again in a far more agreeable frame of mind. I started this letter about 2.30 and it is now 7.15. I have had literally scores and scores of interruptions so please forgive me if I jump from one thing to another. Another disadvantage is the extremely poor light provided by a meagre hurricane lamp. I have to suspend it within a foot of the paper to be able to see [deleted] over the [/deleted] anything at all.
This camp, so far as I can gather is only a Flying Training School (F.T.S.) and we are here to guard it. The meals are worked differently from Bridgnorth where we had to queue until
[page break]
[circled 3]
the appointed hour when all joined in one mad, frantic and glorious rush to be served first. Here, breakfast is from 6.30 to 8.30, lunch 11.30 to 1.30 & tea 3.30 to 5.30 and the men come in when they are free. It was thus that I was able to have tea twice over. The canteen isn’t as good as Bridgnorth but the food seems reasonably good and I think that I shall be satisfied with it. If we are to be on guard at all hours of the day and night I shall have to toughen myself considerably for I have caught another cold as a result of the many hours of waiting during the last few days.
Our passing out parade at Bridgnorth was a complete farce, there must have been 500 men on it with the result that the stock of rifles was inadequate and much to our releif [sic] we went on to the parade without arms. We were lined up on the square before the Commanding Officer of the Camp arrived. He was new to the Camp and our N.C.O.’s had been very worried about the extent of his examination. All he did was to march at breakneck speed up and down our ranks followed by a cortege of breathless junior officers and N.C.O.’s. He hardly seemed to look at us at all and when he had finished he took his stand on a small beflagged dais to take the salute. This meant our marching past him with eyes to the right and left on our return journey but I am sorry to say that the marching was atrocious, there being about 20 different steps in each column of men instead of one. However we “passed out” and after it bitterly regretted the hours spent on our ceremonial boots at which he hardly cast a glance. After duty on Thursday, I broke my confinement to camp by going to Bridgnorth to send you my parcel and to call on the aged widow to thank her for entertaining us to tea on two occasions, returned early to camp cleaned my boots etc & retired early because of the [deleted] early [/deleted] imminent rise at 4 am.
I can’t think of anything else to tell you dearest, but I won’t post this letter until tomorrow afternoon in case anything else happens. I hope you don’t get bored by these recitals of mine – please, please tell me if you do. Oh yes, there is one silly thing to tell you. One of our fellows has got 5 days leave. Yes five days and what for – to go home for his trumpet [underlined] and [/underlined] he was given a railway warrant too. While we were waiting as usual this morning an officer passed. Seeing us he said “Are you new arrivals” Receiving an affirmative answer he then enquired if any of us [inserted] had [/inserted] played in a dance orchestra in civil life. This particular fellow said that he was a trumpeter so the officer said he could go home for his instrument if he wished and enquired if 48 hours was enough. The chap had the sense to say that, although he lived only at Richmond, travel through London was very difficult
[page break]
nowadays. Whereupon the officer gave him 5 days leave. Can you Bloody well beleive [sic] it? Five days leave for a trumpet while I with a nice wife, five months gone can’t get anything.
That’s all now dearest – will resume tomorrow
Good night my darling with heaps of love from
John.
[underlined] Monday Evening 2/12/40 [/underlined]
My Dearest Ursula,
Once again I will have a go a [sic] this letter. It now appears that the address with which I started it is our permanent one so that I shall be looking forward to hearing from you a day or two after I have sent this off.
I am afraid that the R.A.F, or at least some sections of it, [deleted] are [/deleted] is in an infernal muddle. No one seems to have had the slightest idea of what to do with us here, why we have come, where we are to be housed or what we are to do for keeping ourselves warm during day & night. The married quarters in which apparently we are to live have beds & 4 blankets only but no coal, no light, no sheets, no pillows, no black out facilities, no wood, no brooms for sweeping out the place and no materials for cleaning basins & sinks, no hot water. Some of these things are “on the way” we understand but no promised time has been given. However we have scrounged a lot of builders planks etc. for wood which we have broken up by hand, we have been given hurricane lamps & we stick a blanket over the window for black out purposes. Of course the rooms are bitterly cold during the night and 4 blankets are really not sufficient. A further worry is the fact that all our spare clothing is still at the bombed laundry to which we sent it at Bridgnorth. Will you please be a darling and send me as soon as you can
[symbol] [circled 1] Pair of pants – my warmest
[symbol] [circled 2] Vest “ “
[symbol] (3) My “sweat suit” – brown trousers & jacket.
[symbol] (4) Clean tea cloth
[symbol] (5) towel – not an enormous one but not one of those silly little hand towels
[symbol] (6) Some more handkerchiefs
[symbol] (7) [indecipherable word]
My shirt of course is filthy but I shall just have to wear it until my other returns from Bridgnorth or I get issued with another
[page break]
4 We have [deleted] done [/deleted] been here for three complete days but so far I, myself, have not done the slightest stroke of work although a few have done all night guard duties. However, this morning we were taken on a tour of all the gun posts of the ‘drome and I gather that we are to be split into partners to man these posts. When that is done we shall do 24 hrs on duty & 24 off, but on the “off” day we will be confined to camp until 4.30. When on duty we will sleep by the guns in our clothes. All guns are in the open air and the crews of four of the posts sleep in tents. The men on the remainder sleep in dug outs and although they look cold and wet I hope I get one of them. The thought of sleeping in a tent at this time of year just doesn’t attract me.
The discipline of this camp is far more lax than that of Bridgnorth and we have been described as the smartest [deleted] cr [/deleted] squad to arrive here for many a day. I am dreadfully afraid that we shall slack off though for with baths difficult and no supervision of uniform and no means of cleaning out the billets it is not easy to maintain a high standard of cleanliness
I am in disgrace again and really it is all your fault. When writing to you on Saturday night I had to counter the very poor lighting provided. To do this I hung the hurricane lamp just above the fire and sat very close to it so that I could be as warm as possible & get the maximum light. I don’t remember doing so but I must have crossed one knee over the other and hung the toe of one boot too close to the fire. At any rate, the following morning I found a chunk of the welt of my boot missing. The only possible explanation which occurs to me is that I must have dried the boot until the leather was stiff and then in the blackout stumbled over something and broken off the missing piece. I took the boot in for repairs today but the official looked very dubious and said that he would have to consult with the boot repairer before letting me know if they could do the repair. If they can’t I shall be called for an explanation of the damage and possibly put on a charge for negligence. I shall learn tomorrow.
Yesterday evening, I went into Grantham to make a few enquiries at different hotels before I ‘phoned you. I wasn’t able to get anything cheap that looked good enough for you but there was accomodation [sic] available so I ‘phoned you to see what your intentions were. It was lovely to hear your voice again but I was very sorry that you didn’t come although it was probably the most sensible decision to make as Barbara didn’t seem to be very keen. Bowacks wife has been staying in the town for these few days. I met her last night
[page break]
when I had a [deleted] few [/deleted] drink with them while waiting for my ‘phone call to come through.
The food here is not quite up to the Bridgnorth standard but nevertheless quite satisfactory and there is plenty of it. I must be getting tougher already for the cold I anticipated after all the waiting about last week has gone already although I haven’t completely shaken off my cough yet. I feel very fit though and am quite looking forward to testing my constitution in the conditions under which we shall have to do our duties. At the moment it appears to me that they will be rigorous in the extreme. That reminds me, will you put Cousin Mays Balaclava helmet in the parcel. [symbol]
In [underlined] possibly [/underlined] a weeks time, I shall [underlined] probably [/underlined] know a little more about my duties and hours so that we might consider something for Barbara next leave. I imagine that my leave will be very scanty and I think that time off at Christmas is most unlikely. We shall have to do a 7 day week of course for these guns have to be manned whatever the day or season may be. However, I think it is a relatively safe job for there have been no attacks on this camp up to date.
It is much more interesting being at a place where there are aircraft about. There are hundreds of them here, taking off and landing day and night. It is quite easy to have a “flip” although I have failed twice through going up at the wrong time. [deleted] It [/deleted] The station exists only for training purposes but it is an advanced training camp using chiefly Avro Ansons (twin engine) and Fairey Battles. The night flying is actually done at a field two miles away as a precaution against enemy aircraft being attracted by the landing flares. We are allowed to wander anywhere we like in the hangars or on the drome and it is quite exciting to hear the noise of many propellors [sic] & to see planes landing & taking off at almost every minute of the day.
Well dear – I have written eight sheets all about myself. Having done them at odd moments I have probably bored you and repeated myself over & over again. I now want to hear from you and of you and all that you are doing and thinking. Don’t disappoint me.
I have just remembered. Please may I have 10/- and some stamps. I haven’t indulged in expensive living, but with this eternal waiting & a large appetite induced by the cold I have considerably overspent my wages since leaving Bridgnorth.
How are you my dear. Keep well & mind the bombs and love your affectionate husband John as he loves you xxxx.
Dublin Core
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Title
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Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes describing last day at Bridgnorth and difficult journey to Grantham. Mentions poor food and difficulty finding accommodation on arrival. Describes activities and frustration about no news of future. Accommodation now in married quarters, describes day and companions. Says camp is flying training school and they were to guard it. Describes farce of passing out parade at Bridgnorth. Continues with banter and complains about the RAF being in muddle with no one knowing what to do with them. Goes on to describe daily activity including going into Grantham to look for hotels. States it is interesting as there are aircraft about.
Date
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1940-11-30
Format
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Eight page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
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Identifier
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EValentineJRMValentineUM401130-02
Coverage
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Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
England--Shropshire
Temporal Coverage
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1940-11-30
Contributor
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Tricia Marshall
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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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.
Creator
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John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Bridgnorth
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
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Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
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Transcription
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No. 17 Wed. 4/12/40
MQ 44 12FTS RAF Station
Grantham, Lincs
My dearest Ursula A lovely surprise today. I knew that you couldn't have written to me here already but your NS&M arrived from Bridgnorth & a letter from you (I love you) was inside. Was I thrilled – I'll say. I was so glad to hear your news of the shelter & Bethune (your letter was written a week ago today) I hope that by now you will have made further progress with the ordering of materials for the shelter. I don't see why the man shouldn't be able to make it entirely waterproof but if it is impossible, tell him to do his best & let me know how things go. I certainly think that he will be cheaper than anyone else & if he knows anything about the work he ought to be able to do it as well as anyone.
We had a little excitement yesterday when a Junkers 88 visited us. It was a day of continuous fine drizzle with low cloud at about 3000 feet. The warning went in the afternoon & those of us not on guns (myself included) were sent to shelters where we sat for 20 minutes or so. The the All Clear sounded & we left the shelter only to hear the warning signal about 2 minutes later. Several of us thought that it would prove to be another fiasco so we hid behind our shelter where we couldn't be spotted by officers. In a few minutes the drone of an aircraft could be heard & then we saw him. What a thrill ! He was just about cloud level so he kept on appearing & vanishing as he flew out of & into the lowest clouds. Of course, he was quite low & flying in a straight line dead over the 'drome & camp. However, he appeared to take no notice of it & the camp guns (of which there are quite a number) withheld their fire for fear of disclosing anything of their positions or the nature of the thing they were guarding. We grew quite excited & shouted to all & sundry to open fire. However when he had passed the camp guns opened up from all quarters & we saw him surrounded by little puffs of smoke. Then suddenly he disappeared & all was quiet for a few seconds. Then he came into sight again over Grantham & flying in our direction. Guns opened up once more & the plane went into a shallow dive. Then we saw three bombs leave the aircraft & a few seconds later columns of smoke shot up from the ground. After completing his dive, he opened up his engines & roared towards us, rising all the time. The noise of gunfire was now terrific, the most thrilling sight being the hundreds of tracer bullets shooting past him & all around. However, although we shouted encouragement to our gunners, Jerry disappeared finally into the clouds, apparently unhurt. We have heard today that he was hit, & being unable to maintain his height, crashed a few miles away. We await confirmation of the story before believing it. One bomb hit a brewery but did little damage, another fell near a large factory & again was comparatively harmless while the third, a DA., exploded today killing the officer in charge of the bomb disposal party. It was my first sight of real action & has given me quite a bit of excitement.
I have now written a page & a half without a grumble so it is now time for me to start. This is a lousy dump indeed. After five days on the station I have yet to start on my duties although I have had a few half-hearted fatigues given to me (& others) not because they were really necessary, but just to give us something to do. Most of the time we spend awaiting the next meal & as far as effective work is concerned we are almost completely idle. For some reason or other I am the only one of the 24 who came from Bridgnorth who has not done any guard duty but the others have done only one turn of all night camp patrol or 24 hours on a gun post. My turn should come tomorrow & I pray that it is not one of the four guns, the crew of which sleep in a tent. It is amazing how the prevailing slackness of the camp infects one because when performing the few fatigues allotted me I have been as dilatory as any lazy slacker could be. It was partly due to the fact that I knew that the job was not really necessary & in any case I shouldn't have been told to do it & partly to avoid being given another silly job if I should happen to finish too soon. I have tried three times to get a flip in a plane but had no luck so far. Shortage of parachutes is the trouble – there are only a few spare ones available.
We still have no sheets, pillows, lighting etc. & the coal delivered yesterday is already exhausted. It is almost impossible to read or write for long in the light of the hurricane lamp, so apart from writing to you I spend a lot of time staring into the fire which we manage to keep doing with wood scrounged from somewhere or other. I am developing a horror of filth. My shirt, underclothes & handkerchiefs almost sicken me & I have to shut my eyes whenever I use my towel – it is absolutely black. Today I had my first bath since arriving here & there being no HW at our billets I went over to one of the barrack rooms. The water was merely tepid while the bath looked as if it had coped with 1000 men since its last cleaning. On account of the coolness of the water & dirtiness of the bath I performed my ablutions in the erect position, sitting down only for a hurried rinse at the end of the operation. Was it a wretched bath or was it? We haven't yet been provided with brooms or materials for cleaning our basins etc. so the quarters are rapidly becoming too dirty for my liking & as we never have hot water our hands are assuming the appearance of those of a chimney sweep. Nobody loves us, nobody wants us, nobody has anything for us to do, nobody is in charge of us, nobody....etc. We see nothing but a blank wall of ignorance about our prospects & it is obvious that we are not required & only a bloody nuisance to the Ground Defence Staff on the Station.
Incidentally that Staff must be the most inefficient body of bloody boobs ever told to do a job which is really quite an important one. 75% of them are on guns which they haven't the slightest idea how to use. They are never given instructions, the posts are never inspected, their uniforms & boots are disgustingly dirty, they wear odd scarves & gloves & sometimes no ties. The other day a Corporal visited a post. At least one member of the crew should always be on the lookout but instead some were asleep & the others all writing. When the Camp Patrol is on duty at night time the guards call into gun posts for cups of tea & a chat instead of marching up & down the 'drome boundaries. When the guard changes, all the patrols congregate at a central point in the camp thus leaving the whole camp & 'drome unpatrolled while the changing of the guard takes place. Ursula, it is so inefficient that I am thoroughly ashamed to be a part of it. Yesterday four of the guns were taken away & are not to be replaced for some days, but the posts are still manned by 4 fellows per post for 24 hours a day. Incredible isn't it? I had better stop or I shall start getting angry with you too – my dearest.
Last night Bowack & I went down to Grantham just to get out of the place. We went to a flick – Return of the Frog – but it wasn't worth the 1/2d which the seat cost. A London Angus member had a small part in it, David Kerr who went to school with my Father – you may have met him. After the show we had a modest meal - welsh rarebit & coffee. It was delightful to have something nicely served & such a contrast to the canteen here where there is plenty of food but it is thrown at one. Unfortunately the jaunt cost me 3/- altogether – 2 days pay! My finances are in a lousy condition & I pray that my appeal for funds won't fall on deaf ears. If we were busy, I shouldn't spend so much but with all this idleness I have spent a fortnight's pay (£1) in a week. It has got to stop. Darling – my eyes are tiring & I will cease fire for the night. I long for a letter from you in the morning – I really am longing for it. Goodnight my dear – lots of love, John
Thursday 5/12/40 My dearest Ursula, Your hoped for letter did not arrive this morning & I was terribly disappointed, but I expect that the post office is chiefly to blame for the delay. There is, too, the consolation that I will have a letter tomorrow. Today has been a fairly interesting one for we have spent the whole of it having a lecture on the Lewis Gun, interrupted only by a full scale Gas practice this morning & an Air Raid warning this afternoon. For some extraordinary reason, I have yet to do a duty on Camp patrol or at a gun post. All the other fellows have now done one duty, & some have even done two but my name hasn't been called at all. I must admit that I am not at all keen to be up all night patrolling the 'drome or to spend 24 hours in a remote corner of it sitting in a turf dug-out or spending my off hours sleeping in a tent so I am not going to point out to my superior officers that as yet I haven't done a single stoke of my real work yet.
Tonight our conditions in the billets are worse than ever for when we returned in the evening we found to our horror that all the hurricane lamps had disappeared. It is early closing day in the town & it was therefore impossible to buy candles but after an anxious half hour we managed to borrow one, by the light of which I am writing this. Unfortunately, it is only a 'Woolworths cheapest' & gives a poorer light even than a hurricane. Infuriated by the requisitioning of our lamps Bowack & I sallied forth at dusk determined to scrounge something that would give us a good fire even if adequate lighting were impossible. We took a tin with us & headed for the coke dump. We had previously noted that the very ample coke stocks were kept in their place by wire fences & that, at the back of the heap, a lot of coke had fallen through the fence. No one was about so we were able to gather enough coke for at least two evening's fires, the first of which is now warming us beautifully. We should get a little hot water from it too for our fire heats the system in the house. Up till now, having had only wood for fuel, we haven't been able to generate sufficient heat to make much impression on the HW tank. If you haven't already sent some, could I have a lot of handkerchiefs. It was stupid of me to have returned some to you but I had not anticipated the enormous requirements of my streaming nose & phlegm-producing cough. I ought to be using two handkerchiefs a day just now instead of one every two days so when you receive my dirty ones treat them very gingerly. They are of course filthy & their stench is abominable.
In a day or two your birthday will come round. How I wish I could be with you to celebrate it darling, but I fear that the fates are against it. With all my heart I wish to many many happy returns of 8th December & I pray that we may never again be apart when it recurs. I asked Mother to get & send you something which I hope you will like. If the articles in question should not fit, don't hesitate to let Mother know for I specially asked her to make arrangements for that eventuality. Every best wish & lots & lots of love & as many hypothetical kisses as you want. As soon as the King will let me I intend coming to see you to transform the kisses into the concrete form – that doesn't sound very inviting to you I know, but you ought to be able to hazard a guess at my meaning. Do you know that I am absolutely starved of news of you. Apart from your letter included in the NS&M & written only 2 days after I saw you last I haven't heard a word of your activities or health. I know that it couldn't be helped but nevertheless I long for a long letter.
This camp is lousy for evening pastimes. I have told you of our lighting difficulties in the billet but the whole camp hasn't much to offer. The only common room with any lighting is the NAAFI but that is a tiny building, built for a camp of 350 whereas there are more than five times that number here now. However, it does have a small writing room with about 6 tables but it is absolutely impossible to get near them in the evenings. In any case, as soon as the warning goes (& that is every night) all the electricity in the whole camp is switched off at the main. It is thus impossible to read anywhere & very uncomfortable to write. Don't grumble any more John. There is one great advantage here, over Bridgnorth. I live in a room with only two other occupants instead of the noisy rabble. My two cronies were carefully selected & are very congenial company. Bowack in particular I like very much. He is, as I told you a farmer but is financially independent, has always been accustomed to two or three cars & owns three houses in different parts of the country. Nevertheless he is very charming, quiet & unassuming. If neither of us get Xmas leave, we would like to invite our respective wives to Grantham & have a joint celebration. How would you like the idea. You might spend a few days here & you would have 21 year old Mrs Bowack for company during the day & even your own hubbies' company in the evening. The two husbands might even get sleeping out passes. Bowack & I are to look for suitable digs for 2 respectable married couples. Let me know how you would react to such a suggestion if it should be made to you. I must finish this letter tonight & I long for one from you tomorrow morning. All my love, dearest & more love than ever for your birthday John
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Relates that mail has caught up with him from Bridgnorth. Pleased to get news from home and is getting on with ordering materials for the shelter. Describes excitement of overflight by Ju-88 with air raid warning and sitting in shelter. Describes action of camp anti-aircraft guns. Complains about camp, duties, lack of light and laundry facilities and situation in general. Writes of poor guard changing, manning and guns being taken away. Mentions visit to Grantham. In postscript letter mentions Lewis gun lecture and other activities. Continues to complain about accommodation and asks for items to be sent.
Date
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1940-12-04
Format
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Six page handwritten letter
Language
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eng
Type
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Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
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EValentineJRMValentineUM401204
Coverage
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Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
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Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
Temporal Coverage
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1940-12-04
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
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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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
Ju 88
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
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IBCC Digital Archive
Date
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2018-09-06
Rights
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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.
Identifier
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Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
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Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
AC2 Valentine,
MQ 44, 12 FTS
RAF Grantham
Friday 6-12-40
Chess move Pawn H7 to H5
Knight G1 to F3 Keep it going now.
Sunday. Am going on guard again tonight, so if I don’t phone that is the reason. Happy birthday & Love.
Things are looking up now – we’ve got electric lights & had a go at N.S. & M. Someone had used the inside sheets to light a fire so I won’t bother returning the remainder. Please continue to send it. I enjoy it and won’t let it happen again.
My dearest Ursula, I don’t know how long I shall be able to stick at this letter, but I will do my best. It is now 2 pm & I am off duty, until 4 o'clock so at a normal place I would be able to set down comfortably to a one sided written conversation with my wife. Alas, things are different here. The billets, atrociously lit by night have windows painted dark blue. If there should be any lights in the room at night time the paint is useless for black out, while during the day the rooms are far too dark to read or write. It is just like late dusk here & because of the roaring hurricane outside, it is impossible to open any windows. The slightest opening causes a veritable tornado in these small rooms as well as a frigid temperature. Your parcel arrived this morning at a very opportune time, as I will tell you in a minute. Thank you so much, my dear, for answering to my needs so promptly. I am indeed lucky in having such a darling guardian angel. I am a bit worried by one thing though. In the short note accompanying the parcel, you mentioned a letter you had sent with money in it, but no such missive has reached me. I hope that it was registered for that would explain the delay & reassure me against my anxiety about its possible disappearance. I shan't send off this today in the hope that I might be able to let you know should it arrive tomorrow morning. I still am in suspense for real news of you, for as I said in my last letter, nearly two weeks have elapsed since I saw you & I have, of course, not had any letter during that time. Perhaps I shall hear tomorrow morning – invariably my last thought each night, while in the morning I am full of expectancy until the post is handed out. Be patient, John, be patient.
Today my spell of immunity from real work is to end in an hour or so. I have been posted for a turn of all night 'drome patrol but I don't know which watches I shall do. Your parcel was therefore doubly welcome for the Balaclava & Sweat shirt will be extremely useful. Thank you again Dearest. Grant tells me that the two best spells of guard duty are from 5.30 to 8 pm & 12 midnight to 2.30, for thereby you get only one interruption to your normal sleeping time. This morning we had a little trip out of camp on a fatigue of course. There is to be an RAF Officers dance at the RAOC headquarters in the town & we poor idiots had to load chairs on to a lorry, accompany it into the town, unload into an old barrack room & get to work sweeping the floor & getting the whole place ship shape for the frolics. Had I not been detailed for guard duty tonight I should have been down there with my fellows at this very moment. The light is too poor my dear for me to continue, so I shall shut down until the morning when I hope to be refreshed by a letter from you. Until then, all my love, John
Twenty Four Hours Later My Dear, Gee Baby , I feel like a million dollars. This morning I received from you a lovely long letter full of just the sort of details I wanted about you; some money & stamps & also your second parcel. Now I have put on clean socks clean pants, clean vest, clean collar & a clean shirt. If only my hands were a little more respectable I should feel almost sufficiently presentable to meet my own sweet wife. I have many things to say to you that I hardly know where to begin, but I think I will start by browsing through your letter & following any train of thought that it might start.
First of all the shelter: I am glad that you have been able to syphon away much of the water, but as it will be impossible to use it until it has been treated I don't think it will be worth your while baling out the rest. If & when you can get someone to attend to it, let them get rid of the remaining water. I am firmly of the opinion that it must be cemented, regardless of cost & cannot see why it can't be rendered waterproof. My suggestion is that when you have got a concrete wall (up to ground surface level) & a floor (both several inches thick) the whole should be lined with pitch or some similar substance. The surface of the pitch can then be painted, the floor protected by rug or board & the whole thing should be absolutely waterproof. Try this suggestion on the gardener & see how he reacts; also tell him to include the steps down to the shelter & the walls of the step passage; also tell him to remove only such electric wiring (including the little table) as interferes with the cement work. As regards your removal from Hendon to a less alarming part of the country, you know I am all in favour of it & that it is only through your own wish that you stay there. If at any time both before & after Baby's arrival you want to move I would be more relieved than by any other news (bar the cessation of the war). I am constantly worrying about your safety, even this week when I had to wait a day or two before hearing from you I kept imagining all sorts of accidents or disasters that might have occurred. However get the shelter done to lighten my burden of worry even if ever so slightly.
As regards Touche's cheque, they have obviously not started deducting tax yet, but I shouldn't worry them about it. The correct procedure, until tax deduction starts, is for you to open another a/c in your ledger headed Income Tax a/c & split the monthly £12.14.6 thus: LA £2.10/-; House £4; Income Tax £2.4.6; Sundries £4. Your arithmetical effort with regard to the LA is positively superb – in fact dead right. Your errors are that the premiums (or premia) are not due until 1st March by which date you will have, I think, £17.10.0 the remaining £12.10.0 is in my PO Savings Bank a/c. Please, dearest, drop the expression 'Job 1'. I loathe it, I abominate it, I hate it. Baby is something much more marvellous & tender & altogether superior to mass produced article. Baby is something that belongs only to you & me; is an animal creature, something that will be so helpless & look to you, especially, for everything, so delicate & so fragile. To call our own little creation 'Job 1' disgusts me. I loved all your meticulous details about Baby's outfit. You need never worry about sending such a minute account of the money spent – in fact I feel a twinge of conscience at your doing so, for possibly I am too niggardly towards you where money matters are concerned. You know that I trust you absolutely & you do me – you haven't questioned my spending although I have had one or two financial lifts (hitch hikes you know) from you. I am very glad indeed that you are going so early & thoroughly into the questions of clothing & accommodating our own little family. I long to be with you to discuss everything as you do it for I might even be able to help you. That being impossible, darling, always do just whatever you want & keep me informed as best you can without mentioning (unless you want to) such mean & sordid matters as shillings & pence.
As far as blankets for ourselves are concerned I am quite agreeable to buying a few more. We could take the money out of our Joint P.O. a/c. Would you like to consider those special blankets that the Freemans got? Alternatively drop a card to that place in Killin for their prices & sizes. They were certainly cheaper there than anywhere else. By all means buy soap, too, if it is not a more expensive way of getting it. What is your allowance? The £10 a month from your Mother? I thought that we agreed to touch that only if our own income was insufficient especially as we are charging your Mother £10 a month for Barbara's keep. If I have a family that doesn't try to be independent (without having to live in poverty) I should soundly spank them. My idea was that if Sundries a/c were to become overdrawn by deficiencies of Air Force Income & Barbara's keep, then we might make good the deficiency by sponging on your parents a bit more. However, if you want to do it, my dear by all means do so, but I thought we had agreed upon the procedures. Where it hurts me, Ursula, is that if ever you have to be financed by your Mother for necessities of life I feel that I am not providing for you sufficiently & therefore not doing my duty as a husband.
I wish you had come to Grantham at the beginning of the week. I was free every evening & could have had a sleeping out pass each night, a thing I shan't be able to do for a long time now for we are gradually settling down to a '1 day on 1 day off' basis. Fully half my fellows are already working on those lines. However, let me know how you feel about the Christmas idea. I would love it as you know & it would do you good to get you away from London. Tell Barbara that her fear (a stupid one) of her being a gooseberry really amounts to a ban on our ever being able to spend a few days together here. I would welcome her for her own sake not merely as a necessary evil to your delightful presence. The leave question here is absolutely impossible to forecast. Much if not all of the Station Defence is being done now by the RAF in place of the Army, new fellows are arriving daily & it may be months before any leave system is evolved. That doesn't mean that it will be months before we get leave, but that the time of each individuals leave is a complete mystery. I do know this though, that the Flight Sergeant in charge of Station Defence is doing his best, in very muddled circumstances, to allot leave as fairly as possible, with due regard to each man's length of service at this Station. Sleeping out passes for off duty nights may always be obtained. I am pleased to hear your news about the camphor wood chest. Do thank your Mother from me. By all means give a few onions to whomever you like, the inclusion of the Hazards is a nice thought but I can't recall anyone else on my side. As for Christmas cards I would like only a few sent. Mr & Mrs James Tout, Mr & Mrs Lovering, Ian Smith, Pat Fullerton Mr & Mrs Pullen (at the office). There are some rather nice air Force ones here at only 2d a time including envelopes. Grant, who knows a thing or two about that sort of a job thinks a lot of them. Would you like me to buy them & let you have them. If so let me know how many you want. They are not gaudy but very plain & rather austere. I was very much struck with them. The only Xmas present I would like sent apart from family & Dundee is to my Grandmother at Arbroath. I haven't the slightest idea but will ask Mother and let you know.
I am relieved to know that you have heard from Nurse Kerr & hope that you will be able to fix up things with her sometime. I agree that her fee is reasonable. Stewart for Christmas – 2 oz tobacco – Four square Yellow Label, Leslie likewise. The gloves for Ann will do for although I would like to give her something more, I can't think of anything. If you have any bright idea costing only a few shillings I would like her to have a little more. Tell Barbara, with very many thanks, that I really have enough sweaters. I don't want her to waste her time on something that really isn't necessary & any sort of sweater will do here. My blue one is quite good enough & I have the sweat suit & your Mother's maroon one to fall back upon. You see, I am likely to be out mostly at night time, but even at three gun posts, which really are cold, they are not very fussy about clothes since the great coat hides all. Perhaps when I am on flying training, a little more respectability might be required. I am sorry dear, but with the absence of light for reading I haven't been able to touch either NS&M or the library book yet. Going for tea, Darling – all my love John
Ninety Minutes Later Darling Ursula, I should have said 'Going for two teas' for when I returned from my first I met Grant & Bowack & returned in their company for a second dose. As a result I bulge considerably. I think I had disposed of your letter – now for the other things. Very many thanks for your more than welcome cash & stamps. One disadvantage of having fairly close friends is that one has to stick with them to some extent. Bowack, as I told you, is a wealthy man & Thomson gets his pay made up by his firm so that they don't have to watch every penny as I do. They are both very moderate fellows in every respect but I do have to spend a little more with them than by myself & yet I feel bound to join in with them to some extent because often either one or the other is on a duty so that the remaining one would otherwise be forced to spend a whole evening by himself. Your parcels are extremely welcome. I told you how grand it was to have on clean clothes while the joy of blowing ones nose into a clean handkerchief is one of the few pleasant discoveries that the RAF has yet allowed one. I think now, that I have as many clothes as I can comfortably wear, no matter how cold the weather. The shirt, you darling, was really a heavenly surprise. I had anticipated getting my undies from you sometime, but I feared that I might have to spend yet a few more weeks in my already filthy shirt pending recovery of the lost one or a re-issue. Unfortunately, dearest, the colour isn't too good. It is probably an officially allowed officer shirt but not an airman's. The collars of that style are verboten – in fact one of the chaps was pulled up today by a Flight Lieutenant for wearing a similar shirt & collar. Luckily, I have not lost any collars so that I can wear your new shirt with the official collar. The latter hides so much shirt & the tunic exposes so little that one can hardly see anything of it. I will keep the collars in reserve for, say, night duty (although they are far too good for that) or for the time when I am an officer. I can't tell you how much I appreciate the way you think for me – the shirt was an extremely pleasant surprise. Should any of the family ask you about a shirt for me for Xmas tell them that I now have enough. I am allowed to use only those which match the official airman's issue. Say that Officers shirts are taboo. I haven't tried the cake yet, but I look forward to doing so this evening – come & have a slice with me!! I have today sent you rather a large parcel of washing. I am sorry for it, my dear, but owing to the loss of clothes my existing ones got into a bit of a mess, as I have told you. I hope that I shan't have to send you the towel or shirt again – will hankies socks & pyjamas be alright? Don't bother to return the pyjamas or tea cloth until I ask. We have little storage room in our quarters & I don't want to increase the danger of loss by theft unnecessarily. The remainder could I have back at your earliest convenience. (Blast you John) especially the handkerchiefs. By the way, be very wary of those, THEY STINK I am sorry to say.
And now for a little less domestic chat. Since I started this letter I have done my first spell of guard duty. We reported at 5 pm yesterday & were taken into a centrally heated barrack room, eighteen of us. We were then split into sixes, the first patrolling from 5.30 to 8, & 12.30 till three. Acting on Grant's advice I volunteered for this. Each six split into twos, each pair having a different beat. I had previously drawn from the armoury a rifle & 50 bullets – or rounds. Yesterday was one of colossal wind – it really was terrific. I wore my sweat suit trousers under my RAF ones & the jacket under my tunic. With the Balaclava two scarves & two pairs of gloves the weight of clothing on my person & round my neck almost stifled me, the wind, besides being of hurricane force was also cold, but I was so warmly clad that I didn't feel the cold much. Unfortunately I was not paired off with Grant, having as my mate a rotten type of fellow, a thorough slacker & scrounger, anxious always to sit down, out of the wind for a rest. I was not at all keen to do this partly because I wanted to keep warm by moving all the time & partly because I was new to the job & therefore more conscientious than he, an old hand. We did not exactly agree on all points. Nevertheless, by a little give & take on both sides, he managed to have his rests & I to keep reasonably warm. The first watch started at dusk & was brilliantly moonlit. We had to patrol a side of the 'drome which we did without incident. Two gun ports were on the beat & I pitied those poor devils who do a 24 hours duty – 2 on & 4 off. Off duty they sleep in a tent & on they are confined to an exposed square in the centre of which stands the gun. The bitter wind yesterday must have made it hell's own job to keep oneself warm. I think it is a crying shame that at an established camp like this there should be 10 gun posts, the crews of all of which have to sleep under canvas throughout the winter months. We stopped for a short chat whenever we passed these posts but the fellows there seemed quite cheerful. Luckily it was free from rain & the cold & the howling gale made it rather exhilarating. Coming in at 8.30 we had supper of cold fried fish & baked beans & iced cocoa (more by accident than design) but fortunately the guard room was beautifully warm & had ELECTRIC LIGHT. We were then despatched to our billets for two, given a bed & 2 blankets & told to be quiet. We could either read or sleep in full kit ready to be out at a moments notice. I slept – restlessly. We were roused at 12.00 & sent out on the second patrol. The beat was different & the moon had disappeared. The wind still remained while the sky was clear & starlit. Our beat this time included the bomb & petrol dumps & reserve stores. They are very keen on netting for camouflage here but in the gale much of it had been blown loose & was trailing all over the place. Several times my rifle & bayonet became awkwardly tangled with flapping masses of netting, making it rather a difficult job to extricate in the darkness & wind. We passed by a similar store room, the door of which was open. Upon examination it proved to contain the flying kit of the pupil pilots on the station & my light fingered companion helped himself to a pair of beautiful soft leather fleecy lined flying boots. We had to smuggle these back unnoticed causing me quite a lot of worry, being an unwilling spectator, but he managed to do so. I cursed him later though, because we went by his watch & when just about to start for home we enquired of the time at a gun post, we were already 20 minutes overdue & landed back having done 30 minutes more guardianship (my own word) than we were told to do. A cup of tea had been awaiting us, but that of course was stone cold. We resumed sleeping fully clad until 7 am when we were sent back to the armoury to hand in rifles etc. It was not a bad job although in time it will become dreadfully boring. I feel fine today but my feet are rather sore because the boots haven't been off them for 36 hours. It will be 40 by the time I get to bed. About half those who arrived here with me are now on regular jobs – day off day on – so that soon I should be definitely settled. I hope I get last night's job because all are boring but camp patrol is considerably less arduous than any of them. I am getting much tougher though – the cold doesn't worry me nearly so much for we certainly have cold billets & I don't seem to mind them.
Grant & Bowack asked me after dinner if I would go up to the 'drome to cadge a flight in a kite (service slang). I refused having the much more pleasant job of writing to you & in any case expecting them to fail yet again. Instead, while I was pushing this pen around they spent two hours on a gloriously clear, cold December afternoon careering about the sky in an Anson – I shall try tomorrow. D.V. Reverting to Barbara's kindly offer to knit a sweater, may I drop a hint that I would like a pair of gloves in RAF colours. I want ordinary gloves, nothing fancy like mittens with zip fasteners & central heating, but with longish cuffs to meet my shirt, & fingers big enough to go over a pair of hogskin gloves. That combination acted admirably last night & it is unlikely that we shall have many gales of such force & frigidity
I have found a good spot for writing at last. If one comes on a Saturday afternoon & evening to the NAAFI writing room it is almost deserted. True one 25 watt lamp only, lights the whole room but that is better than a flickering candle or a hurricane lamp. There is a lot more that I could say but I am beginning to feel a little tired after last night so I shall shut down. Goodbye, my darling. Many many thanks for your lovely letter & the two parcels of surprises. Tomorrow is your birthday – I shall phone you many happy returns if I can get through. All my love John
PS May I have a battery for my torch sometime please?
PPS We've been given sheets at last. No more hairy blanket tickles
PPPS We've been given a sack filled with straw for a pillow
PPPPS Our hurricane lamps have been taken away.
PPPPPS There is a shortage of candles in Grantham so we can use only one at a time (this is not a hint – we three have feathered our nest well)
PPPPPPS I love you x x x x
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Letter written over at least two days describing his activities, poor accommodation and weather. He was please with parcel and especially a long letter from her with details of all her activities. Mentions delays in mail, financial and domestic matters. He is sending her a large parcel of washing. Continues with criticism of live, duties and life in general.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-12-06
Format
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Eight page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401206
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-12-06
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
RAF Grantham
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19119/EValentineJRMValentineUM401210-0001.2.jpg
3a55d7cef9b9eba158481219a5bec4db
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19119/EValentineJRMValentineUM401210-0002.2.jpg
a67efdff266b5514b119451eaedee707
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
[inserted] When you next send me something may I have a cake of soap & the largest tube of Palmolive shaving cream sold – 1/6 – it is the most economical tube.
Your cake is excellent much appreciated by Bowack & Thompson – more by John V.
1251404 AC 2 Valentine John
MQ 44 12 F.T.S.
R.A.F Station
[deleted] Bridgnorth [/deleted] [inserted] Grantham [/inserted] Lincs
Tuesday 10/12/40
My nDearest ursulla,
I may not have time to make this as long as some of my previous epistles for I must send it off by this afternoons post. I am going on guard again at 5 pm until 7.30 tomorrow so that I may be unable to let you know my news any earlier than by this letter.
We had a grand surprise this morning when we were informed of our posting next Friday to Stratford-on-Avon. It pleased me immensely for, after consulting a map I saw that Stratford is not more than 12 miles from Leamington. Should you move to G.M. soon, we ought to be able to see a lot of one another. I pray fervently that my stay there may be considerably longer than any previous sojurn [sic] at an R.A.F dump and I am trying hard to stifle the many castles that I am building in the air about the glorious prospect of being able to see my own darling wife more frequently than I have been doing of late. Mind you there is a considerable amount of concrete in these castles for I should obviously be able to get over to Leamington (or further) on any day when released at 12.30 so that we need not have to wait even for a 48 hour pass [deleted] before [/deleted] for a chance of meeting. However it would be stupid to indulge in any serious making of plans before knowing a little more of my exact address and hours of duty. I shall, of course, let you know these just as soon as I can and then we shall wee what can be done about it. Anyway, the outlook is considerably more promising than it was a few hours ago and I am very excited about the possibilities. I long for you always – now it looks as if I may be able to satisfy at least a very small part of my longing.
Barbaras letter & book, your letter & the Inc Tax form all arrived this morning. Will you please thank Barbara & tell her that I shall write as soon as I get a chance. I expect the last few days here to be fairly busy for my now regular alternate day & night guard duty will continue to the last & we have all been given an enormous form to be signed by an officer in each of the 20 departments in the camp, certifying that we are not leaving with any camp property. Even to find a man you want [underlined] when [/underlined] you want him in this place is well nigh impossible so I anticipate a spot of both in completing this wretched form
[page break]
The Income Tax apparently is now O.K. so I am returning the form & letter. Don’t, for Heavens sake pay the amount demanded because I shall now write to Touches to make sure that they are not going to pay it too and then commence deducting it from my pension which even now is niggardly enough. I shan’t write to them from here so you wont [sic] hear from me on this subject [deleted] any [/deleted] again for a week or two.
I have only one regret at leaving this place. Out of the 26 who arrived from Bridgnorth 20 are posted but the six remaining include two of my best friends – Grant & Bowack as well as four [inserted] fellows [/inserted] of the better type [deleted] of fellows [/deleted]. All the riff raff & rabble are coming with me and out of the whole bunch of 19 only Thompson is a real friend. I shall miss Bowack & Grant enormously – all four of us are sorry that the quartet is being split in two. Thompson & I hope anxiously that we do not go into large billets at Stratford and once again have to put up with the filthy language and noise of some of our Bridgnorth colleagues.
The conditions here have shown one or two improvements lately. Sheets arrived and pillows, the electricity [deleted] lights [/deleted] was switched on (but we had to buy our own bulb) and we managed to scrounge some coal dust and coke to supplement the wood stolen from the builders yard. Good lighting plus a more durable fire chain that provided by wood have combined to make life a little more cheerful.
It was lovely to speak to you on Sunday. The sound of your voice was like sweet music to me. I hope to be lucky enough to hear it again tonight. If I don’t, please don’t send anything more to Grantham – the place is so badly run that I might never see it again. Could you be kind enough to let Barnes know so that they don’t write to this address. I shall tell them my new one after I have told you.
I am now going on guard duty regularly with Grant which makes the job as pleasant as it can be. Luckily we haven’t had a single wet night yet and [deleted] as [/deleted] the cold doesn’t now worry me with all the extra clothes that you sent. I am getting quite used to prowling about the drome at all hours of the night. The most startling noises are made by the canvas draped over the cockpit & engines of the planes which flaps [inserted] in the wind [/inserted] against the wings and fuselage making a most weird & eerie hollow sound. The planes in scores are left at night time scattered all over the ‘drome and one hears the ghostly noises coming to one from all quarters when there is anything like a wind blowing. The planes, too, sometimes look like grotesque animals or birds when you catch a glimpse of their outlines from certain angles.
Must stop now dearest – going for tea & then on duty. All my love – as ever – [deleted] and [/deleted] I am hoping for great things at my next station - We may see one another soon – John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that he has been informed he is going to Stratford-upon-Avon which will be very convenient for them to see more of each other. Continues with domestic matters and income tax issues. Sorry that two of his best friends are not going with him.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-12-10
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401210
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Lincolnshire
England--Grantham
England--Warwickshire
England--Stratford-upon-Avon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-12-10
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military service conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19155/EValentineJRMValentineUM401214-0001.2.jpg
80d64b9f108881033b665f648f9ee91a
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19155/EValentineJRMValentineUM401214-0002.2.jpg
609fe48e7ee7c7efde169ed7f4c87f9b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
1251404 AC 2 Valentine John
5/2 Flight, 9 R.W.
R.A.F.
Stratford Hotel
Stratford-on-Avon
Saturday 14/12/40.
My Dearest Ursula,
This may turn out to be only a few short lines to let you know my address. This station has been opened for only two weeks and it is in a pretty chaotic state. We are the first R.A.F tenant or guests in this hotel & have been trying ever since our arrival last night to impart a little order to the prevailing confusion.
I received a bitter disappointment immediately after arriving here for I learnt that we should, in theory, stay for only two [deleted] days [/deleted] weeks. Mind you I haven’t heard the official reason [deleted] for the reason [/deleted] for our being here or for the brevity of the stay, yet it appears that this station has been opened to act as a Receiving Wing (R.W.) for Air Crew. It would also seem that at last things are getting a real move on as far as training of Air Crew is concerned & fellows are being summoned here in date order of enlistment whether they have been on ground defence or on deferred service since enlistment. Thus there are Civvies & Airmen with several months service, here together and after the former have been given kit, inoculations etc. we shall all have drill, P.T. & classes in elementary Maths. After the two weeks have elapsed we should be posted to an initial training wing (I.T.W.) for a course of several weeks in Maths, Navigation, Morse, Aeroplane Recognition & more drill. There may, however, be hold ups all along the line in the training of observers because any Pilots rejected are transferred to observer courses at a stage corresponding to their progress as Pilots prior to their rejection.
There is no camp or central station here. We all live in requisitioned hotels in different parts of the town. One hotel is used for H.Q, another for Medical Staff & treatments a third for feeding in & several others to house the men. The one in which I have been put is a large building formerly a private hotel, I imagine, for it is off the main road and has no claims to antiquity, [inserted] or [/inserted] A.A & RAC signs such as the big hotels in the town [indecipherable word]. It is devoid of all furnishings and has only one fire – in the common room. There is no central heating but H.C. is available although on the ground floor there are 25 men (including me) and only one wash basin. Alas the quiet &
[page break]
and privacy of Grantham is no more for I am in a room containing 15 fellows all [inserted] crowded [/inserted] very [deleted] cro [/deleted] close to one another there being only a few inches between each bed. Lack of warmth is again one of our complaints. Fires are not allowed in the rooms used as bedrooms but only in one common room which could comfortably accomodate [sic] 20 men wheras [sic] there are upwards of 75 in the house.
We have been told in no uncertain terms that there will be no leave WHATSOEVER during our stay here. What Christmas will be like I haven’t been able to glean but I imagine that it will be very much like a Sunday & that little will be done after a morning parade. Tomorrow I intend, if allowed, to leave here after Church parade in an attempt to visit Priors Marston & be back here at 9.30 for roll call. Late Passes are NOT ALLOWED. If I am able to manage it, I wonder if you would consider going down there with my parents just before Xmas. On Christmas day, I hope to get off early & will either try to get to PM under my own steam or ring up for a helping hand. Ian, I believe, will be there & it is not many miles from here so that I am sure that in Christmas day, of all days, they would be willing to devote a little petrol to me. If Boxing Day is also a half day I would repeat the dose & also on any Sunday so long as you were at PM. Of course, this is only conjecture but let me know as soon as you can how you react to the idea. So far as I can gather, we will not get any leave for months & months and certainly during our proper training no interruption for leave will be tolerated. Therefore I would like to seize every possible opportunity of seeing you. With all these changes & consequent interruptions to regular correspondence you seem very remote to me at the moment. I live in an entirely different world from you and it is sometimes difficult to imagine that I shall ever be back in the old life again. I do wish that I could see your again soon if only for a short time, it would be a real refresher for me.
I shall stop this letter at the end of the page so that I can catch the evenings post but I shall try to start another letter later on tonight. I hope you are well, bright and cheerful as ever my darling. Do let me have a word from you as soon as you possibly can & send me hankies & the other things that I want.
Please give me an idea of what you would like for Christmas and send me my P.O Saving Book at once
All my love dearest – I long to see you
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes to let her know new address in Stratford-upon-Avon. Writes they are first tenants in a chaotic hotel new establishment. Complains that station is only open as receiving wing for aircrew and they will not be there long. Describes daily training activities location, accommodation and facilities. Discusses Christmas arrangements with no leave pending.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-12-14
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401214
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Royal Air Force
Civilian
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Warwickshire
England--Stratford-upon-Avon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-12-14
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19156/EValentineJRMValentineUM401220-0001.2.jpg
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
1251404 AC [inserted] 2 [/inserted] Valentine
5/2 Flight, 9 R.W.,
R.A.F
Stratford Hotel
Stratford on Avon
[underlined] Friday [/underlined] 20/12/40
My Darling Ursula,
Until your letter arrived 2 minutes ago I was afraid that you had forgotten your promise to me to write as soon as you arrived home. I am so glad to know that you made it without incident and I pray that you are none the worse for those glorious we had together.
I am in a bit of a maze about this Xmas business. A telegram arrived yesterday from someone named Valentine asking me to ‘phone in the evening. [deleted] The only [/deleted] It was described as originating from London – nothing else – and I was and still am sorely perplexed as to whether you sent it or my people. After many attempts at subtle reasoning I argued that as I had written to them on the subject of Xmas & that there were one or two unnecessary words in the address and a “please” in the message, [deleted] the [/deleted] it had come from my Father so I spent yesterday evening vainly trying to ‘phone them. Today another telegram, obviously from you arrived. The address was exactly the same and the word “please” appeared again so I am now wondering whether you sent both. Last night, priority calls only were being accepted by the telephone service & all my attempts to get through to Barnet were fruitless. Now I am puzzled as to why you are coming to Stratford though I am not in the least sorry. I long to have you here again. But have my folks refused to have us, or can’t they give you a lift down to P.M. or what?? I know that in due course I shall find out but I am mystified just now. I shall try ‘phoning you tonight.
Two points from your letter dearest.
[circled 1] I shan’t bother about a card to the Chalmers, don’t you either
(2) Bring my washing etc with you when you come.
I haven’t yet booked a room but will do so tomorrow, for then, being a Saturday, I shall have plenty of time. As regards meeting on Xmas Eve, I will be at the Station in time for the train you came on before, so don’t leave the station without me for
[page break]
you won’t know where to go. By the way, I have just popped into the Falcon to enquire about accomodation, [sic] but they are absolutely full up for Xmas – having been booked for months.
It was just as well that you left when you did, for we have been very busy ever since. Your stay here was a period of the most positive form of joy that I have ever experienced. I shall always love Stratford for those few walks in such lovely weather by the placid river with its trees, lawns and swans; for those almost clandestine meetings in the café after my meals; for the exquisite pleasure of waking you in the morning and kissing you in bed; for the glorious lazy hours by the firesides of the Falcon puzzling over the chess board; and for the final might of bliss sleeping together – marred only by Jane barking at the sublime moments when I was about to pass from the heavenly consciousness that you were by my side to what I hoped would be untroubled oblivion. However, we shall be able to give Jane a sedative or knock her on the head on future occasions, if any.
The days since you left have been fully occupied but very boring – except for Maths lectures. We have done drill ad nauseum, a little pseudo P.T., and had Sunday lectures from the M.O. (about our old friend venereal disease), from the Education Officer (on Air Force Law) [deleted] an [/deleted] from a real big bug in the Air Force, a full blooded Air Commodore and even one from your friend Metcalfe. That one was a positive joy for he stuttered in an incredible fashion, finished very few of his sentences and used the most awful slang expressions such as “sure” pronounced “Shoor” “Oh Boy” “and how”.
Three spots of humour – at least they strike me that way.
[circled 1] A corporal seeing a lot of us standing idle on a street pavement bawled out “GET FELL IN”
[circled 2] Hitler was about to pay a visit of inspection to a lunatic asylum & in anticipation the inmates were given instructions, repeated instructions, to raise the right arm in the Nazi salute and to shout “Heil Hitler” as soon as the Führer entered their respective wards. In due course Hitler entered a certain room and everyone obeyed orders, with one exception. Hitler of course was furious with this [inserted] man [/inserted] and shouted & roared in his usual way asking for the reason for the mans failure to salute as the others had done. The reply he received was “I am a doctor, sir, not a lunatic
(3) From Lilliput (you may have seen it) Hitler slinking up to Goering & trying to keep out of sight of a passer by. He says to Goering “Get that man locked up. I have decorated his house for him”
[page break]
[underlined] Two hours later[/underlined]I have now made several more abortive efforts to ‘phone you but the invariable reply was “Priority Calls only – Indefinite Delay for others” I think it would be a mere waste of time to try yet again so I shall content myself with finishing this letter and have another telephone session tomorrow night, by which time I hope to have secured a room for you at Christmas.
Very little has happened since Wednesday morning that is worth passing on to you. The drill which we have been doing is extremely dull for owing to the limited accomodation [sic] (streets)the movements which we can carry out are restricted to a very small number. In addition we march to & from the town over a dozen times a day and we have to step it out in a most uncomfortably stiff & proper fashion. Owing to your departure the town has lost the glamour & lustre which seemed to cling to it when it was graced by your prescence. [sic]
The socks that you washed for me on Tuesday aren’t dry yet. During the day we are not allowed to have anything hanging about the billets & in the evenings usually a score of fellows cluster round the only fire permitted by H.M. the King. By the way the towel you brought for me wasn’t the Air Force one, was it? It seems too thin & worn although it certainly has a little more body to it than the holy pink one.
About 200 yards from here is a very large mansion, standing in its own grounds. It boasts amongst its many signs of opulence a large & sturdily built stable with two storeys. The owners have very generously converted the top floor into a Services canteen and have made a really good job of it. There are three rooms, the largest of which now contains a table tennis table, piano, dart board bagatelle & a wireless. The centre room – little more than a passage is the kitchen where they serve coffee (made with milk) & other beverages and buns, sandwiches etc at NAAFI prices while the third has a lovely brick open fire (like the Falcon) a dozen or so chairs & settees, two tables and scores of magazines. Of course it is small & very crowded but it is warm comfortable and inexpensive and [deleted] feels [/deleted] provides something which the town lacks in the way of catering for exiles like myself. The young ladies who staff the show are all very “county” but as none of them attracts me very much I don’t intend complaining to the management.
[page break]
I hope that Barbara arrived home safely & that she was not too bored by her stay here. I think that the change & rest should have done her at least a little good.
Isn’t this an odd Christmas? Usually, at this time of year, the shops are ablaze of an evening and packed to capacity with scurrying mortals carrying innumerable brown paper parcels. An air of expectancy pervades the atmosphere for weeks before, presents are planned, purchased & posted, everybodies [sic] wants are taken into consideration & one tries to drop hints as to ones own needs. This year is quite different. Christmas might never exist for all the hints that we in the RAF have of it. Very few of us will get parcels owing to the constant changes in our location & the danger of sending anything. We have no money to buy others what we want, we shan’t even be at home & unless we are as lucky as I am to be, we shan’t have our loved ones (if any) with us. Blooming odd, I calls it.
Now dearest, for lack of anything to report I shall close down soon. I loved your coming here & every single minute of the time we were together (except when Jane barked). How long you will be able to stay next week I don’t know but I am looking forward to having you here again more than I can ever tell you. Look after yourself always dear, & don’t strain yourself on the way down by trying to carry too much. I hope you will have an uneventful [indecipherable word] & that the train won’t keep us apart by being an hour or two late.
I hope soon to have the telegram and Christmas mysteries unravelled.
Until we meet again, my dear, fondest love from your affectionate
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
He writes about their arrangements for meeting at Christmas. Continues with recollection of her recent visit and about his training activities. Writes about a mansion which has converted its stables into a Services Canteen. Catches up with family and friends news.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-12-20
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401220
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Warwickshire
England--Stratford-upon-Avon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-12-20
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
love and romance
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
[inserted] Your letter has just arrived also one from my people. You are quite right in coming here & bring Jane. We will be independent. John
Shall probably be fine Xmas Day & Boxing Day. [/inserted]
1251404 AC 2 Valentine John
5/2 Flight, 9 R.W.,
Stratford Hotel
Stratford-on-Avon
[underlined] Saturday [/underlined] 21/12/40
My Darling Ursula,
I have only a few minutes in which to start this letter, but I shall finish it tomorrow in time for the evening collection so that you ought to get it before you leave on Tuesday – (may the time pass quickly, until Tuesday evening – I long for you) I tried to ‘phone you again this evening – for the third night in succession, but alas it was of no avail, only priority calls being accepted. I think it must be that the line from here to London goes via Birmingham so that there is always a lot of heavy traffic at all times of day & night.
I have at last got a room for you on Tuesday night (haste the time until then). I started my enquiries about 1 pm and with intervals for dinner & tea it was nigh on 6 o’clock before I managed to book something. I must have tramped miles & called in at least 25 places (no exaggeration) before the lucky hit came along. It is much more ‘umble than the Falcon but I think that you will be fairly comfortable. It is a boarding house & one feeds communally at a large table, but the room is clean (no H & C) the bed looks comfortable while the lounge & dining room are both warm and well furnished. I do hope that it is good enough for my darling wife, but honestly dear I don’t think that there is an alternative unless one stoops to much more lowly digs. I do think that it is the best going. The good lady in charge struck me as a charming soul anxious to do something for me in my plight & waived her objections to Jane. I told her that I might get a sleeping out pass but she said that she couldn’t reserve a double room on chance. However, she has definitely booked a single bed for you dearest & she has a double vacant at the moment. If I can find out anything about my chances of a sleeping out pass soon she might still have the double room free. Perhaps I may be able to wangle something myself this time instead of having to rely on my wife. [inserted] [indecipherable word] up good night [/inserted]
[page break]
[underlined] Sunday 22/12/40 [/underlined]
My darling,
I have just come in from Church parade & will carry on with this until lunch time. Today is bitterly cold. The sky promises snow, I think for it is a dull grey & the wind is icy. Whether it is due to the low temperature of the last few days or not I don’t know, but the water supply at our pub is off colour. We have had no hot water since Thursday and the cold comes in fits & starts. This morning I went to breakfast without washing or shaving & performed these operations at the Shakespeare after feeding. How glorious is Hot Water after a day or two of cold.
Yesterday was an amazing day for me. Just about 1 pm I was walking towards the station looking for a likely hostel for you when someone hailed me from a car. It was the ubiquitous Colin Hay – friend of Jean Serpell & of Irene (quondam). You probably remember me talking about him he is always turning up at odd places in a most unexpected fashion. He is a solicitor of the treasury & has been evacuated from Whitehall. He has been here for 7 weeks & is often in the Falcon. I haven’t seen him since the summer of 1939 so we had a chat & a drink or two in the Falcon in the evening while I was trying to ‘phone you. He is not my idea of a perfect companion but it was most enjoyable talking over “old times” with him.
That in itself was quite an odd meeting but not so strange as the second. After leaving Colin I went into the Shakespeare for supper to find the cook-house full of a new intake of rookies. Just as I was sitting down with my hunks of bread & cheese one of them held out his hand to grasp mine. It was a chap who had once been one of my greatest friends – Keith Somerville. He was in the office (Touches) & left about two years ago to go to South Africa with my Father’s firm Balfour Beatty & Co. I don’t remember ever speaking to you about him but I do recollect telling you that Stewart was after the job & was very annoyed with my parents whom he suspected of standing in his way. The accusation was quite unjust because my Father knew of the speculative nature of the job & for Binnly’s sake did not use his influence to secure it for Stewart. His action has since been amply justified because the job faded out when the war began & Keith came home out of work. He really is a grand fellow, very quiet & quaint but a true gentleman. He has a little round almost squashed face but I have had a tremendous
[page break]
liking for him ever since we met. If we can possibly stick together it will make an enormous difference to life in the R.A.F, for me, at any rate. Unfortunately I am a week ahead of him & he is to be a pilot so that the chances of keeping together are rather remote.
These two chance meetings yesterday coupled with the weariness of my tramp around the town in search of accomodation [sic] for you left me a little dazed in the evening – or was it the two pints of beer I had with Colin Hay?
I am still unable to supply a possible solution to the puzzling telegrams and to the [deleted] old [/deleted] question of why you are coming here at Xmas. I may try ‘phoning again tonight but I am now very doubtful of my chances of success. Just in case we don’t meet on Tuesday, I will give you some idea of the whereabouts of your digs – called WINTON HOUSE
[street map drawing]
Your train I believe arrives at 4.50 & I ought to be able to meet it. If you are there first, find a warm waiting room & “bide a wee” for hubby. If he is too long in coming, please yourself about waiting or not but if you set off on your own don’t attempt to carry too much in case you strain yourself. I am looking forward to your coming tremendously.
Please don’t forget my P.O Savings book. I am to meet Colin Hay on Monday & might spend a shilling or two. I have about 4/- just now & hope to borrow from Keith if need be. Handkerchiefs I am still very short of – I have tried Voolourts but they ain’t much cop. I could have tried getting to P.M today but it is so confoundedly cold, & I am so doubtful as to the reason for your not going there at Xmas & as Keith is here I decided not bother.
I haven’t much to tell you, dearest, & my hand is slowly turning to ice so I shall desist for the time being. If I thaw or if I have an inspiration I shall take up my pen again before posting this
In the meantime my fondest love & longing
Yours always
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
He writes about trying to find accommodation for Ursula when she comes to Stratford to stay for Christmas. Mentions church parade and weather. Write of meeting up unexpectedly with two old friends. Asks her not to forget to bring his post office savings book.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-12-21
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Four page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401221
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Warwickshire
England--Stratford-upon-Avon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-12-21
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19158/EValentineJRMValentineUM401228-010001.2.jpg
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
28/12/40
Bloody Early,
(Say 5 am.)
My Darling Ursula,
Just a line or two to add to what I said last night I have loved being with you for Xmas, every minute of your stay. Thank you, my dearest, for every single one of your little kindnesses. I cannot say often enough how deeply I appreciate everything you brought or sent to me, each article whether large or small being a token of your love & affection.
As to what I told you last night, I can’t tell you yet whether I am, on balance, glad or not. The feeling of shame & guilt is so strong that that of relief is still
[page break]
overshadowed by it. However my conscience is a lot clearer & if you can [underlined] honestly [/underlined] say that your opinion of me is [underlined] completely [/underlined] unaffected I shall feel a lot happier.
I managed to get back without being spotted by the guard who was prowling about the house somewhere when I walked in. I have had very little sleep for my thoughts kept on worrying me after I had settled down. We are now going for breakfast so goodbye you darling. I love you for everything you have done for me during these few glorious days.
Hope your cold improves dearest - let me know how it goes
Love for ever
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes of how much he enjoyed spending a few days with her during Christmas and that he was successful in getting back into camp.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-12-28
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Two page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401228-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
England--Warwickshire
England--Stratford-upon-Avon
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-12-28
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
love and romance
military living conditions
military service conditions
training
-
https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/files/original/1281/19159/EValentineJRMValentineUM401228-020001.1.jpg
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentine, John
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
J R M Valentine
Description
An account of the resource
674 Items. Collection concerns navigator Warrant Officer J R McKenzie Valentine (1251404 Royal Air Force). The collection contains over 600 letters between JRM Valentine and his wife Ursula. It also contains his log book, family/official documents, a book of violin music studies and other correspondence. Sub-collections contain family photographs, prisoner of war photographs and a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of events from 1942 to 1945.
He joined 49 Squadron in April 1942 and flew 10 operations on Hampdens. The squadron converted to Manchester in May when he completed two further operations. His aircraft was shot down on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31 May 1942. Five crew, including him bailed out successfully and became prisoners of war. The pilot and one air gunner were killed when the aircraft rolled over and crashed.
The collection has been donated to the IBCC Digital Archive by Frances Zagni and catalogued by Nigel Huckins.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2018-09-06
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
Valentine, JRM
Transcribed document
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading.
Transcription
Text transcribed from audio recording or document
Start of transcription
1251404 AC 2 Valentine
D Flight
1 Squadron
RAF
[inserted] Queens Hotel [/inserted]
[deleted] ABERYSTWTH [/deleted] ABERYSTWYTH
[inserted] [circled See if you can do it first shot] [/inserted]
[deleted] Aberywth [/deleted]
Wales
28/12/40
Ursula Darling,
These few lines may seem a little incoherent but at the end of a long day & while waiting to have a bath 10 days overdue I am feeling a little jaded. Having so much that I would like to say & not feeling able to marshal my thoughts properly. I shall probably succeed in sending you a lot of disjointed trash.
I hope, my dearest little wife that you got home safely, were not too tired, had an uneventful journey & were not so foolish as to over exert yourself in any way. I know that you are sensible enough to try to restrain your impetuosity but there are times, I know, when you try to undertake too much. A suitcase, mammoth handbag & a high spirited dog comprise quite a handful for a woman in your condition I am just praying that you managed
[page break]
everything successfully & arrived home intact & not worn out. I hope the taxi turned up promptly and did not overcharge you. Let me know about your journey especially the last part from Paddington to Hendon. I was outside your bedroom window shortly after 5 am today and longed to wake you up to give you a good morning and another farewell kiss but I didn’t want to rouse the whole house at that ungodly hour so I contented myself with slipping a note under the door. Did you get it, my dear? I cant [sic] remember what I wrote for I did it about 4.30 am. but my heart was so full of you your sweetness to me, your [indecipherable word] to me after my confession, your great love for me, the thousands of kindness both large & small that I have had from you that I was moved even [deleted] that [/deleted] at that bleak hour to write you a few lines. They may not have read too well but the fact that I was unable to stop myself from writing only a few hours after seeing you proves what a terrific power
[page break]
you have become in my life.
I have now had my bath & am sitting uncomfortably in bed feeling very sleepy for I had only 180 minutes of sleep last night. Nevertheless I know that I shall continue writing until the other fellows insist on putting out the light so completely am I under your spell just now.
I loved the Christmas we had together despite the unpleasantness at P.M. Your many kindnesses in the form of [deleted] the [/deleted] a multitude & variety of [deleted] your [/deleted] presents completely overwhelmed me leaving me almost speechless when I had opened the lot. I feel that the precious days we had together [deleted] on [/deleted] [inserted] during [/inserted] your two visits were truly marvellous. The more so because they were wrested from the tentacles of the R.A.F, & not merely free gifts bestowed in a moment of weakness. We, particularly you, seized every possible moment and made the most of them all. I shall always treasure this happiest of memories of Stratford-upon-Avon almost as much as of Kellin.
[page break]
After I left you last night I made straight for my billet & marched boldly up to the front door. To my releif [sic] there was no guard at that time – he was prowling about somewhere in the house – and I was able to get into my room unobserved. Soon after I got in another night prowler arrived, he too was not caught and with the light of my torch we climbed into bed and had a final cigarette. I dropped off to sleep about 1 am, I think, only to be awakened at 4 am. sharp. We had, all thing being considered & in the light of my previous experiences of travelling with the RAF a positively delightful journey here. We waited about at Stratford for rather longer than we liked but after we started moving the journey became quite enjoyable. We had only 1 change & [deleted] always [/deleted] travelled in reserved coaches all the way. It was a truly glorious day
[page break]
bright sun and blue sky prevailing all the way. We went via Shrewsbury and then right through mid Wales. The scenery was most attractive & I spent most of the time in the corridor gazing out at the hills, trees, woods and streams, drinking in impressions of a lovely landscape bathed in sunlight and crowned by a clear blue sky. The sight of the hills brought back many happy memories of the happy times you and I have spent together in the mountains. I love hills; they grip me in a way that defies description; there is something so superb in their size compared with the paucity of men, their apparently haphazard shape, their clothing of grass bracken or wood gashed by little silver slips where water comes tumbling down, their silence and massive immobility combine to thrill me in a [deleted] most [/deleted] vague but very real manner. With you by my
[page break]
side I am sure that I could live out my days happily among mountains. Unfortunately we had to get here sometime although the train was obliging enough to arrive over an hour late.
We were expected here, which is quite a new experience for us. Two or three officers & N.C.O’s met us at the station, called the role & then marched us to our billets. I have been allotted a room with five others. Thompson is one of them but I am not very keen on the others. Since we arrived at this pub at 3.30 I have not been out for there has been quite a lot to do & to learn before one can settle down for the first night.
We have had a short talk from our corporal who gave us a rough idea of what lies ahead. It is certain that we are in for a really busy time. He told us so & this was confirmed by several fellows who have been here for a few weeks. They say that we shall not have a spare moment from 6.30 am until 5.30 pm.
[page break]
The whole station seems to be really well organised but very very [sic] strict. We are now entitled to wear white “flash” in the front of the forage cap. A privilege granted to enable us to be distinguished as “Air Crew under training”. We are obviously to be allowed very little chance of developing bad habits for the place abounds [deleted] in [/deleted] [inserted] with [/inserted] rules & regulations and we have a very full timetable which is adhered to strictly. The course lasts 8 weeks & we ought to be granted a 7 day leave upon completion. We have about half a dozen exams during the course, at each of which a few will fall by the wayside – I hope.
Someone has just hinted that they will be turning out the lights soon so I shall prepare to stop at a moments notice.
I hope your cold is better dear. Let me know how it goes I seem to have developed another in real earnest & will dose myself with aspirin when I go to sleep.
[page break]
I hope you can read these jottings. I am lying flat on my back holding the pad up with my left hand. It is not easy to write [deleted] like [/deleted] in this way because one can’t hold the paper still enough. Nevertheless it is the warmest posture.
Tomorrow, given time, I shall attach the accumulated arrears which have piled up against me since Xmas so please forgive me if I dont [sic] add to this.
I am dreadfully sorry, darling, that you should be saddled with so much of the fag of making arrangements for April 4th. It is not fair that you should have to do it. Please let me know of your progress & also whether you still want to inform my folk of our change of plan.
Goodnight dearie, fondest love May we have many more days as happy as the last few.
John.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Letter from John Valentine to his wife Ursula
Description
An account of the resource
Writes that he hoped she got home safely and how much he enjoyed her visit. Describes his journey via Shrewsbury and Wales to Aberystwyth where unusually they were expected.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1940-12-28
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Tricia Marshall
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Eight page handwritten letter
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Text. Correspondence
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
EValentineJRMValentineUM401228-02
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Civilian
Royal Air Force
Spatial Coverage
Spatial characteristics of the resource.
Great Britain
Wales
England--Shropshire
Wales--Dyfed
Wales--Aberystwyth
Temporal Coverage
Temporal characteristics of the resource.
1940-12-28
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
IBCC Digital Archive
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
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.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
John Ross Mckenzie Valentine
military living conditions
military service conditions
training