(Original Return Address censored)
7 Knyveton Rd.
Dear Mom, Dad and All:- It's the wee hours again as I am on duty as
I dash this off and a bit on the sleepy side. The summer weather
has turned cold again and the temperature hovers around the fifty mark.
Bournemounth
May 15,1942
Just had one of the Camels received in the
last package and they were all right. Still have my preference for
Regents although any kind of American cigarettes are a treat. Have
opened the Raleigh, too, and stoked up the old pipe. Am still looking
forward to receiving the candy from Irene.
You'd never imagine what I had for supper tonight
in a hundred years. I am now in a class with Roblnson Crusoe.
It was fried sea gulls egg. One of the boys gathered half a dozen
down on the rocky cliffs and gave me some. There's no difference
at all discernable between them and hen's eggs, although I must admit I
was a bit skeptical. They are quite a bit larger than chicken eggs
and are a pale blue-gray color with brown spots. I have three more
yet to eat. The girls at the mess hall cooked them for us.
A Canadian named Joe O'Reilly and I went into
town this afternoon and, after a bit of a feed and a Seagrams VO highball
at a pub owned by one of the fellows on the camp, saw "Bedroom Story" with
Frederick March and Loretta Young at the Majestic. It was just fair,
but the news reel was very good. Showed the U.S. Marine Commando's
in action. We returned for supper at the camp at 9:15.
Lorna and I are going to Chu Chin Chow Saturday
night at "His Majesty's". It's the same cast that has been playing
it in London for the past two years so it should be good. We went
to MacIlraith's last Sunday afternoon for tea and enjoyed ourselves as
usual. One of the girls was sick with the flu or something.
She had a temperature of 103. I sent her a bouquet of tulips today
while in town. We just sat around and talked until after tea when
the Rev. had to go for his services and then Joyce, the youngest daughter,
talked Lorna into playing the piano for us. She doesn't play by ear,
so they hauled out what music they had and she played it at sight.
Mostly Scotch songs and ballads. Mrs. Mac Ilraith was delighted since
neither of her girls play. She thought Lorna was very nice.
The fact that she uses no cosmetics made quite a hit with her. We
left about seven and got a bus back to camp in time to hear Churchill's
speech. The old boy sure can talk. Did you hear it?
The boys with wings are sure letting Jerry
have it these days, aren't they? Hitler's collar must be feeling
a little tight around the neck of late with the Russians cracking down
from one side and the RAF from the other. All the RAF bombers are
equipped with cameras now and the newspapers are filled with pictures of
the raids effect on the ground. Guess the old Japs will be beginning
to wonder, as well, after the Naval shellacking they took last week in
their invasion attempt. Glad to see Uncle Sam has his dukes up and
is beginning to slug in the old American way. It'll take a lot of
slugging to get back all we've lost to the dictators.
I leave for Ireland next week on the 22nd.
I'm going to Glasgow and then fly, if I can get a seat on the plane, to
Belfast. From there I will go to Dublin and then to Clonakilty which
is about twenty miles from Cork. It's quite a trip from the northeast
coast of Scotland to the southwest coast of Ireland. I'm getting
lined up on the things to see from some of the natives serving over here.
I'll write you from there and try and get Sister Gertrude her flag.
Being an American may do the trick. I took my suit in to have it
cleaned and was told it would be three weeks or a month before I could
get it, so I had to be satisfied with just having it sponged and pressed.
All the help are in the forces wherever you go so you just have to take
your turn.
Is George wearing O.D. yet? And how about
the rest of the boys? Looks like Bill ought to be safe, but he seems
to be the only one. I little thought six months ago things would
turn out as they have so quickly. Too bad I can't turn my commission
over to George. It doesn't seem to be doing me much good at the moment
as I'm sitting pretty right here. There's a chance I may get into
the Research laboratories soon. It's just a chance, though, but would
certainly be great if I could. I always used to be pretty good at
lab work.
Well, Mrs. Martin's little boy is getting pretty
sleepy so he's going to call one of the boys to take over the watch and
hit the hay himself for awhile.
Keep on writing as often as you find time and
tell the rest of the family to do the same. I wrote to Basil, George
Knoll and Bill Emerson and the Martin sisters the other day. Min
wrote a while back so I probably know more about what's going on at 728
than you do, if they haven't been out. Bill wrote that he had read
parts of my "saga" to his class at school. Rather poor example of
letter writing to set before an English class I should think. Just
a jumble of events as they recurred to me.
And so, Cheerio 'til next time.