Stan and Grace

The following is a ‘sea letter’, sent after Stan’s trip to Rome.   The first and last pages are hand-written.  The rest of the letter is typed so that Stan could send a copy to his parents without having to write it all out again.  This copy was probably passed on to the South Yorkshire Times in the same way as 'A Football Match' (see 31 August). 2364226                                           Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters 15 L of C Signals Cen. Med. Forces 24 Sep. 44 .                                                   ...

  2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters 15 L of C Signals Cen. Med. Forces 23 Sep. 44 .                                                                                          208. My Own Most Precious Darling, Well, my holiday is all over bar the shouting – and talking!   I arrived back about a couple of hours ago feeling extremely dirty and tired.   A bath soon put the former right, but I thought I’d write to you before I went to sleep & so here I am, sitting up in bed, writing to the best girl in the whole world. It was so thrilling to get back and f...

G.H.N.          21.9.44                                                                      181 My Very Precious Darling, I have not much news for you but a letter is always welcome, is it not? Yesterday nothing exciting happened – just the same old routine, and to-day has been very much the same. I have started reading “The West Wind of Love” but find that an atlas would enable me to follow the story better.   As I have not read much of it as yet I can hardly pass an opinion upon it. Friday 22 nd Did not get this finished last night as I intended doing as the night nurse came on duty.   It is my half-...

2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters 15 L of C Signals Cen. Med. Forces 21 Sep. 44 .                                                                          207. My Very Own Darling, My visit to Rome is fast coming to a close – I return to my unit tomorrow.   The past four days have been very enjoyable, but, oh dear, how footsore and weary I am now!   The weather rather put a damper on things, for it's been raining for the past two days, but it really hasn’t restricted our activities too much for we have been looking at “indoor sights” for the past two days. This morning I confined to looking around the s...

2364226 Sergt. S. Bristow Headquarters 15 L of C Signals Cen. Med. Forces 19 Sep. 44 .                                                                                               206. My Very Own Precious Darling, You must forgive me for not having written to you for such a long time – four days to be precise, but I know that to you waiting in England for a letter, it will seem much longer – but I have been travelling for 2½ days, reaching the “Eternal City” yesterday lunchtime.  Since then I have been busy sightseeing and am so utterly tired that I am havin...

G.H.N. 17.9.44                                                                      179 My Most Precious Darling, The A.P.O. certainly made up for their four days lapse by delivering yet another letter from you yesterday. In your letter Dear you said that you did not think that you would be home for at least another year.   I have tried to look at the situation sensibly and I too realise that.   I agree with you – we have to face up to facts.   Of course, one can always keep on hoping that a miracle may happen and that you might get home before. I have just written a short letter to your Mother telling her that I have changed my...