Tuesday, 11 May, 1943

2364226                                                                                                           22
Sergt. S. Bristow
Headquarters
9 Corps Signals (Rear)
B.N.A.F.

Tuesday, May 11^th 1943

My Own Darling,

Today has been a very trying one.  The sun seems to have been hotter and the flies more numerous and more of a nuisance.  My whole day seems to have been spent in swotting them and at the moment the floor of the office is absolutely littered with them!

Just at the present the day is at its best.  Dusk has but recently fallen, but already the new moon is shedding a silvery light over the almond trees of the orchard in which we are staying.  The cool night air has driven the flies away & except for a stray moth fluttering round my electric light, everything is still.  The peaceful air which permeates the countryside is amazingly restful after the hurry & excitement of the past week.

This is the time I like to shut up my tent flap turn on the wireless & think of, or write to, you, who is constantly in my thoughts.  You, the person who during the past 14 months has brought about such a change in my life and filled it with such happy memories of the past – and such hopes for the future!

Darling, many nights I have sat down and attempted to put down on paper the extent of my love for you, but it is such an indescribable quality that it always evades description, so I’ll just have to be content in the knowledge that I am loving you so much.  The thousands of miles which separate us have at least served one purpose.  I think that (if it is possible) they have strengthened the bond with which we had woven together our two lives during the past year.  Yes.  I am certain there is lots of truth in the old adage “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”!  What do you think?

Often I sit and dream of those many nights we have sat together in front of the fire, both with our own particular thoughts & only the ticking of the old clock in the corner to disturb them.  I am no thought reader, but I think your thoughts were usually in the same vein as mine – in the future which we shall both spend together.  And if those nights were any criterion of the happiness that lies in store for us after the war, my Darling, then that day cannot dawn too soon.

The victories we have had in this theatre of war in the past week have been most heartening, haven’t they & (although probably it is wishful thinking) one can’t help wondering whether the end (or for us it will be actually the beginning!) is not so far distant as we so pessimistically thought before I left England.

A lot more ground has yet to be gone over, I know, but the start of a successful second front in Europe now (as the newspapers & BBC seem to suggest is imminent) would make a huge difference.  I don’t think that even such a magnificent fighting machine as the German Army could withstand the combined strength of both the Allies on one side & the good old Russians on the other.  It certainly looks as though England has passed her darkest hour & is just emerging with her enormous strength into the light of the dawn – the dawn of a day which millions of people the length & breadth of Europe are waiting for.  I only hope the oppressed peoples will rise to the occasion as we are led to believe they will.

In my last letter I mentioned about having a hat band from one of the members of the Afrika Korps.  I have decided to risk sending it to you & if the censor is kind, you should find it enclosed.  I told John & Janet in a letter I have just written that I was sending it & that you would show it to them when you got an opportunity.

So you refuse to tell me what you are sewing, do you, & leave me to let my imagination wander!  I suppose I shall have to exercise my patience still further & who knows? one day I might actually see ! ! !  Ah me!  I wonder how long these days are going to be!

Well, Angel, as I have to get up to-morrow at the unearthly hour of 4 a.m. I suppose I ought really to get between my blankets & get some “beauty sleep”.  You won’t want me if I come home a haggard man with a brow wrinkled through want of sleep, will you!

So goodnight, my Darling.  I love you so much and am just waiting for a certain day which you know all about.  Let’s hope it isn’t going to be too long.

Pleasant dreams, my Dear.  All my love, Yours Stan   xxxxx

Note - the AfrikaKorps hat band must have been "liberated" from stores that the retreating German Army left behind as it is in pristine condition and, clearly, has never been attached to a hat.