Stan and Grace

Grimethorpe Sunday 11.30 p.m. 9.1.43 My Very Own Darling, Sitting here in the firelight, it seems difficult to realise that seven days have flashed past since we were twirling round in that old fashioned waltz at the dance.   It was just about this time last Saturday when you asked the M.C. to play one! What is NOT difficult to realise is that to-day after living in dreamland for a whole week, we have both been brought back to the grim realities of everyday life by our parting. The war & the Army have seemed a long way off, my Darling when I have held you in my arms this last week, but now, with miles separating us & with aching hearts, we have to turn again to the jobs in front of us & apply ourselves to them with a will, for after all, until we have completed our respective tasks the full & complete happiness for which we now yearn cannot be ours. Whenever I get downhearted now, Angel, I shall think of that & I am sure it will give me fresh hear...

Grace’s nights off were from 1 st to 5 th January, so by today we should have a letter from Grace, written after she had arrived back at the Nurses’ Home in Nottingham.   There is no such letter – why not? Stan and Grace know that, very soon, Stan is going to be sent abroad to join one of the campaigns in either North Africa or the Far East.   Stan has done the preparation for his unit to go abroad, they have had their inoculations – they are ready to go. Who can blame this young couple if they decide to snatch a few more days together? The story will unfold in the coming letters, but it seems that they went to a phone box and Stan, pretending to be Grace’s father, rang the hospital and spoke to the Matron.   It seems that he told the Matron that his wife was confined to bed by a bad attack of ‘lumbago’.    Their older daughter, Vera, was an invalid and needed care and, of course, he had to go out to work.   Could Grace be allowed to stay at home for ...

Stan and Grace are meeting up in Doncaster at lunchtime today and happily spending their leave together in Grimethorpe, but what is happening in the wider world and how is the war progressing? By January, 1943, the war had  lasted more than three years.   Hitler’s forces occupied most of mainland Europe plus Norway, the Balkans and Greece.   Italy was allied to Germany.   Spain, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland were neutral. Germany was engaged in the invasion of Russia, with the battle for Stalingrad in process at the end of 1942. The British, Americans and their allies were engaged with Japan in the Far East and with Germany and Italy (the Axis powers) in North Africa.   What was so important about North Africa?   Firstly, the British were reliant on oil from oilfields in Iran, which was our main supplier in the 1940’s.   This oil came by tanker via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean and on to the UK through the Straights of Gibral...

General Hospital Nottingham 1 a.m. Dec: 30 th 1942    My Precious Darling, I suppose this will be the last letter I will write you before I am actually with you again on Friday.   Lovely thought!! When I kissed you Good-bye last time I never thought that we would have five more days together.   Of course, I hoped that we might but it seemed so improbable.   Now that we are actually going to be together again – well – it seems too good to be true.   There is only one snag – I might have a lecture.   I hardly dare look at the “Notice Board” for the new list.   I am hoping that one will not come out before Friday and then Friday morning I shall not look at it, so that I can always plead ignorance. You asked if father had arranged some conveyance to take us home Sat: evening.   Yes – he has arranged for a taxi.   Thank goodness!! I was pleased to hear that you managed to have a decent time at Christmas, even though you had to ...

Usual address Sunday evening       My Own Darling, I wonder what we shall be doing next week at this time?   Only another four days & I shall be home & then after another day we shall be together. Why can’t the time go much quicker. I’ve not much to tell you, to-night.   I’ve just finished work & am trying to get as much cleared up as possible so there will be no fear of some job cropping up at the last moment. I had another TAB inoc. a few hours ago & am just beginning to feel the effects so I really think the best place for me is bed. Am looking forward to a letter from you to-morrow.   I don’t think anything to this Christmas rush business.   It delays your letters too much for my liking.   It seems ages Darling since I had a letter from you. I know you won’t think much of this scribbled note but I thought I must write & let you know how much I am looking forward to the week-end. When you reply to t...

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Christmas night    11 p.m. My Own Darling, Despite the fact that I’ve been surrounded by people all day, I’ve felt rather lonely to-day, lonely for you and for home.   I suppose its a feeling everyone gets on Christmas Day.   I’ve just been wondering what you are doing.   Did you get anyone to relieve you to go to your dance? A week tonight at this time we shall be together, Darling, together for another five days of heaven.   No doubt they will fly past, but we can trust each other to make the best of them can’t we.   I keep wishing the week would fly past, but instead it just seems to crawl along at an indescribable rate.   Ah me!   What it is to be impatient. I feel tired tonight.   I got up at 6.30 this morning & helped to take coffee & rum round to the men in bed.   Then I worked in the cookhouse all the morning & helped to serve the dinner. We had a super dinner.   The conventional type you know, t...