Stan and Grace

2364226 Sergt S. Bristow Unit Headquarters 15 L of C Signals B.N.A.F May 27 th 1943     My Very Own Darling, I bet you have been calling me some nasty names for keeping you waiting for such a long time for a letter, but my conscience is clear, Darling!!   There are two reasons, a) as you see above, I have changed my address* & b) I am afraid I have to confess that I have been ill for the last two or three days.   Yes, for once, the Army Post Office is NOT to blame! The change of address has turned out very well.   Now I have a nice little bed in a camp on the cliff top near a coastal town, with the lovely blue Med. just about 200 yds away!   What a change from the rather barren country we have been in for the past month.   As I am writing now the door of the hut I sleep in is open & the sun, a great flaming ball, is sinking slowly beyond the sea & turning it into a beautiful golden colour.   In a tree nearby a night...

G.H.N. (Selston)                                                                            (27) 27. 5.43     My Own Darling, I was very thrilled to receive letter 22 this morning, enclosed in which was the band from the cap of a member of Rommels once famous “Africakorps”.   I was pleased that it had come through alright and you will be pleased to hear that it arrived.   All the boys on my ward were very interested in it and it had to be passed round twice for them to have a good look at it.   I will certainly take it for John and Janet to see, at the first opportunity. Your letter had...

Nurses Home General Hospital,                                                                          (26) Nottingham 26.5.43      My Very Own Darling, Once again I write to you from Selston.   I am only five weeks overdue and as it is Sister’s week-end I suppose I shall be here another four days.   A nurse was sent out to relieve me but the “powers that be” are still hanging on to me.   Ah well - they cannot keep me here for ever, can they? Enclosed you will find the buttercup that Kit and Joyce have pressed for me to send.   I really dare not do any other but send it after they have ...

Selston                    (25) Sunday, 23 rd My Precious Darling, Whenever I start writing your letters I feel lonely and sentimental and I realise how much I am still missing you and how much Darling – I love you. Not that I only feel this way when I write to you – I often feel like it and wonder how you are. At the end of each day – before I go to sleep I think “Well – that is one more day gone & one more day nearer to our meeting and being together for always”.   Dreadful isn’t it to wish ones time away but until you come home my Dear, the time cannot go quickly enough. It is now almost fifteen weeks since the last short stay which we had together.   It has been more like fifteen years! Yes, I suppose I am feeling a little impatient to-night but even as I write and look back upon our success in your part of the world I think that after all – the war may not last much...

  2364226 Sergt S. Bristow                                                                                       (25) Unit Headquarters 9 Corps Signals B.N.A.F. May 21 st 1943     My Very Own Darling, The last three days have been very good ones for they’ve each brought a letter from you.   There is nothing more cheering Darling than to receive a letter from you. I was, however, sorry to hear that your Mother was not well.   I hope she has completely recovered by the time you receive this, my Dear.   I have always told you that ...

Selston                                                                                                   (24) 19. 5.43      My Own Darling, Monday morning I received an ordinary letter from you.   Actually it had arrived Saturday and Kit had posted it on for me.   You had written it on April 21 st . On Tuesday I came back.   I caught the 1.38 p.m. train from Cudworth and arrived in Nottingham at around 3.30 p.m.   I decided to go to the G.H.N. and enquire if there was...

 This is Stan's original log of the distances the unit covered between 4 April and 11 May, 1943.  It is a carbon copy so it it likely that this was information prepared for senior officers rather than just his own interest. La Mohammedia is to the south of Tunis and my 'Atlas of World War II' shows that a battle took place there around 7 May.   Although this seems to be out of date order, in that it finishes on 11 May, this is the document that Stan used in his letter of 16 May when he says that they advanced 473 miles in 37 days "against an enemy fighting every inch". #WWIIlovestory    #worldwar2lovestory   #1940slovestory   #wartimelovestory   #lovestoryinletters    #royalsignalsWWII    #royalsignalsworldwar2    #soldierWWII    #NorthAfricaWWII   #NorthAfricaworldwar2