Figure 1.--This a letter which was enclosed with my first Christmas Present from home 1940. It came back to me in the 1970s. Put your cursor on the leter to see the second page.

Sadly neither Graham or I saved our parent's letters. I do have one letter from my parents , which turned up several years later. When my foster mother died, the daughters had a clear out of the house, and found a book, Janes Fighting Aircraft 1939', which Dad had sent me as a Christmas present. They sent it to me. Inside the book was a covering letter dated November 1, 1940. By that time the Luftwaffe had been dealt a severe set back and had been forced to bomb only by night. Britain had stopped the NAZIs in their tracks, but America was not yet in the War and what laid ahead with the Germans controoling much of Europe was uncear. They did send gifts from time to time (birthdays and Christmas), but some were lost when the mail ships were sunk.

One Letter (November 1940)

Sadly neither Graham or I saved our parent's letters. I do have one letter from my parents , which turned up several years later. When my foster mother died, the daughters had a clear out of the house, and found a book, Janes Fighting Aircraft 1939, which Dad had sent me as a Christmas present. They sent it to me. Inside the book was a covering letter dated November 1, 1940. By that time the Luftwaffe had been dealt a severe set back and invasion was no longer imminent. They had been forced to bomb only by night. Britain had stopped the NAZIs in their tracks, but America was not yet in the War and what laid ahead with the Germans controlling much of Europe was uncear. There are no details of what was going on at home. The Luftwaffe at the time was pounding London night after might. It was impossible to hit targets at night, but of course they could not miss London.

The Censors

A feature of our letters was that there were all opened by the censor before leaving the U.K. Occasionally bits were cut out. This might be when the names of bombed places were given. We never knew what had been removed but comethimes there was an inference lower down in the letter. On one occasion my parents receievd a visit from the authorities, because in one of their letters they had stated that they found dozens of bits of shrapnel in the garden after one raid and intense gunfire. The authorities wanted to inspect the bits to see if there was anything of interest. We saw the collection when we got home. The size and jaggedness of the fragments was astonishing. Some were as big as your fist and razor sharp. It was no wonder my parents hid in doorways when this lot was raining down in an air-raid.

My Class

I remember I reading one out one letter to my class in the 6th Grade. On that occasion my father described being fined for showing a light. As you see from the headed notepaper, he had a surgery in Holloway, much nearer Central London. One day my Aunt, who assited him at the practice left a light on when she locked up. It was not visible because of the blackout curtaining. However bomb blast blew out the window that night, so the light was in plain view. He had to go to court and was fined Ten Shillings for contravention of the black-out rules. In his letter he said, " so you see your father has joined the criminal classes!" They asked lots of questions, but unfortunately I can't remember what they were.

Gifts

Our parents did send gifts from time to time (birthdays and Christmas), but some were lost when the mail ships were sunk. One gift has survived. Janes Fighting Aircraft 1939. Grahm and I were delighted with it, although it was not a book written for children. The book was published in December 1939. In the very front is an addendum stating "Owing to the deletion of certain foreign advertisements the pagination of the Advertisement Section in this book is not consecutive." That meant that there were no German adverts. Interestingly there is an Italian Advert, but they weren't in the war then. The three fighters which would play a key role in the upcoming Battle of Brirain were in the book. The Hurricane and Spitfire were in the book. So was the ME-109 in the German section. It was difficult to compare the fighters with the information given. And at the time the book was published, there had not yet been intensive combat between German and British planes so the relative effectiveness of the planes had not yet been tested. One subject not addressed by the book was combat tactics. Here the Lufwaffe, despite its recent creation had developed much more effective tactics, such as flying formations and convegring fire distances. This caused considerable difficulty for the hard-pressed RAF pilots in the opening stages of the Battle of Britain.