Joe’s Letters, WWII: “Money from the Pub”

One of my Uncle Joe’s letters will be posted to this Blog each and every Friday until they are done.Please see below for a link to Joe’s full story and the other letters in this series so far.

At the time of this letter, Joe is at RAF Feltwell in Norfolk for the crew’s Lancaster Finishing School training, just weeks away from his first Operation sortie.

Letter 79; 20th November 1944

Letter transcript:

“44 Bent St, Brierley Hill, Staffs.

20.11.44.

My Dear Joe,

Thanks for letter received today. Was so pleased to hear from you, we were beginning to get worried over you and were wondering if anything was wrong. We are both  very pleased you are getting on so well and I will include your safety in my prayers for you.

Pleased to hear Jean is ok, am looking forward to seeing you all at Xmas. I’ve been to the Doctor again with my bashed up knee. She has strapped it up for me ow (it turned out to be a torn ligament and something else it twisted, I didn’t catch the word, but whatever it is, it’s been and still is d___d painful). I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep with it yet. I have got to keep it strapped up for 2 months and she has warned me it will be 3 or 4 months before I dare kneel on it. Uncle Tom is getting quite good at housework!!

The old ‘Bridge Inn’, now the Rose & Crown

Enclosed is 10/- from the ‘Bridge Inn’. They have been giving it out rather early for Xmas, but such a lot of the boys are abroad and they wanted all of them to have it in good time. You’ll let them know you’ve had it won’t you Joe? We have to sign for it and they will tell me when they hear from you. If either of us go down tonight and they’ve had word from you, she will tell us.

John is ever so thrilled with ‘his Joe’s planes’ you send him, he wants to take them to school but I’m trying to get him a scrap book to paste them in. Uncle Tom sends all good wishes and hope’s all your ‘Ops’ will be successful!! (We will keep our fingers crossed).

I wrote to your Mom on Sat. I hope she is keeping fit and won’t worry too much over things.

Cheerio Joe from all at 44.

‘Bridge Inn, Bank St., Brierley Hill’”

This letter is from Olive’s (Joe’s mother) sister, Em. Aunt Em and Uncle Tom are amongst the closest of Olive’s many siblings to Joe’s family, and the local pub collects and sends cash donations to servicemen from the local area on a regular basis. Joe is unaware at the moment, but in 4 weeks’ time he will be embarking on an enormous and danger-filled adventure as his crew will begin their first real bombing raid over enemy territory. The training and peace will come to an end with a definitive ‘bang’.

To read more about Joe’s letters please follow this link. There you will find the full selection of letters to date, as well as more information about his fascinating yet ultimately tragic story. He was our family hero. He IS our family hero. If I knew how to complete an effective RAF salute, I would salute you now, Joe. Long may your memory live in our family stories. I hope to post a new letter from Joe’s correspondence with his Mother here every Friday until they’re done. It will be a turbulent and heart-wrenching journey. Subscribe to the Blog to make sure you don’t miss any of it.

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