Wartime Letters

January 1945

1.1.45	Clare to lez	Written on New Year’s Eve. Is he better? And started to regain lost weight and morale? London is very cold and snowy. Took a bag of coal to The Drive to help them out. Spoke to someone with a son-in-law abroad: they number their letters & get mail regularly. Good news. Joan still lives in The Drive. Clare asks him not to forget to write ‘to all the other folks who have a soft spot for you too’
1.1.45	Lez to Clare	Feels that 1944 was a year to be remembered for its run of luck that bordered on the putrid. Felt strangely happy as the new year came in and the din welcoming in a wondrous future. MTB 764 now in Ostend, John Boscott has written, they’ve had no leave since Lez left the boat. Hasn’t seen Blanche yet, afraid to say the wrong thing and cause a lifetimes rift.
4.1.45	Lez to Clare	Is fit again. Will phone daily as long as he is able. Hoping for w/end leave.
5.1.45	Clare to Lez	Boxing Day. When they ‘staggered out into the cruel world’ was the coldest day of the Century! She too says she started 1944 with dread and hopes that they never have another year like it. Has a bubbly feeling about 1945. ‘it is going to take us well on the road to peace, security, a home of our own and all our other dreams for the future’.
9.1.45	Clare to Lez	Hopes he had a good trip back. Now has her fingers crossed for next w/end in Pompey or London. Will our luck hold for a few more weeks? Talks of their future together ‘not very far from now’. Lez has talked of bouncing a baby boy on his knee by Christmas
10.1.45	Lez to Clare	Has talked of booking a room at ‘The Hereford’. The base is awash with ‘buzzes’ about drafts, many seem to think there will be no movement for a while. Very cold weather, he is wearing all his woollies and looks like a Michelin man.
11.1.45	Lez to Clare	Have to cancel ideas for this w/end, he’s been given a ferrying job. Mike Williams has just walked in. Is this Mikey from 1942?
12.1.45	Clare to Lez	It’s freezing and snowy in London. Looking forward to a w/end by the sea, with snow on a beach, never seen it before. Jimmie phoned, Vera is back in town, expecting the new baby in a week or two. Lez’s voice back to normal.
13.1.45	Hux to Lez	Is now married, training for a new posting an also hoping to stay in GB. Is very cold!
14.1.45	Clare to Lez	an undated note, contained in a paper/magazine sent by Clare. That it survived show it was precious. Please could he return this plus tubes when read, she hasn’t read it yet.
15.1.45	Blanche to Lez	Thanking him for Christmas card and letter. Is obviously very pleased to be in contact again. Wishes him well. Says Christmas in Plumstead without mother would have been unbearable. Blanche and Ernie Smith’s address: 260 Havant Road, Drayton, Portsmouth
16.1.45	Clare to Lez	Hoping he dodged any officials on his way in on Sunday night. Has booked tickets for a show for next w/end. Hopes the rugger goes well, and is he really going swimming? Brrrrrr.
17.1.45	Lez to Clare	Has returned from a swim and all is well. Has got his Dunhill pipe back from The Attack, has written to Garibaldi St, did get found out returning to The Hornet. Is hoping for a short leave this w/end.
23.1.45	Doris to Lez	Thanks for the letter. Doris has had all her windows replaced. Joyce is going out with Douglas, but is due to marry Tom who will be home soon after 4½ years overseas. Edgar is in Derby for 3 weeks. One of Muriel’s brothers is very ill in Italy. Doris tops her letter Mrs Gudgeon., 36 Garibaldi Street.
24.1.45	Lez to Clare	What a lovely w/end! ‘if only we could have these w/ends in our own home…..our little nest at Blessington was one big thrill to me’. He’s going on a short course in the Hornet. There is much talk in the papers about the war being over ‘by the spring’.
24.1.45	Clare to Lez	The world is still white. Clare is finishing off the things she’s making for Vera, ready to post off. She will be listening to the Brains Trust tonight, if he is near a radio they will be listening together. Clare writes about the Russians a lot, hoping Stalin keeps pushing. Today she says’ The Russians are still going strong, we may have next Christmas together in peace yet’.
26.1.45	Bob to Lez	Bob is a navy friend of Lez who has been drafted with no time to say goodbye.
30.1.45	Clare to Lez	It snowed again last night, 6″, but now is thawing. Saw a newspaper headline: ’Portsmouth train crashed’, and was very worried until discovered it was not Lez’s. No news of Vera yet. Says she is getting used to having hubby home for Sunday lunch. Jim has given them Vera’s nursing home address: moatlands, paddock Woods, Tunbridge Wells
30.1.45	Lez to Clare	got back eventually, still not been caught. The first group have received their 7 days leave, prior to going overseas. He has no time to write the long discourse on love he would like to write, but when he does, and Clare has added her comments, they’ll ‘bind it in leather and gold and keep it for our children’.
31.1.45	Clare to Lez	It’s a boy! weighing 8¼lbs, called Roger.

February 1945

15.2.45

Clare to Lez

Have had a long leave together, and Clare is booking seats for a show in anticipation of more leave next w/end. She will wish on the moon tonight, it’s going to be clear.
Clare kept a diary at this time, she mentions filling it in at the end of the leave.

20.2.45

Lez to Clare

He has another ferrying job to do , Yarmouth to Poole, so no chance of a w/end together. Writes a clever page of similes to express his feelings.

21.2.45

Doris to Lez

The wedding of Tom and Joyce went off very well, ‘thanks to you’. ‘J&T say that they will never be able to thank you enough for all you did’. ‘Hux was certainly a scream’. Muriel is coming on Sunday, ‘with the baby’. Edgar is now in Stamford in Lincolnshire. Lez gave Tom a suit, T’s mother had thrown out all his civvy clothes(!). L also gave Albert a navy blue coat that Doris is altering to fit Tom.

22.2.45

Lez’s father to Lez

Glad Lez enjoyed the wedding, ‘I must say you were the life and soul of the party’. Talks about the seeds he’s planting. He’s on night shift, but will have done 55 years service by 15th August. He dreams of Lez and Clare driving up to the door of Garibaldi St in their car, saying ‘we’re off to Bournemouth’! Ends with his Will. Leaving all the contents of the front room to Lez. Signs himself Yours Affectonately, Pop.
This letter is written with much bitterness towards Blanche.

26.2.45

Clare to Lez

How has the ‘cruise’ been? Time for a quiet pipe on deck in the moonlight? Delighted when he phoned on Wed. and took her out to lunch. We are so lucky. Talks of the days of action, thrills and excitement interspersed with short honeymoon-leaves. Does Lez ever regret he’s not on operations now? Jim is going down to Christchurch this weekend to bring Susan home. All one hears these days is the sound of bombers going out or coming home from a do.

March 1945

13.3.45

Clare to Lez

had a glorious holiday, came back renewed in spirit and health. Has booked up for Easter, in hope. No longer needed for first aid duty, ‘how’s that for a sign that the powers-that-be don’t expect much more trouble?’
They spent 5 days in the Hereford Hotel, Southsea, Hants

14.3.45

Lez to Clare

Can’t phone on account of a special job. Doesn’t know whether he can make it home this weekend. The holiday was glorious, and a surprising number the boys saw Clare and think she is the tops!
they are not writing so many letters at the moment because they see each other almost every weekend

22.3.45

Lez to Clare

a side of paper saying how much he loves her.

22.3.45

Clare to Lez

she has been to the Westminster Labour Exchange and was told that if the Ministry agrees she can apply to her local office. But if industry is the local priority she might end up there. She is to enquire about kinds of work in the district.

26.3.45

Clare to Lez

They have said their goodbyes. How sad. Clare is going to buy airmail stationery and post it off today.

27.3.45

Lez to Clare

The blackest day of his life.
He has started to number his letters.
They did not try to prevent a pregnancy, he says how delighted he would be with a little Sebastian. ‘He (she?) will be a little honey.’

28.3.45

Lez to Clare

A short note, written as he passes through London giving his new address.
HMS Braganza, c/o GPO London

29.3.45

Clare to Lez (1)

A philosophical letter. Anticipating his first letter written from the ship. War news is really terrific, headlines such as ‘collapse’ and ‘the end in sight’. People are planning peace parties. She will be wishing on the full moon tonight.
The address has been changed from Braganza to Chetah

31.3.45
Cheetah 24.4.45

Clare to Lez. (2)

It’s Easter weekend. very curious about Lez’s whereabouts. There’s a blackout on news from Monty’s front, some say he’s nearing Berlin, she’s not so optimistic. They must have done something about the rocket sites, they haven’t ‘heard one of the wretched things all week!’
Lez’s address is a London one, so Clare is using ordinary stationary, not airmail

15.2.45	Clare to Lez	Have had a long leave together, and Clare is booking seats for a show in anticipation of more leave next w/end. She will wish on the moon tonight, it’s going to be clear. Clare kept a diary at this time, she mentions filling it in at the end of the leave.
20.2.45	Lez to Clare	He has another ferrying job to do , Yarmouth to Poole, so no chance of a w/end together. Writes a clever page of similes to express his feelings.
21.2.45	Doris to Lez	The wedding of Tom and Joyce went off very well, ‘thanks to you’. ‘J&T say that they will never be able to thank you enough for all you did’. ‘Hux was certainly a scream’. Muriel is coming on Sunday, ‘with the baby’. Edgar is now in Stamford in Lincolnshire. Lez gave Tom a suit, T’s mother had thrown out all his civvy clothes(!). L also gave Albert a navy blue coat that Doris is altering to fit Tom.
22.2.45	Lez’s father to Lez	Glad Lez enjoyed the wedding, ‘I must say you were the life and soul of the party’. Talks about the seeds he’s planting. He’s on night shift, but will have done 55 years service by 15th August. He dreams of Lez and Clare driving up to the door of Garibaldi St in their car, saying ‘we’re off to Bournemouth’! Ends with his Will. Leaving all the contents of the front room to Lez. Signs himself Yours Affectonately, Pop. This letter is written with much bitterness towards Blanche.
26.2.45	Clare to Lez	How has the ‘cruise’ been? Time for a quiet pipe on deck in the moonlight? Delighted when he phoned on Wed. and took her out to lunch. We are so lucky. Talks of the days of action, thrills and excitement interspersed with short honeymoon-leaves. Does Lez ever regret he’s not on operations now? Jim is going down to Christchurch this weekend to bring Susan home. All one hears these days is the sound of bombers going out or coming home from a do.

13.3.45	Clare to Lez	had a glorious holiday, came back renewed in spirit and health. Has booked up for Easter, in hope. No longer needed for first aid duty, ‘how’s that for a sign that the powers-that-be don’t expect much more trouble?’ They spent 5 days in the Hereford Hotel, Southsea, Hants
14.3.45	Lez to Clare	Can’t phone on account of a special job. Doesn’t know whether he can make it home this weekend. The holiday was glorious, and a surprising number the boys saw Clare and think she is the tops! they are not writing so many letters at the moment because they see each other almost every weekend
22.3.45	Lez to Clare	a side of paper saying how much he loves her.
22.3.45	Clare to Lez	she has been to the Westminster Labour Exchange and was told that if the Ministry agrees she can apply to her local office. But if industry is the local priority she might end up there. She is to enquire about kinds of work in the district.
26.3.45	Clare to Lez	They have said their goodbyes. How sad. Clare is going to buy airmail stationery and post it off today.
27.3.45	Lez to Clare	The blackest day of his life. He has started to number his letters. They did not try to prevent a pregnancy, he says how delighted he would be with a little Sebastian. ‘He (she?) will be a little honey.’
28.3.45	Lez to Clare	A short note, written as he passes through London giving his new address. HMS Braganza, c/o GPO London
29.3.45	Clare to Lez (1)	A philosophical letter. Anticipating his first letter written from the ship. War news is really terrific, headlines such as ‘collapse’ and ‘the end in sight’. People are planning peace parties. She will be wishing on the full moon tonight. The address has been changed from Braganza to Chetah
31.3.45 Cheetah 24.4.45	Clare to Lez. (2)	It’s Easter weekend. very curious about Lez’s whereabouts. There’s a blackout on news from Monty’s front, some say he’s nearing Berlin, she’s not so optimistic. They must have done something about the rocket sites, they haven’t ‘heard one of the wretched things all week!’ Lez’s address is a London one, so Clare is using ordinary stationary, not airmail