Letters from France - 1944

The following letters I found following the death of my father John P. Weston in 2003. He often talked about his war experiences and I am afraid it did at times provoke the reaction of “Not the war again, Dad”. It was only later that we came to realise what a life-defining period it was, and I persuaded him to write an account for his granddaughter, then studying World War Two at school. The letters here compliment his account as told in “A Normandy Story and a Paris Welcome”. His home was in Blackpool and I am the Baby referred to — born September 23rd 1943.

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My father served in the RAF Codes & Ciphers Branch and met Group Captain Winterbottom when he was called to SIS HQ in Broadway, London. All he learnt at the interview was it was concerned with a highly secret job. He was asked to report to 12 Hamilton Terrace,St. John's Wood, near Lord's Cricket Ground. It turned out to be a large private house with no indication of what went on there. Four more RAF personnel joined him. He signed the Official Secrets documents and for the next three weeks was indoctrinated into the mysteries of Enigma and the One-Time Pad code. He then spent some time in the Ministry of Defence in King Charles Street, Whitehall, before being seconded to General Bradley’s US 12th Army Group HQ. He landed at Omaha beach after D-Day and advanced through St. Mere Eglise, and Avranches to Versailles and Paris.

Letter no. 5 - 27th August 1944
My Darling
I am using up all my scrap paper until such time as I can purchase some notepaper, so that accounts for me using this stuff.

At the moment I am endeavouring to dry my blankets and clothes. Last night, or rather this morning we had a terrific storm and before very long I was lying in an inch of water them part of the tent caved in, since I was sleeping on my ground sheet, it was not long before I was thoroughly soaked. There are good prospects of obtaining a bed tomorrow, so I hope it materialises.

I have never seen such lightening and with it being only 3a,m, it showed up much more against the black sky.

It is very difficult to realise it is Sunday as one day seems much like another when to all intents and purposes you lose touch with the outside world.

Are you going to have Baby’s photo taken as you suggested? I think it would be a god idea and I myself would like one. It should turn out all right now that she is able to sit up and take notice.

Cheerio for now, dear. Lots of love to you and Baby Susan.
Yours as ever, John XXXXXXXX

Letter no. 7 - 29th August 1944
My Dear
I should imagine by this time you have received my first letter. If not I guess you will be wondering what has become of me. According to the Press, letters only take about two days from France, but unfortunately that does not apply to the American sector.

This evening I went along to a film show — a makeshift affair in a tent nevertheless the sound etc. is every bit as good as in the cinema. The Red Cross have got things fairly well organised. We’ve writing tables; plenty of games, a piano and radiogram which considering conditions is pretty good going. If only the food was on a par with the recreation side!

Take care of yourself. Lots of love to you and Baby.
Yours as ever, John XXXXXXXX

Letter no. 13 — 9th September
My Darling,
No mail has arrived as yet, but I am still hoping there will be some before long. All the American mail is flown over there, so the delay must be in the sorting offices, unless the darn stuff is being routed via New York.

Have you decided anything about Baby’s party? Recently I visited a town called Laval. In a store there were some magnificent toy dogs with moveable heads — Alsatians and Eskimo dogs. They were the best I have seen here or at home. The trouble is buying anything like that is the risk of sending it through the post as the parcel would be a fairly large one.

The town itself is very old and looks as if there has not been any change in the last 50 years. Unlike lots more towns in France, though, it was possible to get a good meal there and also plenty of fruit. One thing very noticeable when travelling in the county and that is the number of fruit trees growing at the side of the road all heavily laden. I very much doubt if they would last very long at home but no one seems to bother to pick the fruit judging by the fact that a lot of it seems to be overripe.

I may be able to visit Paris tomorrow, but there is little to be had there in the way of food from what I hear, but it is possible to buy a good bottle of perfume quite cheap so I will bring some back for you and Edith [his sister in law]. It is to be hoped that in carrying this stuff around none of it is smashed, so the sooner the Armistice is declared the better when we can get home. Of all the people over here, there will be very few going back with the same quantity of kit they came with, in fact a good proportion may even leave some of their service kit behind to make room for souvenirs etc.

Lifting the black out is the best piece of news this week. I consider it shows also in the opinion of the Govt. that the danger so far as England is concerned is practically nil now. In today’s “Stars and Stripes” the demobilisation plans of the US were announced.

Providing I can get a suitable card, I will send one to Mother for her birthday, since we are not allowed to send views of picture postcards, my choice is limited. The shops have a lot of cards similar to those seen in the last war with endearing terms on and a photograph of a couple in close embrace. They may in fact be stock from 1914-18.

Let me have all the news you can dear, even if it is old, I shall be interested. In the meantime lots of love to you and Baby.

Look after yourself and take care. Yours as ever, John XXXXXXXXXX

Letter no. 14 - 10th September 1944
Kay darling, I made the trip to Paris which I mentioned in my last letter as hoping to do. We entered Paris close to the Eiffel Tower, in fact our truck was parked underneath it. We crossed the Seine and walked along the Champs Elysses ad the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs Elysees is on a par with the Strand except there are crowds of people sitting on the sidewalk drinking wine etc. Hitler held a parade along this avenue in Aug. 1940. The Arc de Triomphe is something like the Marble Arch only more elaborate and held in higher esteem since the tomb of the Unknown Soldier is there for all to see, Gen. Eisenhower spoke to the people of Paris from this spot on Friday.

The food situation in Paris is really bad — it just does not exist in cafes. The Parisians say transport had been the problem. There are very few cars around, no buses, but hundreds of cycles, which cost around £30 to buy. The chief means of conveyance appears to be horse drawn buggies or small waggonettes.

A large number of people speak English. Immediately we got out of the truck we were besieged by people wanting cigarettes that in fact is the position wherever we go, but the difference in Paris is that people are offering 50 francs a packet. That is 5/- for 20 !! Money is plentiful it appears.

I have obtained an album of photographs of Paris — is only remains for me to get it home. The visit was well worth it and everyone enjoyed it.

Today in this town we have having a visit from Dinah Shore. All the Yanks who can will be there, I guess.

There is no sign of any mail yet, dear, but we are all in the same position.

Cheerio, dear, give Baby lots of kisses for me.

All my love to you, yours as ever. John XXXXXXX

Letter no. 20 — 16th September
My Darling, There has been trouble with mail to the APO 696 address and that is the fault of the sorters in the 9th Air Force. Why these people sent our mail back to England passes the comprehension of everyone. It is just as well for the sake of the war effort that their operational side is not on a par with the administration branch, and even as things stand I (and the others) are still without mail. All I am concerned about is having a letter from you.

In an earlier letter I told you of a Parisian I had met who has been very hospitable. Today he gave me a very nice present for you. I have just about as much as I can carry without space at my disposal. I bought a clock this week at what I think was a very reasonable price — 90 Fr. That is 9/-; it is well made and very heavy. If we keep on at this rate buying goods we shall need a truck to bring stuff home. Souvenirs and presents are the only ways of spending one’s money since you cannot spend it on food — and the food is good here anyway. The few buses that are around are weird contraptions and the same goes for trams, unless the Germans took the whole issue.

I heard the football results on the AEF programme tonight. Blackpool lost again apparently.

I hope you have managed to have Baby’s photo taken, dear. I shall be looking forward to receiving that.

In the meantime, lots and lots of love to you both. Yours, John XXXXXX

Letter no. 26 — 23rd September [Baby’s 1st birthday]

My Darling, Your no. 4 letter arrived today. Around 5.30pm today I was wondering if you were having much activity at home with everyone trying to talk to Baby at the same time.

Coming by separate post is a book of photos of Paris and 3 picture postcards of Versailles where I visited the place and gardens. When they are given full attention, the gardens will look beautiful.

At this particular place there is no Red Cross canteen, but a cinema is running and is crowded each night. There is no pleasure in going out, more so as in France everyone seems to be abed around 9pm as the light is only on a very short time each evening. We have made our quarters fairly comfortable with wardrobes and sundry fixtures, which incidentally German troops used before us.

For the present dear, lots of love to Baby and yourself.

Cheerio, John XXXXX

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