Lt Col Dick Goodwin to Anthea Goodwin

My father died in 1986 and after my mother’s death in 2003, I found a suitcase containing a large number of letters written by him to her throughout WW2.

On 5th June 1944 he was in command of the 1st Bn The Suffolk Regiment, who were to land the next day on Sword Beach, and wrote the attached letter. He wrote in pencil (the letter may need enlarging), expressing his tender love for my mother before he sets off ‘on the great adventure’, adding that ‘Everyone is very confident & calm and the troops are in great heart’.

While not a letter, this document was also in the suitcase: an original copy of the message from General Eisenhower that had to be ‘read to troops by an officer’ before embarkation on D-Day:

On D+3, Dick was badly wounded, nearly losing his right arm, and was evacuated back to England. Once he had recovered sufficiently, he wrote to her from hospital. This letter of 7th July 1944 discusses his treatment and tells her the sad news he had received about casualties in the battalion:

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