Alan Barton to his wife

This is a letter from my Dad to my Mum whilst he was serving on HMS Vindex on the Arctic convoys.

HMS Vindex was an aircraft carrier. The letter was written a few weeks before D Day.

Dad died in 1978. Mum gave me all the letters she saved from the war before she died.

Transcript:

HMS Vindex
Thursday March 9th 1944
Dinner time

My darling,

I love you. Be brave my sweetheart cos I'm soon coming home to you. I am longing to be with you again. And then one day we'll have peace and I'll come home to stay for ever with you. I’ll never never leave you again dear only for a few hours perhaps and then I’ll come home to you in the evening. And in the summer we’ll have evenings in the garden surrounded by the work of our hands and the happy laughter of our children. And in the winter we'll sit by the fireside just you and I and thank God for bringing us safely together again. And when evening is done we'll just go up to our old bed and spend the night so close to each other and we shall know the joy of love and safety and security with it. Oh God keep you happy and well and safe till I come back and help you to be brave and not worry. For you're so precious to me. There's no one like you and you're mine and no one else's. You're far lovlier than any woman who ever lived. I've seen you, all of you and I know.

Darling I've been looking at your dear face and kissing it as I'm all alone and talking to you. I fancy you must have heard me but in case you didn't I've tried to write fast and put the words on paper while I talked. That is the first part of this letter and it is as near as I've ever got I think to putting my true thoughts on paper.

I had a lovely little letter from Brian yesterday written from Nanna's, presumably on Sunday. He writes much more coherently now quite a nice little letter really, quite as good or better than Jill without her spelling mistakes.

We have had some new considerable mess changes, though I, personally am still in No16. But half the mess has gone and we have some new chaps to make up the number. We've actually got all the communications bunch on our one mess deck now, a mess each for Tils, Buntings and Coders. I'm with the Tels in No 16 and Ted is now on the the same messdeck in No17 with the Coders. It is going to be a very good arrangement I think as all the Communications ratings are a pretty decent lot of chaps.

Ted has had an Air Letter from Ian Michie, the brainy one at Valkyrie you remember. He has been having a lively time off the Angio beachhead but is O.K. He apparently finds the Med a jolly sight colder than home waters which seems to bear out what I said about the weather. I bet it's blooming boiling hot on Spitzbergen. Now must away to the work again. [Unclear] I may post this today but probably later.

Later. Yes dear I think I will post this now just in case you may get it sooner, though I'm rather afraid it will be a little while before it arrives. Anyway sooner or later it comes with all that's best in me and all my love and longings for you. Goodnight sweetheart, may you have quiet nights and peaceful days till I come back to you.

From your own loving
Husband
Alan
xx

Tagged:
At sea, Love and Romance

Contributed by:
Christopher Barton

Back to list