Quidhampton
Wilts
Thursday evening
My darling Chotie,
Thanks a lot for the letter. It cheered me up no end.
I also had a letter from Mother and one from Diller*, at the same time.
We are having a pretty strenuous time at the moment, two route marches and two sessions of P.T. every day, as well as squad drill.
We have now received details of our future training in the army - we do six weeks concentrated training, at Quidhampton, to which we are returning on Saturday or Monday next. (We are at Dinton at the moment, a small – I should say minute - village, in the heart of rural Wiltshire, situated about 10 miles from Salisbury. There is one shop and one pub. It’s hopelessly dull, as we have nothing to do after about 5 o’clock pm.) After this 6 weeks we are posted to various isolated centres on guard duty, par example – aerodromes (which are the best), bridges, petrol dumps, and key positions.
Our sergeant told me that this is a cushy job, with as much as forty-eight hours leave every week in some cases! I must get posted within thirty miles of Poole, in order to be able to get home and back within the 48 hours. The only thing to do is wait and hope as Dumas** says.
Please excuse this paper etc but until I can get to Salisbury its all I have.
Bye, bye darling
Dicker
(PS The food here is putrid)
I wasn’t able to post this letter yesterday and consequently have added another sheet.
As I stated, the food is rotten, and there is very little of it. We get nothing whatsoever after 4.30pm every day. There is a canteen here and half our money goes on food. It’s criminal. However, we are constantly reminded that there is a war on and cannot really grumble.
We get up about 6 in the morning and wash & shave in the open air. We have to be in each evening by 10 o’clock, but as there is nothing to do and we are always pretty tired, we don’t particularly mind.
They are mad on discipline here. Every thing has to be just so or you’re in trouble straight away. I’d still go through it all just to get back to civilian life. I might mention that 15 blokes deserted a couple of days ago owing to the conditions.
I think about you a lot, Darling. It’s terrible not seeing you. Were it not for the fact that we are on the go all day, I think I’d go mad.
I’m going to put in for leave in about a fortnight or three weeks time. I hope it will be successful. I may get off on Saturday dinner time and will be at home Saturday afternoon. I’ll have to leave again Sunday tea time.
We can but hope.
I must close now darling
Bye Bye
Dicker
* Diller was Dick’s sister Dilys, two years older than him
** “Until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words,--'Wait and hope'.” Quotation from ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ by Alexandre Dumas.
© Chotie Darling, 2010.
On 30th June 1940 Germany began occupation of the Channel Islands.
Recent Comments