No. 7925934. Sgt. Greenwood, R.T.
9th Battn. R.T.R.
B.L.A.
28.11.44
Tuesday Evening
Jess Darling: There was a whopping letter for me today… dated Thurs 23rd… Unfortunately, it was not long enough: I gobbled it up in a few minutes… Yes, I am a greedy husband… and my appetite for news of you and Barry is insatiable. But it is not altogether my fault. After all, if you were not you… just you… then perhaps I wouldn’t have the same appetite… Or would I?
Do you know, Jess… when I sent that letter with the pictures of Breendonck, I knew that you would be disappointed when you opened it. I am just the same when I receive fat letters from you… to find that there is, say, an enclosed letter from someone else. But there is nothing we can do about it… I don’t want you to cease sending me ‘enclosures’, in the same way that you wouldn’t wish me to withhold anything… providing it has some interest. But fancy you waiting three hours… such patience!.. and then finding only a short letter. I am sorry to have caused you disappointment, my darling… Perhaps you will receive compensation soon.
Your detailed account of how you spent the time between receiving and reading my letter is a good illustration of the way in which you spend much time working… with little to show for your efforts. Baby is taking up most of your time now, dear, isn’t he: running a house, and rearing a baby… properly… is more than one person’s job: I marvel that you are able to give so much detailed attention to Barry… unaided as you are. And in spite of everything, you manage to write to me every day… Aye, Jess…
Today’s press cutting is not a picture of me… altho’ it is typical of many situations I have experienced. And you were quite right, as usual:- the vehicle is a Sherman tank. Had it been a Churchill, the commander would have been on the left of the turret, not the right. I will return the picture with this letter.
I have a letter from Stan Smith today… written in his typical pseudo-humoristic style. I don’t know whether I will be able to reply to him right away, but in case I can’t, perhaps you will let him know when next you see him. There is also a short note from Dora.
Once again Jess, I find it necessary to warn you of a possible gap in my writing… I will try and write daily… if only a letter card… but there may be occasions when I cannot write. So please don’t worry darling…
Later.
I expected an interruption, but it was longer than anticipated… and now I have little time to finish. I have a bit of a cold just now… one of those speedy affairs that arrive so suddenly. It started yesterday morning… and I felt lousy in the evening… But this evening it is much better, and will probably have disappeared by tomorrow. It is so rare for me to be ‘off colour’ that I s’pose my cold is almost ‘news’. I marvel that there hasn’t been more sickness in the unit, in view of the awful weather during the past month. But living ‘under cover’ has no doubt helped a lot. Today has been worse than usual: heavy rain, plus a high easterly wind: literally not fit to turn a dog out… And yet there are scores of thousands of our lads out at the front living in the open… sleeping in mud… water… filth… cold… with death all around. I wonder whether people at home really appreciate the conditions.
Wednesday
Sorry, darling… I couldn’t carry on last evening. And now I have little time. Am enclosing a few postcards of Holland… they are pictures of an area Nr. Rotterdam. Must admit that I haven’t seen quite so many windmills in a small area… But the flat waterlogged country is typical. Fear these cards will cause another disappointment… but they were given to me to ‘send to my wife’, so here they are.
My cold is much better today… and the weather has improved miraculously:- a fine morning with bright sunshine and a cloudless sky. Hope our bombers take advantage of it.
Must go now, dear…
Au revoir, my love
Always, Your Trevy.