Letters to America

Tuesday, October 13th, 1942

Darling Joan,

Thank you dear for the very nice parcel, which arrived safely during the week. Thank you for the birthday card and for the cigarettes. The twins were greatly excited and will write their own little letter of thanks.

They have been having great fun with the games, and rush upstairs in the morning and play with them together before going to school.

When they are playing games, Anne nearly always wins because John never minds whether he wins or loses, but Anne, I am afraid, is not above cheating in order to win. It is funny to watch them.

On Wednesday night we had a very thick fog, and after it got dark it was so black out that many people got lost even in their own streets. No buses were running and people had to walk home. I have never such a dark night before, and we are used to dark nights over here. It was not possible to see your own feet as you walked along, and you had to walk touching the walls and railings to stop yourself from wandering into the roads.

I can imagine how excited you all are in America about the splendid news of the Americans in North Africa. I expect you all look forward to the news broadcasts as we do. They have certainly made a very brave show, and I guess everybody in America is proud of them.

Lots and lots of love from your
Daddy
xxxxx
xxxxx

  1. Fog was very common in London in those days. It was often made much worse by smoke from coal fires used to heat buildings and this was a serious risk to health. In 1956 the Clean Air Act was introduced to reduce emissions of smoke and other gases. These thick 'pea soup fogs' are no longer a problem in London.
  2. The North African campaign took place from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. The United States officially entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. In late October 1942, Italian-German army was defeated in the Second Battle of El Alamein.