Letter from Sgt. Stephens to Dilys Davies, Germany, 1945 [image 1 of 2]
Item Reference : cny04231

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Letter from Sgt. Stephens to Dilys Davies, Germany, 1945 [Image 2 of 2]

Description

Letter dated 4 January 1945 and sent while Eric was in Stalag Luft 3, Fallingbostel. Christmas is over and Eric writes to his sweetheart Dilys remarking how the amount of food they had eaten over the festive period was nothing like what they would eat back home. Despite this Eric still managed to get indigestion and suffered all Christmas night with it. With a sense of triumph Eric mentions that he made his own Christmas cake and pudding. As a treat to finish off Christmas day Eric listened to a record. Eric is encouraged by the regularity he receives Dilys' letters (three last week he says). Eric's tone throughout is confident and sends some of his confidence to Dilys in his closing paragraph when he makes a promise to one day see his sweetheart again. Eric Stephens was a RAF flight engineer who was with the rest of his crew shot down by the German army while returning from a bombing raid over the Dutch/German border in 1944. After a week on the run he and his crew were captured and became prisoners of war (POWs). Between 1944 and 1945 Eric was moved to three POW camps.

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