3/5/43.

Dear Bud;

It is 5:30 AM. I am sitting in the caravan on number four runway, having just finished bringing the last aircraft down safely a short while ago. It has been a perfect night for flying and our program, went through practically without a hitch, so I can now sit back smugly.

As you can see I have at last got my wrist out of plaster and find it practically as good as ever, which is damn lucky for a scafhoid. The specialist at Evesham said that I was the most satisfactory case he had handled in the R.A.F. hospital there, so I realize how lucky I was.

I had the good luck to discover, by a mere co-incidence that Eric Bomford’s people live in Evesham and also his elder brother, so now I cycle in regularly for an afternoon in the garden, or an evening at the club playing snooker.

Mr Bomford is an extremely interesting man, being very open minded and a great traveler. He knows more about B.C., than I hope to in ten or fifteen years – in fact there is a Mt Bomford, named after him, up in the Cathedral Lakes country. He is one of those men who could, (and does), go anywhere in any country or company, because he is one of natures gentlemen.

I have rather fallen in love with this historic vale of Evesham, with its lovely surroundings. We are in a very fine spot here as Evesham is in easy cycling distance and we are just below the edge of the Cotswolds plateau, which puts Chipping Compden and Broadway within easy reach. Some of these old villages really do take your breath away and man is the beer good!

The vale of Evesham and most of this part of the Avon valley is devoted to fruit farming and truck gardening. Their gardens are far better than their orchards, and they produce a flavor in leaf vegs, onions, radishes etc that would make the Fraser Valley go green. The orchards though, are surprisingly poor, there being no real scientific pruning and the planting being very crowded. They neither cull nor grade their apples, as we do, which I suppose kills a great deal of incentive.

Now I’d like to ask a couple of favours, old man. Some time when your not busy and have a bit of spare cash, (possible?), slip over to Van. and find Jill – St. Pauls school of nursing / 1056 Comox St. – take her out somewhere and get a print of her in your mind, then when you get home, sit down and tell me what she looks like, how she talks, whether she seems older now and you know the idea.

This is easier. Pipes are virtually impossible to get over here, so see if you can pick me up two or three fairly long stemmed, straight pipes, register them to me, then send the bill to mum and she’ll square it.

Now I must get ready to go of duty, as it is after seven, so adios for now

Best of luck,
Den.