22nd October, 1939
Rec’d 23rd Oct. 1939
PASSED BY CENSOR
On Active Service
Mrs. Kenneth Penman,
Maycot,
12 Commonside,
Keston,
Kent,
ENGLAND
Letter No 1
60th City of London Regt.
194 Battery.
No 4 Section
C/o The Army Post Office.
My Darling,
I am writing this seven days after my first P/C to you from this country. Our letters are now censored and as we are not allowed to date them.
I am going to number them in case you don’t receive them in chronological order.
How are you and Jill my darling? I try hard not to remember that it may be a very long time before I see you both again. I am going to write to you at least once a week I promise. I shall try and tell you everything that has happened to me as far as the censor will let me, but I don’t think I shall write you love letters, it hurts too much. It’s such a beastly unnecessary war.
I’m afraid this is a little incoherent,…
…what will the censor think?
I adore you both and now for some facts, at least as many as I think will get through.
After landing in this country, France they call it by the way (allowed officially) we took a train journey lasting very nearly a whole day and night, not because it was particularly far but, well I wonder if you remember the French railways, our English ones want a Square Deal, but these run on square wheels (very horrible). By the way Hommes 40, Chevaux 8 are in existence again but so far that horror has been reserved for the French troops only.
We took up our quarters four days ago in a very ancient barn which however contained plenty of straw and on the whole it was not too bad.
Food was a bit of a problem for the first..
…two days. We had to rely on our scrounging abilities, scouring the surrounding countryside for wood and vegetables. We were then many hundreds of miles from the battle area.
We are now, after another unbelievably long and very uncomfortable railway journey, very much nearer but not unpleasantly so.
The French people are on the whole very good to us and very charming, their “idée fixe” however seems to be that Hitler should have his throat cut. Even venerable old ladies make throat slitting gestures as we pass by in our lorries.
We are now housed in a Dance Hall. It isn’t sufficiently modern to have a spring floor and as we have no straw, the floor, for sleeping purposes, is as hard as…
…rock.
I had a haircut last night (3½ d) and “le coiffeur” showed me a picture of the Germans marching down the High St. “Neoavre again!” says he, “Le line Maginot c’est impenetrable”.
We have been issued with 50 cigarettes and have been paid Fr 50 so far. The Fr 50 were very acceptable as you may guess, as of course were the cigarettes, the French ones being apparently made of the excretia of Camels.
Could you Darling try and send me one or two khaki or coloured handkerchiefs as I find that white ones get so much dirtier. Having just recovered from a cold (contracted in loft, très draught and très spiderwebby) I have used rather a lot.
Give my love to Win, and Jill a big hug, and to you my darling all the love in the world.
K.
October 22th, 1939
On the 23rd, in the United States, a Gallup Poll asked:
“Which side do you want to see win the war?”
- 84% The Allies
- 14% No opinion
- 2% Germany
The same poll asked,
“Do you think the United States should do everything possible to help England and France win the war, except go to war ourselves?”
- 62% yes
- 38% no
There was clearly no “special relationship” between the US and UK at this time. The UK was seen as a colonial empire that Americans were proud to have escaped from and a rival to their own economic and military power.
Additionally more Americans had German ancestors than those from any other country.
In the coming years the UK would launch a massive, ultimately successful, propaganda campaign to change American public opinion towards the war. Fake stories of British heroism, fake plans showing German intent to ultimately invade the US and operations against Charles Lindbergh’s America First committee were all employed to wield influence and change public perception all the way to the Oval Office.
Background notes:
- This letter is titled 22nd October to keep it in the correct reading order but was not written on that date.
- P/C – is shorthand for postcard.
- “Hommes 40, Chevaux 8” translates from French as “40 men, 8 horses”. They were carriages used in WW1 to transport troops to the Western Front and famous for how uncomfortable they were. Each had “40–8” stenciled on the side and were nicknamed Forty and Eights by the troops.
- idée fixe is a 19th century French phrase which describes an idea you can’t get out of your head.
- “Neoavre” isn’t French. It appears to be Kenneth’s attempt at writing “never” in a French accent for comedic effect.
- Kenneth’s haircut 3½ d haircut would cost £1.09 ($1.36) in 2024.
- “Fr” is shorthand for Franc, the French currency. Kenneth’s 50Fr is equivalent to £21.15 ($26.44) in 2024.
- The Maginot Line was a series of, famously ineffective, French defenses designed to repel German invasion.