BIRMINGHAM
7 – PM
9 JAN
1941

GROW MORE
DIG FOR VICTORY

Postage Revenue 2½d

Mrs Kenneth Penman
Maycot
12 Commonside
Keston
Kent

Gnr Penman 1440280 F/C
c/o B and C Sections
345 Battery HAA, RA.
183 Penns Lane.
Erdington
Birmingham 24

8.1.41.

Dingle Darling,
Well here I am. I’m afraid I’m feeling rather homesick this morning and missing you very much, this site is manned by the same conscript crowd that we had such difficulty with on the site we went to when we left Wixford. We have on this site a team of 14, exactly double the number we have been used to, the news about leave is very poor, the Major in charge of these people is apparently a very difficult person to deal with. No-one has gone on 48 hours since I returned, however we are fighting hard although the man in charge…

…of us hasn’t the guts in dealing with officialdom that Conrad had. The reason apparently for the stopping of 48 hrs leave is because quite a large number of these militia lads have overstayed their leave; this of course was before we arrived here and although we pointed this out, their dratted Major insisted that our leave should be stopped as well. He could not, he said, have any exception. They also want to only let one of us go on 7 days per week, which at our present strength will take over three months to complete.

I hope darling when next I write I shall have some better news, after all our leave is the most important thing in the world at the moment and I find it very depressing when I’m uncertain when I shall be seeing you again, my dearest one.

(3)
One piece of good news is that the food here is absolutely magnificent. The cook here is an ex Savoy Hotel Chef. The lads here don’t realize how fortunate they are. Supper is not served officially although I find that if one goes down and uses a little tact in the cook house in the evening one is usually lucky.

The goat, property of the mechanical ‘ear ole boys’, on this site you remember, has been sent home for the winter.

I had quite an interesting journey down on Tuesday coming as far as Coventry with a man with whom I argued war aims, Socialism & Capitalism etc, he was a very caustic blighter informing me he was engaged on important war work…

(4)
I said ‘Oh’, ‘Yes’ said he ‘I’m going down to Coventry to fit a patent foot warmer in the King’s car’. He was a bit of a socialist and I pointed out that probably the fault lay either with his firm or Daimlers and it was very unlikely that the King knew anything about it.

I’ll write to you again very shortly dearest heart and meanwhile all my love, take of your dear self.

Yours always and always
Kenneth
x (a new year’s one)