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Description: | 121 ms letters, 3 telegrams and 5 postcards (635pp) written by him to his wife during his service as an Air Mechanic in the 13th Kite Balloon Section, Royal Flying Corps and later Royal Air Force (February 1917 - January 1919), covering his call-up and training at Farnborough and Aldershot (February 1917), a brief period in the 5th Divisional Rest Station (8th Field Ambulance) shortly after being sent to France, various duties connected with meteorological ballooning, experience of action on the Western Front (August & October 1917), home leave (January 1918), promotion and a change in rank after the formation of the RAF (March & April 1918), the Allied advance (October 1918), and his hospitalisation and discharge from the Western Hospital, Torquay (January 1919), including excellent descriptions of the men in his unit and the duties involved in ballooning, details of the entertainment laid on for the men, discussions about politics, the future peace settlement and his opinions as a reformer, statements of his progressive support for his wife in her role as a 'career' woman and emotive comments about the changes wrought by the war on himself and the French countryside. Also with the collection are 57 letters (219pp) written to him by his wife, Dora, from their home in London (February 1918 - January 1919), covering her managerial role at Fox Film Studios, Bushey and the move that she had to make in her accommodation from Wembley to Highgate (April 1918), with comments on air raids, rationing, the education of their children, her difficulties at work and in arranging adequate child and house care, politics and the flu epidemic, and relating gossip from the film studios, 18 affectionate letters from Stanton to his two young children, Margaret and Hugh (April 1917 - December 1918) and a complete ts transcription of the correspondence.
Cataloguer PJB
Catalogue date 1998-03 | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Stanton, A C | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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