| Scope and Content |
Comprises a handwritten letter and 2 typed copies of a letter with annotated corrections. John asked Hilda to forward the letter on to others as he was only allowed to write a one-sided letter. John wrote about: Greece’s role in the Second World War and Mussolini’s complaints about the use of the sword and bayonet and “savages from Crete”; his life in Crete being very busy and that he had been making speeches and was carried around on people’s shoulders; that old friends in Crete were well and the puppy called Satan had grown a lot; that he had to shave off his moustache after disease got into it; news of the Squire [R W Hutchinson] and “his dam” [mother]; meeting lots of people who had been to Winchester College and that he had had a dinner with them and some people who had been in the Officer Cadet Training Unit (Cavalry) at Weedon; coded messages, being told off by authorities for using the word “bastard” in a coded message to the Minister and that he thought the authorities were like Greek “grannies…apt to stand on roofs scolding people”; and his confidence that the allies would win the war. |
