Letter from Harry Massey to Barbara Massey

Capt. J. H. Massey No. 6 Palestinian Coy - The Buffs M.E.F

[Picture of Hotel on Letterhead] PALESTINE HOTELS LTD King David Hotel JERUSALEM

Jerusalem 16 Feb Sunday 1941

My darling sweet Barbara - Your letter no. 5 arrived this last week, on the 14th Feb. It was posted on Oct 29th, & so it has taken 3 1/2 months to come. It is my 3rd letter from you, I have now had them in the following order - 13-145. But I was especially thrilled to have it because it is the first one I have had which had not the Infantry Base Depot included in the address, & so now I feel there are good hopes of all the other ones arriving. I also received last week, your cable of Dec 9th - which had taken over 2 months to find me. That bugger of an address. Blast & damn that fool of an incompetent Adjutant at

2.

Oswestry. One day, when I have time, I shall write to him. Probably like I always been going to write to the Manchester Guardian.

Your letter was mainly about the death & burial of your father - & obviously you had written me already about his illness & expected me to get that letter first. You poor darling, it must have been tragically sad & trying for you. I knew when I first heard, that it would tear your heart about Lisa. There isn't anything more I can say, darling. I know we understand each other so well about these things - & you know what I am thinking aboutyou.

You mention of the sinking of the Empress of Britain, reminds me of when I heard the news. I was having my hair cut, & the barber, who was almost as good as Tommy, told me of it. He had been on that ship himself before war. It made me think then that you might get a bit of a yarn, & I hoped you had remembered the

[Letterheaded Palestine Hotels, JERUSALEM]

3. name of my ship. The mention of the north coast of Ireland need not have reassured you, as we had been in that exact spot 2-3 weeks earlier. This will be rather a short letter - but I have toldyou darling that I will write more often. But for some reason, I always feel loth to post off a short letter, in case of causing you disappointment. I am staying the night at this palatial Hotel. I am on my way to meet the big wigs & brass hats of the new place we go to in a few days time. It is up north, & a bit too far to go there & back in one day from camp, so I decided to have a night here, & a comfortable bed &

4. a nice hot bath. I have a lovely room with a bath - & it reminds me so much of the Plaza, & the night you promised to marry me. And this room - I am writing in it - with its double bed, & wash basin, & wardrobe, Hotel notices, & bed lamp, & bellpushes, & white cloths, & dressing table & stool, & curtains, upholstery - they all remind me so much of you, so poignantly.

I can hardly believe you are not in the bathroom or down the passage, or somewhere near. Except that there is only one pillow on the bed, which almost seems to mock me, & rub it in that we are thousands of miles apart.

I am very conscious of the fact that each letter I write now, may be the last one you have from me before you have the baby - or at least that it may arrive very near the time. Oh. My sweet brave darling - I do

[Letterheaded Palestine Hotels Ltd, Jerusalem]

5. wish so much that I could be with you. I will send you the cables when the time comes nearer, & you must do the same for me. But if my next but one, two or three letters, does not mention the baby, you will understand that it is caused by this correspondence of ours being so unreal & I cannot say the same thing in letter after letter, just in case it is the one, even though I am thinking the same things all the time. I feel it is terribly sad, heartbreaking that I shall not be with you. But it will not & cannot make any difference at all two what happens, to you & the baby