Shot down in his Avro Manchester on the Thousand Bomber raid of 30/31
May 1942 Bomber Command observer and navigator John Valentine saw out
the rest of the Second World War as a prisoner in Germany. During that
period, he wrote extensively to his wife Ursula, telling her of his
survival, the circumstances in which he was shot from the sky, his
capture, and the daily rigors of life as a prisoner of war.
Extraordinarily, and despite being extremely ill, when John was finally
liberated he brought back all the letters and photographs he had
received from Ursula. Across all their correspondence, parts of which
had been blacked out, the word 'Gepruft' ('checked' in German) had been
stamped by the German censor.
In addition to the correspondence written during the dark days when John
was a prisoner, further letters exist penned when a pregnant Ursula
lived in London at the time of the Luftwaffe Blitz, John was training
for aircrew duties with the Royal Air Force, and during his operational
career with No. 49 Squadron on Hampden and Manchester bombers. In total,
this extraordinary archive consists of 224 letters and postcards from
John and 305 from Ursula, with a further 73 written to John during his
long periods of hospitalization after his return.
These letters, which have been compiled and edited by John and Ursula's
daughter Frances, provide a unique and unprecedented insight in to how
two people struggled to find solace, and keep their hopes and love alive
despite the anxieties of John's dangerous operational life and his three
years behind barbed wire. Illustrated with previously unpublished
photographs Gepruft is a truly remarkable and comprehensive account of
the effect of the Second World War on the lives of a young married
couple, and their generation.