England. Sept. 17, 1944.

Dear Mother & all,
       Received you letter of
Sept 6 this week. I am glad
you like the present I sent
you from Ireland. There is one
place that I always wanted
to visit. I guess I am seeing
quite a bit of this country during
this war.
      I suppose it will seem strange
to just have you and Dad sit
down to a meal now. I sure
would like to sit down to a
meal with you folks. It
seems so long since I have
been home now. I won't know
what to do after I do get home.
That will be grand when I do

get home. I guess I will just
have you folks to come home
to.
       I haven't heard from Harley
since the one letter. I suppose
he is in France by now. If
he isn't he probably will beat
me over there. I am trying to
make connections with him if
possible.
       Just how much is my account
now? I haven't increased my
accum allotment yet since
making staff. Maybe I will soon.
Let me know what my account
is now.
       I never thought about Labor
Day. I guess I have forgotten
all the holidays anyway. One
would hardly know this was

even Sunday. There has been
a lot going on today. I suppose
you are listening to all the
news.
       This nurse is Pearl Meyers
niece. I told you about he before.
She wants me to come and see
her, but I don't think I will be
able to see her. I would like
to though.
       Well this is about all for
now. I was in London last week.
It is beginning to look like London
again. Once it looked deserted.
Goodnight for now.
                               Love Ralph.


The next letter will be posted on Sept.24th.

Background Information (and comments):

• September 17th was the start of Operation Market Garden. Of course, Ralph could not know that it would turn out to be an unsuccessful Allied military operation.
• "Operation Market Garden, which includes the Battle for Arnhem, in September 1944, was the largest airborne battle in history, being bigger than Operation Mercury, the German airborne invasion of Crete in 1941, which was the only successful strategic airborne operation of World War Two. It was also the only real attempt by the Allies to use airborne forces in a strategic role in Europe. It was a massive engagement, with its principal combatants being 21 Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery for the Allies and Army Group B under Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model for the Germans. It involved thousands of aircraft and armoured vehicles, and hundreds of thousands of troops and was the only major Allied defeat of the Northwest European campaign."
• Here's a link with a more information and a photo from another website:

https://dailyhistory.org/Why_did_Operation_Market_Garden_in_1944_fail%3F