Heartbreaking Letter Written by Lady to her Relative Who was Killed a Month Prior When His Submarine Was Sunk. She hadn’t Yet Received News Of His Death.

[Heartfeltzero]

This letter, written by Edith Denby, was sent to Eric Denby, a member of the Royal Navy serving aboard the Submarine 'HMS Parthian (N75).' Edith, residing in the United States, wrote this letter to Eric on September 12th, 1943. Tragically, Eric had already met his fate, unbeknownst to her. His vessel, HMS Parthian, met its demise in the Mediterranean Sea between July 28th and August 11th, 1943. The circumstances surrounding the sinking of the Parthian remain uncertain to this day, though prevalent beliefs suggest it fell victim to a naval mine near Brindisi, Italy. The submarine carried a crew of 64 individuals, none of whom survived the incident."

The letter reads:

“ September 12th 1943,

Dear Eric,

Thank you for the grand, nice, long letter. We were all glad to hear from you and to know you are okay.

So- you’re getting married? Congratulations! Hope by the time this reaches you, you have had your leave and are Mr. and Mrs. Congratulations again and best wishes to you both.

Italy surrendered this week and it’s wonderful news. Maybe with less activity in the Mediterranean, you will get home. That, of course, is assuming that you are in the Mediterranean.

We sent your mother a card for her birthday and hope she got it on time. I presume mail reaches her much quicker than yours can catch up with you.

Tomorrow is a great day here. School starts again after summer vacation and all the mothers are pretty glad. The children are anxious to get back too so things will be pretty quiet in the neighborhood for at least part of the day. There are about 25 kids on our block so we really do have battles and I’m afraid the Denby girls are amongst the worst. But they are just healthy and normal so that’s all we ask. They start school at 9 in the morning, come home for lunch at 12, go back by 1 and are out at 2:30.

I have been doing work at home so it will give me more time. I am making gadgets to put rings in for jewelers windows. The fancy little velvet stands that they display the rings in. I don’t believe they send any to England but they do have customers all over the U.S., Canada and Hawaii. We paste the velvet on little blocks of wood and trim them up. When you shop for that wedding ring, take a good look at the window display. You probably have something much the same as we do here.

I’ve been at it a year now and am getting quite expert at it. The studio is only two blocks from home and I go in and pick up the works, take it home and de it and take it back the next day- and the next- and the next- and the next. It is very interesting and I can stay home with the children. So many woman are going to work that it is impossible to get anyone to care for children. They have some day nurseries for children of war workers but they are closer to the districts where the big factories are.

Many woman are taking 4 hour jobs while their children are in school. Kathryn has not been feeling well for the past several months. At Easter time she had an operation for appendicitis but has not been up to par since then. The doctor says her gal-bladder is not functioning properly and she may need another operation. She went back to work but has taken two weeks off now to see if she can’t gain a little. She and Bill have gone to La Jolla (a beach town) and I hope she gets a good rest. Bill has been after her to quit work but she hates to give up. She has worked for the city of Pasadena for almost 20 years now and while they have no retirement fund, they hope to have within a few years and she doesn’t want to miss out.

The government has a retirement fund or old age benefit now but it doesn’t apply to city employees because as a rule each group of city or county employees have their own set up for retirement. Most all except Pasadena. 1% of any employees salary is deducted from every check for old age benefit and 1% for a state unemployment fund. When a person reaches 65 he can collect his pension. It won’t be long now! And if a person loses his job he can collect 25.00 per week for a maximum of 3 months or until he obtains another job. This certainly comes in handy when jobs are hard to get.

So even you English boys send Esquire? And read too besides just looking at pictures. You were asking about becoming an American Citizen. I believe a person has to reside in the United States at least five years, study the governmental procedures, constitution, etc and be able to answer a few questions about them. I don’t know very much about it except that I have been a character witness for three of my friends. I believe each country is allowed a certain number of persons to enter the U.S. each year and persons have to come in under a quota. The girl from England said they made applications to come here and it was several months before they were notified that they could sail. I don’t believe all that red-tape is necessary for just a visitation permit.

I’ve met your cousin Ethel Sternberg from San Francisco. She is Bernice Parringtons older sister. She is an old maid and I don’t know her well at all. But when she visited us she slept on the davenport in the living room and when I got up to fix breakfast I discovered a mouse in the kitchen. I’m scared to death of the d- things but I didn’t want to awaken her so I killed it with the broom, but bud had to get up and take the thing outside. I don’t know if she is still at it but she was pretty radical about horoscopy, and insisted that I must have stomach trouble because I was born under a certain sign. But I’m perfectly healthy so I’m not worried. I don’t know why her mail should be returned.

So far we’ve not suffered at all with the rationing. The girls used my last shoe coupon and my mothers but I’m going to use one of theirs this time so I’ll have my shoes. They only wore shoes on Sunday at Sunday school all summer so there was no wear or tear on theirs.

Their soon stubbed toes will be mighty uncomfortable in shoes the next few weeks but the bathtub won’t be half as dirty. Two baths a day they get and their feet looks like they hadn’t been scrubbed for months. Maybe I’ll be able to get them clean this winter when they wear more clothes.

My garden wasn’t the success I thought it would be but we are getting plenty of tomatoes everyday now. We will not have enough to can from our garden but I will get a couple of boxes and put them up for the winter. We have some pretty good onions and squash. I am getting ready to plant more beans and I hope it doesn’t turn too cold for them later. We can get plenty of eggs at the store now but they are plenty high - for here- but they say they will be higher. My older brother and his wife were by this afternoon and brought us a dozen eggs and a chicken so we are all set for a few days.

The boy next door is still in North Africa. They don’t know just where but somewhere near Bone because he goes there quite often. He is the armer (?) for his battalion so I guess he stays in Africa repairing the arms for the boys. His name is Cletus Green just incase you get anywhere close. His address is an official one from New York so it’s hard to say where he might be.

Do you hear any of the radio broadcasts from America? Most of the good programs are sent by short wave to the boys all over the world and I suppose you must pick them up occasionally. Service of the programs have international seamen off of English ships. Some here and other places that they can’t mention.

I enjoy them very much and wouldn’t be surprised to hear your name sometime- who knows? The boys give their names but don’t mention their ships. One of the programs is Vox Pop. I suppose if we had a more powerful radio we could get England but we are lucky to get our local stations. Of course we get the real important news that comes in because it is rebroadcast over the local stations. Neighbors get Japanese broadcasts almost every night very late but of course these broadcasts are only propaganda so aren’t much good.

Most all of the boys we know in the navy are now in the pacific area. And the mail has not been coming in for a couple of weeks so their wives are all pretty worried. One friend just came in who had been away since last December so his family is very happy.

How are all the Denby boys and girls getting along? Any of the girls in the Woman’s Army? Diane is saving her money for a WAC uniform. I haven’t been able to find one for her so I got material and have to make it one of these fine days. Jannie would rather spend her money so she will not be getting a uniform but she doesn’t care about them as much as Diane does.

The news has just announced that there are 32 Italian ships at allied ports. Just think, that many less to worry about.

How is your mother? We haven’t heard from her for months but I imagine it is hard for her to write.

I’ll close for now and will write again in the next month or so, so it won’t be such a long time between letters.

Take care of yourself and let us hear all about the wedding and the bride, etc. where did you pick up the satin or can’t you tell us?

Goodbye for now and good luck to you.

Sincerely,
Edith “

The letter would be returned to Edith with an attached note informing her that Eric was missing, presumed killed in action.

[Willmore]

Hi JB.

A very sad one indeed, thank you for sharing it with us.

Eric Denby in the UK, British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records, 1730-1960.



Eric Denby in the UK, Commonwealth War Graves, 1914-1921 and 1939-1947.



Name: Eric Denby
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Birth Date: abt 1915
Death Date: 11 August 1943
Cemetery: Naval Memorials United Kingdom Portsmouth Part III
Burial Country: England
Regimental Number: P/SSX 15134
Region or Memorial: Memorial Register
Father: William Metcalfe Denby
Mother: Mary Denby


PO Eric Denby (unknown-1943) - Find a Grave Memorial

From Ancestry it looks like Eric was one of 12 children.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Heartfeltzero]

Hey Will,

No problem, always happy to share. Thank you for the additional information. I appreciate it.