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Letter from Geo[rge] W. Eades, Carleton Place, Ontario[, Canada], to James H. Eades, 24 Ascot Terrace, Limerick, enclosing a compilation of pedigree charts and other genealogical material relating to the Eades family.

From Gertrud Junge in Nasiedle. Gertrud informs Hella about Günther’s death. On 27 January, Günther chased an enemy fighter from Deelen (Netherlands) to Berlin. That night at about 9 p.m., Günther’s father happened to be outside during an air raid alarm. He saw a seemingly damaged night fighter giving light signals and looking for the Tempelhof airfield flying over their house. A few minutes later, a Bf110 crashed into the nearby allotment gardens in Berlin-Britz. After many investigations, the two dead pilots were identified as Günther and his comrade Schlüter. Apparently, a flight mechanic had also been on board, but no one knows what happened to him. When Günther flew over his parents’ house to symbolically say goodbye, it was still standing. Two days later, it went up in flames. It is uncertain why Günther and Schlüter did not eject before they crashed. His brother Friedolf thinks that Schlüter was wounded, maybe Günther too, and that Günther was confident that he could safely land the plane. Günther is currently laid out in the reserve military hospital in Berlin Charlottenburg, Spandauer Chaussee 1. Even though he was advised not to go and see Günther, his father insists on seeing his son one last time. He will try everything to shed light on what really happened that night and is only a shadow of his former self. Gertrud tries to be a strong soldier’s mother even though she lost everything. She thanks Hella for the love she showed Günther. Gertrud wants to meet Hella and talk to her soon since she hopes to learn more about her son’s innermost thoughts from her. Günther’s last sign of life was a letter of 25 January. By the time it arrived, he was already dead. He also called his father in Berlin on 23 January and told him that he was a little sad that he had not shot any enemies yet and that this would change soon. Gertrud believes that Günther insisted on shooting an enemy fighter that night and that that is what got him killed. The funeral will likely take place on Wednesday, 6 February. Günther’s father will let Hella’s family in Berlin know. She tells Hella to get in touch with him to stay up-to-date. With envelope.

From Günther in Fürstenwalde. Another day is gone. Günther is listening to music in the recreation room and again has nothing to do except think of Hella. Everything went well on Sunday although the journey was long. He thought about phoning Hella’s house in the evening to check that they had not been bombed, but from the newspaper it looked as though they were alright. Thanks to the RAF, Günther managed to spend a few extra hours with Hella. The next few weeks will not offer him a chance to repeat the visit. He is on fire sentry duty next Sunday. When the weather warms up Günther will invite Hella to Fürstenwalde. At the moment it is not very pleasant as all the streets are icy. He asks whether she has passed her certificate of achievement. He then asks if she has any other worries or if she has insomnia. Günther says he has insomnia sometimes but knows who to blame for that. He sends greetings to her parents and thanks them for the invitation to the cinema. With envelope.

From Günther in Fürstenwalde. The past week was busy for Günther. There is a new weekly duty roster, and they have to get up at 4:45 a.m. now. She is right about the fact that he is already tired again by the time she gets up at 7:00 a.m. One day last week, after their flying duty in the morning, they were given rifles and sent into the field. They viewed it as a lovely spring walk in beautiful weather. Normally, they only get to see nature’s beauty from above. At the end of the march, they pretended to fight over a village, which left a strange impression on the residents. The day was a nice change from the usual routine. According to his parents, who he had just talked to on the phone, the attack on Berlin is said to have been one of the worst so far. He hopes that Hella is doing well. Tempelhof is said to have been hit particularly hard. Even some walls of his parent’s house are supposedly missing. Apparently, an aerial mine hit only 100 meters away. He has already set everything in motion to go home and inspect what can be salvaged. Günther thanks Hella for her letter, which has served as a ray of sunshine in the dark for him. Thanks to the practical format of her photo, he can take it everywhere. When he is in a bad mood, he simply looks at it and smiles again. With envelope.

From Günther at the officers’ quarters somewhere near Belgrade. He complains that Hella is always ironic, and he is afraid that it will cause him to become shy again. He does not feel comfortable writing what is on his mind anymore. The weather is not as nice now, so he cannot sunbathe anymore. He is the only one not on duty, so he has decided to answer his mail. A huge coincidence caused Günther to reunite with two old military school comrades. They play cards in the mess every night, drink wine, and lose track of time. They only go to bed at 11 in the evening, which is much too late because they have to get up early. This behaviour must end soon because, in two days, flying duty starts again. To answer Hella’s question about how long he will stay there, Günther estimates his stay to be about four weeks. He would like to know how long his letters take to arrive. He sends them directly to Berlin-Tempelhof with Lufthansa, but her letters take four days to arrive. With envelope.

From Günther at the officers’ quarters somewhere near Belgrade. His birthday was as uneventful as expected. His comrades forgot all about it, and they had flying duty in the morning and had to study for the oral exam in the afternoon. The exams took place this morning. Now, the only thing left to complete is a 1-hour test flight. Apart from that, there is not much to do. Only when everyone is done with their exam will they be deployed. Günther thanks Hella for making his birthday at least a little special by sending him four packages, including chocolates and biscuits, and looks forward to thanking her in person soon. Hella and his parents were the only ones who thought of him on this birthday. His dad even wrote him a letter of two pages, which is unusual for him. Günther does not believe that there will be a fourth year of war. As he has already told her, he will not be at his current location for long anymore, so Günther suggests taking a break from writing letters until he knows where he will end up. This will also relieve the burden on the postal service. He is saving some of the sweets she sent him for later. With envelope.

From Günther in Ingolstadt. Now that he has settled back into his everyday military life, Günther finally finds the time to write to Hella. It took him a while to get settled after ‘quiet’ Belgrade and his holiday. Their first flying duty was only a couple of hours after they had arrived at their new post. Flying duty is okay, but they also have drills and early-morning exercises. Instead of flying as straight as possible, they are now expected to fly in circles. It is an adjustment for their stomachs, but they were made fighters, after all. He and one other lieutenant share two rooms. Luckily, his comrade has brought a radio so that they can enjoy their free evenings together. Neither the quality nor the quantity of the food are up to Günther’s standards. There is no chocolate either, meaning he cannot send Hella any. Therefore, he looks forward to being transferred in two weeks. He wants to know whether their photos are done yet and asks Hella to send him some of them, but only the good ones. Since Günther cannot always be with her, he at least wants to carry the newest photos of Hella with him. Now that their holiday is over, Günther hopes that Hella goes to school again regularly. He wants her to focus on school during the day, and then she can think of him at night. This is the way he does it, too. He sends greetings to her and her family. With envelope.

From Günther in Greifswald. Time has been flying since they last saw each other. He is almost back to where he started. The only difference is that he is not a student anymore. They are stationed in Greifswald to protect the capital. Unfortunately, the enemy has not shown itself during the full moon or while the moon was shining in general. It would be effortless to detect the enemy, and flying is more fun than when it is pitch dark. He is content with his life in Greifswald. He has flying duty at night and has to stay awake to await orders, which sometimes never come. He then sleeps in the mornings until lunchtime. Günther reminds Hella to use his regular Feldpost number so her letters do not go missing or get sent back. Since he had not received any letters from Hella for a while, he called her parents. He also asked his mother if she knew where Hella was now. Günther asks her whether she has received the chocolate and the photo by now. He has a stock of cigarettes and tells Hella to let him know if she can use them to buy something she would like. With envelope.

From Günther at the officers’ quarters somewhere in the Netherlands. Günther reports that he had to leave all of his things behind. He and his comrades were having their Sunday coffee and cake in town when they were suddenly called to flying duty and had to rush back to the air base. The motors of their machines had already been started, and there was just enough time to get changed. In less than 30 minutes, they were on their way to the Netherlands. There, the machines were immediately prepared for their next flight, but then nothing happened. They are still waiting for their next flying duty. A few days ago, Günther received the wedding cake from Hella’s mother and shared it with his two roommates. However, he still has not received a letter from Hella. He wonders if she is too busy to think about her poor Günther and threatens to get back at Hella by not sending her any more chocolate. He hopes a letter will be waiting for him when he gets back to Greifswald, or he will be very upset. With envelope.

From Günther in Greifswald. There was indeed a long letter from Hella waiting for Günther upon his return to Greifswald. He immediately writes back to her after learning that she feels lonely in Cimmitschau. During the latest attack on Hanover, Günther flew his first mission. Even though he arrived a little too late to shoot at the enemy, he enjoyed flying through the dust clouds of explosions. He hopes to fly his next mission against the Tommies soon. Günther continues his letter on 30 September. He was on flying duty last night, but they could not take off because it was too foggy. He listened to dance music on the radio instead. While there is enough time to learn how to dance, there are no suitable dance partners. Since Günther is a night fighter, he sleeps during the day. He prefers not to go out and even said no to a dance night with female students from the local university organized by a few officers the other week. He did not want to take the risk of dancing with someone he had not seen before. In his opinion, female students often wear specs and are not generally the prettiest girls. Günther hopes to be able to send her another package soon since it is the only thing he can do to console her. With envelope.