The letter was sent to my Father’s mother informing her that her son Sgt J W Mullen’s aircraft had been shot down over North Africa and that he was missing in action. My father was a tail gunner in the Wellington and had, prior to being shot down, completed 23 raids. Following the letter news eventually came through that my father and the rest of the crew had parachuted out successfully and that he had been captured and was a POW in Italy. He was held there until the Italians ceased hostilities. He then escaped and was on the run with the partisans until he was recaptured and sent to a Stalag in Germany. It is believed that he escaped again and was eventually repatriated back to UK. The letter is part of a number of documents left by my Father after he passed away. The letter to my grandmother is particularly poignant as it highlights how traumatic and worrying those times could be for parents of sons and daughters fighting in the War.
