Letter to Mrs Clarke from the Commanding Officer of No. 7 Squadron regarding the loss of Sergeant Leonard Clarke, 16 January 1944

This letter was sent to Leonard Clarke’s wife by Group Captain Kenneth Rampling, the Commanding Officer of No. 7 Squadron. He was himself killed on operations a few weeks later, in March 1944.

It became the usual practice for Commanding Officers of bomber squadrons to write to the families of aircrew who did not return from operations. These letters usually gave very basic details of what operation the airman had been on and comforting words about how popular he had been and the possibility of their having been able to successfully abandon their aircraft. Further correspondence would be forthcoming when more information was known. For Leonard Clarke’s wife Ivy the comforting words turned out to be correct, and Leonard was later confirmed as a prisoner of war.