58 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean 23 letters to his “dear Little Mom,” January–September 1921; 79 pages, in-8 or in-4 format, a few letterheads from the Istres School (2), a café in Istres, and the Foyer du Soldat, one address (frayed edges on the last page). A lovely collection of letters from the time of his military pilot training. Istres. He is about to begin his license exams: “I’m doing my official spiral, propeller locked: a 2,000-meter descent without an engine,” and once he’s earned his pilot’s license, he’ll ask Max [Delty, an operetta singer and friend of his mother’s] to pull some strings for his assignment—either “in the occupied territories, where discipline is very strict and there isn’t much flying, or in the Levant” (January 30). He obtained his pilot’s license on February 9: “It would be pointless to tell you how much tenacity it took me to overcome the countless difficulties and pitfalls set in my path by the elements and fate. I wasn’t discouraged for a single minute, and that’s what made me succeed” (February 18). He flies “the Nieuport and the Morane. “These little fighter planes are a change from the peaceful Caudron,” but he grows bored with just driving them on the ground: “The fever for the air and aviation has me in its grip. It’s the torment of Tantalus” (February 20). He was 14 hours and 35 minutes short of the flight time required to join a squadron (February 27)… Metz-Frescaty [Corporal Mermoz was assigned there to the 7th Squadron of the 11th Bombardment Regiment]. “Here I am at last with the squadron” (May 11); he finds the strict military regimen hard to bear; he flies little, and leave is rare. He volunteered for the Levant and inquired about pay and the climate: “You’re appointed a noncommissioned officer upon arrival. On top of that, you’re held in high regard because they need you. You’re indispensable.” He tried to convince his mother and eagerly awaited her reply. “I’m currently serving as the weekly non-commissioned officer, which gives me a great job” (June 26). Finally, he left Metz for Pont-Saint-Esprit, from where he was to depart for Beirut: “From there, I’ll be assigned to a squadron either in Palestine or in Syria” (August). He finally boards the Styria, an Austrian cargo ship, in Marseille—the only pilot among 69 soldiers and 350 mules—and, as he leaves France, he reaffirms his love for his mother: “ You are my one and only true love; if I have ever hurt you—sometimes knowing it, but more often without realizing it—forgive me from the depths of your heart. After all, I’m just a big kid, and how many [sic] kids don’t cause their mothers a little pain? ,” and he reassured her about his relationships with women: “There is no connection, no link, between feeling and temperament. This is something that many people very rarely understand” (Marseille, Camp Sainte-Marthe, September 8)… Enclosed is a postcard sent from the Styria—an Allied liner—expressing his deep affection for his mother “as I board,” September 9, and another blank postcard from the Styria accompanied by a handwritten note (2 pp., in-12), asking her to send him his flight logbook and military service record, which he had forgotten, and mentioning his young friend Fernand Delty. Provenance: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family