66 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean 39 letters (L.A.S.) signed “Jean” or “JMermoz,” from Palmyra, Rayack, and Homs, January 1922–February 1923, to his “Dearest Mom”; 160 pages, in-8 or small in-4 format (2 letters with deep tears). Extensive correspondence from his service in the military aviation corps in the Levant. Palmyra. – January 7. “I currently have 10 or 11 missions and about 130 flight hours. I’m truly pleased to see the numbers adding up. […] You know I have to stay here for another year”…– January 15. “I’m to be promoted to non-commissioned officer, from what I’ve heard. […] I’m as philosophical as can be, because there are quite a few things that disgust me. It’s not those who work the hardest who are rewarded the fastest in the regiment.” He has some good friends… “I make frequent visits to the ruins of Palmyra, most often by mule and by plane. It’s magnificent—especially compared to the works of today’s pitiful civilization!… ” – January 30. He must serve as the squadron’s quartermaster sergeant before being officially appointed; he is temporarily replacing his observer lieutenant… – February 2. “I’m still flying; I’m nearing 150 flight hours. […] Our captain has left for a two-month training course in Damascus. The guy temporarily replacing him is a great guy but a little crazy. He has sudden fainting spells in the air and comes back down foaming at the mouth. Yet he’s an ace. […] He steals every donkey from the Bedouins he comes across, climbs on them, brings them back to camp, feeds them, then kicks the crap out of them—along with the Bedouins who come to claim them. […] Our former captain used to buy cocaine from him and shoot up morphine”… – February 21. Baudelaire and Musset are his “great consolation on my gloomy days.” A spellbound visit to Damascus, the “Pearl of the Orient”… – March 5: “I’m cautious. I seek only the science of navigation and have never been very fond of the ‘gallery’; people admire a pilot who does foolish things as long as he’s alive, but once he’s ‘hit rock bottom,’ the ‘crowd’ makes him out to be the biggest fool of all. And besides, I love you too much to cause you this worry, already so far away from you! I’m still flying, even though the off-season is in full swing right now. I haven’t had a single moment of failure since my very first day of flying. I now possess the calm that ensures safety (even though it’s relative, according to Einstein’s theories, which prove that everything is relative) ”… – March 26. “Fantasia” featuring camel riders and camel races… – April 16: “A Bréguet of the very latest model has just arrived at the squadron, and the captain has given it to me as a gift. So I’ll resume my missions tomorrow in my new ‘taxi’”… – April 28: He is in Rayack waiting for his plane to be repaired, having been damaged during landing in a squall. He took Henry Bordeaux on a flight over Palmyra… – April. Account of a medical evacuation in Damascus. – June 27. He mentions his mother’s divorce: “I am my mother’s son, plain and simple; the son is no longer a kid; he thinks for himself, and Mother must no longer doubt her son […] What I blame myself for above all else, what I will always blame myself for, is having prevented you, my poor little Mom—as much by my presence as by my selfish, childish words—from starting your life over”… – “I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip with my squadron commander—Palmyra, Damascus, Lebanon, Homs, Palmyra—a total of over 800 km in a 6-hour flight”… – August 2. “I’m going to spend ten days in an Arab village 100 km from here to get some rest. The lieutenant of the camel cavalry stationed there has invited me to his home […] We’ll go on lovely rides on camels and horses. […] The squadron is leaving Palmyra for two months. I’m staying with my taxi as radio station chief”… – August 16. “The 54th Squadron is leaving Palmyra, where it is being replaced by a detachment from the 57th. Only four of us pilots remain”… Rayack, September 12. He is “at the Aviation Park in Lebanon, having come to pick up a new aircraft. […] We celebrated Aviation Day on September 11, the anniversary of Guynemer’s death. Pennants were presented to the squadrons. […] Aviation is starting to gain interest in France. I’m getting excited about gliding. The Germans are achieving some truly impressive results”… Damascus, October 14. “I’ve just broken a record: four medical evacuations from Palmyra to Damascus in five days—nearly two thousand kilometers with seven patients”… Palmyra. – November 5. “Peace has been signed with Turkey; those poor Turks weren’t dangerous, and here we were no longer fighting the regular army.”