100 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean 4 letters “Jean” (one “Mermoz”), Casablanca, May–June 1926, to his “Dearest Mom”; 11½ pages, in-4 format. While on the Dakar route, he was captured by the Moors. May 2. “Now I’m assigned exclusively to Dakar. A round trip takes 15 days. I have 14 days off in Casa and 15 days of rest in Cap Juby or Dakar. All in all, it’s not tiring at all, and I earn 1,700 to 1,800 francs per month in addition to my regular salary, which brings my total to 5,500 francs per month. […] I’ll probably take my leave in August […] I’m still in touch with the airlines, but I’m waiting to see what opportunities and terms they’ll offer. I don’t want to leave a certain, very interesting position for an uncertain one that might be less interesting. […] I just received my medal from the Aero Club—not bad at all. When I’m broke, I’ll be able to cash it in. A little bit of glory isn’t worth much these days”… He’d like to know the dates of the air shows in Lille, Douai, or Valenciennes: “I think I might be able to go there in a Latécoère plane to do a bit of publicity and carry some passengers if it happens to fall during my leave. I have good reason to believe the company wouldn’t refuse me—quite the opposite”… He is “caught up in a whirlwind of extremely comical romantic entanglements. What a comedy life is! It’s enough to make you die laughing sometimes, and I watch impassively as a spectator to tragicomic scenes of which I am very often the conscious and deliberate architect... […] I’ll probably be changing my address. I’m having trouble with my landlady, who has fallen in love with my unworthy self, and whose latent feelings have become a cause for concern on my part. I don’t feel, at the moment, in a position to save up for a room—something I could easily arrange on my own—and since things are getting complicated both here and elsewhere, I’d rather move to a different area”… * – May 18. He mentions “the franc’s free fall” and the situation in Morocco: “Here we’re very pessimistic and expect a fatal outcome—bankruptcy. The war in Morocco is going well, but we expect major European complications regarding this issue to arise shortly. In short, the future doesn’t look bright. […] Let’s not worry too much about the future. I do think about it, it’s true—I’ll always have enough to prepare for whatever might happen. But I don’t deprive myself. Whatever I have left over, I set aside.Now, I’m starting to work diligently toward a specific goal. I’ll be able to set aside 3,000 francs regularly each month, barring any unforeseen circumstances. And civil aviation is getting organized. Airlines are going to become international; there will be standardized pay scales for international pilots. There’s a lot of talk about pensions. The International League of Professional Pilots has just been founded by an American. […] In short, there’s tremendous progress on this front, and a day will come—soon, I believe—when we’ll have security for our uncertain future”… In Cap-Juby, he has a tame gazelle and a monkey… June 11. He talks about his car, an Amilcar, “which runs perfectly”… He’s thinking about America, Brazil, but also about joining a car manufacturer… – June 15. He has been “feeling a bit unwell since my captivity among the Moors,” with difficult bowel movements and bleeding, “the result of the radiator water mixed with acid that I was forced to drink for nearly forty-eight hours.” […] I had 3,000 fcs worth of supplies for our mess hall in Juby that I take there at the beginning of every month, and which were lost when I was captured by the Moors. In addition, I had 800 francs on me that were stolen when they stripped me of my belongings. The company must reimburse me for all of this shortly. […] My Director wrote to me personally about my captivity among the Moors, expressing his complete satisfaction and pride! Yeah, right. I’ve been approached about going to South America at the end of the year to open the new route. But for two years, without returning. It’s true that as a salary, it would be perfect, and I could return with at least 150,000 francs”… He has just “taken 20 days off in the countryside, and the weather is nice in Casablanca. Tomorrow, I’m going to visit Marrakech and its palm grove. In 15 days, I’ll go to Fez”… Correspondence, nos. 87, 88, 89, 90. Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family