142 - MERMOZ, Jean

MERMOZ, Jean L.A.S. “Jean,” La Rochelle, November 5, 1927, to his grandparents, the GILLETs; 2 pages, in-4 format, on letterhead from the Café Français, La Rochelle. Before setting sail for Brazil. He led a hectic life: “First, the rapid and secret preparation for my flight, the daily night flights, and then the departure, ten days in St. Louis, the return, receptions all over the place, the presentation of the aircraft at all the major aviation centers, the sudden announcement of my almost immediate departure for Argentina, which didn’t even give me time to come and kiss you goodbye before leaving. […] I was supposed to board in Bordeaux on the 3rd, but the ship didn’t stop there; so I had to go to La Rochelle to catch the next liner, on which I’m scheduled to leave France tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock. I’m taking with me the same aircraft with which I flew 4,200 km nonstop. Upon arrival, I plan to attempt the nonstop flight from Natal to Buenos Aires. Mom must have told you that if I stopped in St. Louis, it was due to bad luck—a broken propeller. Without that, I would have crossed the Atlantic before Costes. It was too good to be true! Anyway, I’m not getting discouraged, because I’m hoping to do something next year if the devil doesn’t interfere. Latécoère gave me a 10,000-fr bonus on top of my monthly pay. That’s a purely material satisfaction! But in the end, none of that matters. I would have loved so much to go and kiss you, to hold you both in my arms one more time. […] Tomorrow, my thoughts will be very close to you as I drift away just a tiny bit more—oh, so little; distances no longer exist now! I’m taking yet another step toward the Future; I’m pursuing with determination, without hesitation or fear, the upward path that must lead me to the goal I wish to reach—toward the light of a destiny I hope will be brilliant. When I look back and see the path I’ve traveled, oh! it doesn’t dazzle me, no! but I am content and I have confidence”…. Correspondence, No. 127. Provenance: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family