A letter my grandfather wrote my grandmother on 3 May 1945

A transcription of a letter my grandfather Ashley Smith (author)wrote my grandmother on 3 May 1945. I believe he is based close to Rome, Italy, and writing to her in England (Olive Avenue, Leigh-On-Sea, SS9 3QE). The day prior ‘The Allied Spring offensive in Italy ended with the official surrender of German forces in Italy.’

At the end of the transcript, I’ve added some other interesting aspects of the context of the letter. Please feel free to correct me, or add to my understanding of this.

WO I A Smith 10673705 34 Special Training Barracks CMF 3 May 45

Dearest sweetheart,

Don’t get upset at receiving a land letter instead of the usual air letter as a matter of fact this goes by air too so you should get it just as quickly and it is easier for me to type on this until I get a new ribbon in my machine which I hope to do today. Mostly I am thinking of the news as I write. You can’t help feeling jubilation. There is just happiness in the air even though people may have all kinds of worries at the back of their mind — yet there is the faint feeling that a nightmare is over (or nearly over I should say) and there is a kind of slow waking up from a horrible dream. It is hard for me to describe this feeling but I only know it persists. I can feel it in my finger tips — I can feel it behind all my thoughts. It is over — a kind of silly whisper — that you do not believe quite. But I mustn’t go on like this. We here are jubilant that the…