This short letter was sent to my grandad Albert in April 1941 from his brother in law who sailed on the French submarine Surcouf. It is written in broken English but is fairly easy to interpret. Mathieu Motte was married to my grandads sister Constance, referred to as Connie in the letter. He speaks of their baby that was due to be born in July of that year & hoping that the war ends soon. Tragically Mathieu was lost with the rest of the crew when the surcouf sunk in February 1942 in uncertain circumstances leaving Bermuda. I am unsure if Mathieu ever met his daughter Silvia but my mother recalls that Silvia herself had four girls including twins. The letter is signed Jack, but this may have been his nickname as his name on the memorial at Cherbourg is M. Motte & he is listed as part of the crew that was lost on a French website as Mathieu Antoine Motte. I posted this as it may be of interest to some & I'm keen to research it further David
A sad, but important letter. Thanks for posting it. Welcome to the forum, but I hope you will introduce yourself formally in the New Members area. Doing some searching, I came across this set of drawings of the Surcouf. Hop;e you find it useful.
I just joined this forum. My uncle was a soldier on a French submarine during world war 2. I think in might be the Surcouf. I tried reading the names on the memorial plaque for the soldiers, but some names are difficult to see. I have not been able to find a list of the names online. Can anyone help me?
