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a group of old papers with writing on them on a white surface
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MERMOZ Jean 39 letters ‘Jean’ or ‘JMermoz’, Palmyra, Rayack and Homs, January 1922–February 1923, to his ‘dear Mum’; 160 pages, in-8 or small in-4 format (2 letters with large tears). Extensive correspondence from his time serving in the military air force in the Levant. Palmyra. – 7 January. ‘I’ve done 10 or 11 missions so far and have about 130 flying hours under my belt. I’m really pleased to see the numbers adding up. […] You know I’m obliged to stay here for another year’…– 15 January. ‘I’m due to be promoted to non-commissioned officer, from what I’ve heard. […] I’m as philosophical as can be, as there are quite a few things that put me off. It’s not those who work the hardest who are rewarded the quickest in the regiment.’ He has some good friends… “I make frequent visits to the ruins of Palmyra, mostly on mule-back and by aeroplane. It’s magnificent. Compared to the works of today’s wretched civilisation!… ’ – 30 January. He has to carry out the duties of the squadron’s quartermaster-sergeant before being officially appointed; he is temporarily standing in for his observer lieutenant… – 2 February. ‘I’m still flying; I’m approaching 150 flying hours. […] Our captain has gone off on a two-month training course in Damascus. The bloke standing in for him is a brilliant sort but a bit mad. He gets sudden faint spells in the air and comes back down foaming at the mouth. He’s a top pilot, though. […] He nicks all the donkeys from the Bedouins he comes across, climbs on them, brings them back to camp, feeds them, then kicks the living daylights 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’… – 21 February. Baudelaire and Musset are his ‘great consolation on my gloomy days’. A spellbound visit to Damascus, the ‘Pearl of the Orient’… – 5 March: ‘I am cautious. I seek only the art of navigation and have never been particularly fond of the “gallery”; people admire a pilot who gets up to mischief, as long as he’s alive, but once he’s ‘hit the skids’, the ‘public’ makes him out to be the biggest of fools. 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 bad weather is in full swing at the moment. I haven’t had a single moment of faltering since my very first day as a pilot. I now possess the calm that ensures safety (even though it’s relative, according to Einstein’s theories, which prove that everything is relative) ’… – 26 March. ‘Fantasia’ by the camel riders, with camel races… – 16 April: ‘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 be resuming my missions tomorrow in my new ‘taxi’”… – 28 April: he is in Rayack whilst waiting for his aeroplane to be repaired, having been damaged on landing in a squall. He took Henry Bordeaux on a flight over Palmyra… – April. Account of a medical evacuation in Damascus. – 27 June. He refers to his mother’s divorce: ‘I am my mother’s son, pure and simple; the son is no longer a child; he thinks for himself, and Mum 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 Mum – as much through my presence as through my selfish, childish words – from starting your life afresh”… – “I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip with my squadron commander: Palmyra, Damascus, Lebanon, Homs, Palmyra – a distance of over 800 km in a six-hour flight”… – 2 August. “I’m going to spend ten days in an Arab village 100 km from here to get some rest. The lieutenant of the camel corps stationed there has invited me to stay at his home […] We’ll go on lovely walks on camels and horses. […] The Squadron is leaving Palmyra for two months. I’m staying behind with my ‘taxi’ as radio station chief”… – 16 August. “The 54th Squadron is leaving Palmyra, where it is being replaced by a detachment from the 57th. There are only four of us pilots left”… Rayack, 12 September. He is “at the Aviation Park in Lebanon, having come to collect a new aircraft. […] We celebrated Aviation Day on 11 September, the anniversary of Guynemer’s death. Pennants were presented to the squadrons. […] Aviation is starting to become interesting in France. I’m getting really keen on gliding. The Germans are achieving some very fine results”… Damascus, 14 October. “I’ve just broken a record: four medical evacuations from Palmyra to Damascus in five days – nearly two thousand kilometres with seven patients”… Palmyra. – 5 November. ‘Peace has been signed with Turkey; those poor Turks were no threat, and here we were no longer fighting the regular army. What remains are the Bedouin pirates who control a large part of Syria. It is they who must be pacified, and that is hard, almost impossible ”… – 8 November. He “enquired about civil aviation from a pilot sergeant (9 Germans) who had just come off the Técoère (the Toulouse–Casablanca route via Spain). It is still easy to get on board”… – 4 December. He arrives at the end of his mission in the middle of the desert: “Here we are surrounded by 100 km of sand with no vegetation whatsoever, inhabited only by nomadic tribes and Bedouin rebels. […] No roads; just one or two tracks for camels; our supplies are brought in by aeroplane. We are guarded by just 30 Senegalese and a company of camel cavalry”… – 24 December. He came to Damascus to evacuate two sick men. Our pay has been cut yet again… – A turbulent return journey from Homs to Palmyra in a van… Palmyra. – 12 January [1923]. “Our detachment has been disbanded, as air operations in the Palmyra region have come to an end. […] I am leaving Palmyra with regret and shall bid a heartfelt farewell to this little town to which I had become so attached and to which I owe so many days of joy and tranquillity.” He thinks about his return to France… – 22 January. He is going to try to bring his dog Mouth back to France… – Homs, 10 February: “I have just been awarded the Croix de Guerre with a first commendation in the divisional honour roll”… – 15 February: “I feel more confident about the future, probably because my resolve grows stronger with each passing day. I expect everything of myself”… Source: - Jean Mermoz (1901–1936); - Gabrielle Gillet-Mermoz (1880–1955); - Then passed down through the family
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About the sale Historical Memories
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Auction time 11/03/2026 at 11:00 AM
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