Love letters sent by an RAF officer to his wife from the front lines of World War II have been returned to his family.

Gillian Bishop, 67, from Tadworth, was surprised to read her father’s letters had been found by an electrician in their old family home, in last week’s edition of the Epsom Guardian.

Thanks to our newspaper, the letters have now been returned to Miss Bishop, a retired legal PA, and her sister Rosemary, who lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Miss Bishop, whose childhood nickname was Gillybags, said: “I was flabbergasted. A friend brought the paper around and I read it all and thought ‘that’s daddy and mommy’. We thought we got everything from the family home after mum died, but these were at a cupboard downstairs and were left there.”

The letters, all addressed to Mrs FG Bishop at 59 Tattenham Grove and dated 1944 or 1945, were a grave reminder of the harsh conditions endured by the soldiers.

They were all marked with an official RAF stamp with many labelled “on active service” and “opened by censor” which were sent from West Africa where Allied forces had been in battle with the French Vichy Government in the early 1940s.

Miss Bishop said: “They had been boyfriend and girlfriend since they were at school. Then the war came along and daddy went to West Africa. He was overseas with the RAF and wrote the letters to my mother, who was here waiting for him. He died when he was 54, nine years after returning home and my mum lived for a long time without him, until she was 94.”

The former teacher and air hostess, who retired in the UK after working as a PA in Dubai said she was very close with her father and they were a very happy family.

She said: “I absolutely adored my father, I was daddy’s little girl. Then my sister came along and she was mommy’s favourite.

“She’s absolutely amazed that the letters were found and she wants to see them when she comes over next year.”

• Got a great story for us? Let us know by email here, phone the newsdesk on 020 8330 9555 or leave a comment below.