Thursday 17 March 2022

Telegrams 3 and 4 June 1946 Arrived Fremantle

 Telegrams 3 and 4 June 1946

Searching through the suitcase of Dad's memorabilia, I found his record of apprenticeship as a refrigeration mechanic from Lovelocks P/L begun in July 1938 when he was 16 to Oct 1940, started again in March 1946, finished in May 1947. 

Inside the booklet of the apprenticeship were 2 fragments of telegrams from my mother, Tess Cooney.

                                                Arrived Fremantle   All my love Tess


                                        Sterling Castle Berthing Woolloomooloo AM June 20th
                                                Phone this office 19th  MO419




Telegrams 1 and 2

 This is the end of the letters, there are just a few telegrams to finish off the story. These from Dad to his mother




Air Letter , (3) 23.9.45 I don't know the date of the wedding yet

 

Air Letter , (3) 23.9.45


AUST. No 34171 
Cpl Cooney, JF., 
c/o AUSPOST KODAK HOUSE, 
KINGSWAY LONDON 
ENGLAND 

23rd SEPT. ‘45


            Dear Mum,

                        Sorry I have to write this in pencil but all my gear is packed up & I don’t know exactly where my pen is.

            The main reason I am writing to-night is to tell you that I am at present in transit camp near Hanover & waiting for a train to take me to Ostend where I will be getting a boat for England & from there to Aussie.

            I have to be at No 9 Holding Unit by the 27th. I don’t know when the boat is leaving but if it is before the end of next month I will be going AWL so that I miss the boat because I’m definitely going to get married before I leave & the Banns have to be read out for three weeks before the event so I won’t be getting on the boat before that.

            I don’t know what the date of the wedding is yet but I will write or send a cable as soon as I know definitely.

Don’t be surprised if the phone rings one morning, Mum & I answer because if possible I will ring from London & let you know what’s doing. If possible I will ring before lunch-time on a Wednesday or Thursday.

            I have a 23 hour train trip ahead of me to-morrow so I had better close & get some sleep.

                        Regards to Dad            Lovingly Yours

                                                                                    Frank

  

Air Letter , (2) 20.9.45 The most luxurious military establishment in the world

 Air Letter , (2) 20.9.45

AUST. No 34171 
Cpl Cooney, JF., 
c/o AUSPOST KODAK HOUSE, 
KINGSWAY LONDON ENGLAND 

20th Sept, ‘45


            Dear Mum,

                        I promised to write you a couple of days ago but have been too busy to settle down to writing at all.

            The camp we are in, I’m sure, is the most luxurious military establishment in the world. It is spread over several square miles of ground & laid out in a way that spells German system at every turn. To start off the living quarters are large two storey blocks & bedrooms contain 2 beds, 2 seven ft lockers, wash basin with hot & cold water, a table & the room is centrally heated. Adjoining each bedroom there is a private sitting room with lounge chairs, settee, card table, writing desk & a large open fire place & also a gas fire.

            In the centre of the living blocks there is a beautiful indoor tiled swimming pool 35 metres long & about 20 metres wide with diving boards, diving tower & all sorts of physical training equipment. The water in the pool is kept at body temperature the whole time. A door leads from the pool to the shower room in which there are 40 hot showers & the same number of foot baths. The pool opens at 7 o’clock in the morning & closes at 9.30 at night so we have a shower & a swim before breakfast & one before we go to bed.

            The hangars are large enough to hold about 30 Spitfires comfortably & are kept at s temperature of 80’F during summer & winter & the electrical equipment in them makes work a pleasure. We are living & working under conditions that are better than anyone else in the RAAF has ever had or likely to have.

            Calle is the nearest village of any size but I have only been in the once. In Calle cigarettes sell for £2.10.0 STG a packet of 20. It sounds incredible but it’s true. I don’t smoke as much as I used to.

I may be back in England & married sooner than I expected because to-day I had to go & see the Eng. Off re my repatriation. It was just to see whether I wanted to go home or not but at least it’s a start.

Unfortunately we are leaving this ‘drome next Tuesday & going to one about 10 miles from Hanover. I believe the quarters are very good but I don’t expect them to be as good as this place.

            From what I can see nobody wants us over here & I wouldn’t be surprised if we travelled from one place to another & eventually get pushed off to England.

            By the way the parcel containing the sugar, tea etc arrived here this morning. I may send the sugar & tea to Terry’s mother.

            Well, Mum, that’s all for now so I will close & get to bed.

                        Much love to Dad                     Lovingly Yours

                                                                                    Frank

 

Air Letter , (1) 17.9.45 Posted to Germany

 Air Letter , (1) 17.9.45

AUST. No 34171 
Cpl Cooney, JF., 
c/o AUSPOST KODAK HOUSE, 
KINGSWAY LONDON ENGLAND 

17th Sept ‘45


            Dear Mum,

                        I suppose I will be getting more letters from you shortly asking why I haven’t written for so long but this time I have a good excuse because a couple of days after I wrote to you last I went on eleven days leave but after eight days I received a re-call & when I arrived back I had 8 hours to pack up & we left England.

            I spent the first few days of my leave in Edinburgh & the rest of the time in Brighton & on the way back to camp I called out to see Cecil.

On my way through Edinburgh to Brighton I called into Kodak House & got all the papers for the wedding & when I got to Brighton Terry & I went around &B made arrangements for having the Banns read. I will have to give the vicar about a month’s notice as to when I will be able to get some leave here but I don’t think it will be for about three or four months yet. At least that’s the way it looks at present but of course, anything may turn up re my repatriation. To-day all fellows who came overseas before December ’41 were called up for repat. So my turn may not be far off.

            Terry & I are going to be married at St Marks at Brighton. I haven’t been inside the church yet but RAAF padre at H.P.D.R.C. said it’s a very nice place.

            Well, now for our trip. We left England by an invasion tank landing craft at 8 o’clock on the evening of the 11th& travelled all night & up until midday on the 12thwhen we landed at Ostend in Belgium from where we went to the transit camp in the big holiday resort of Blankenberghe where we spent the night. Next morning at 7.30 we caught the train & travelled all day through Belgium & Holland & got out at Hanover in Germany at midday on the 14th. From Hanover we went by road to our camp at Fassberg which is about half-way between Hanover & Hamburg.

            I haven’t seen much of the surrounding district yet because ever since we arrived here we have been moving from one billet to another & haven’t been off the station. However we are going to Calle (the nearest good village) to-morrow so I’ll write & tell you about it.

            I haven’t room to start telling you about the camp or what I saw from the train window so I’ll write again soon when I come back from Calle to-morrow.

            Much love to Dad                     Lovingly Yours

                                                                                    Frank

Air Letter 16 I've a lot of questions to answer about the loved one

 Air Letter , not numbered

AUST. No 34171 
Cpl Cooney, JF., 
c/o AUSPOST KODAK HOUSE, 
KINGSWAY LONDON ENGLAND 

22ndAugust ‘45


            Dear Mum,

                        When you read this letter you will think Dad is quite justified in thinking I have precious little common sense because in spite of all I said in my last letter I think Terry & I will still be getting married but it won’t be until I get my first leave from Europe & that won’t be for several months yet. We expect to be leaving here within the next few weeks & I’ve no show of getting off the squadron.

            I’ve a lot of questions to answer about the loved one so I had best hop into them from the beginning.

            Her name is Teresa Francis Bannon, stands about 5’5”, has dark hair as you will see from the photo which should have arrived before this because I sent it air mail in an ordinary envelope.

            Terry’s mother’s address is 45 Worcester Rd Bootle, Liverpool ENGLAND. Her father died in 1941 as a result of the blitz & in the last letter I had from Terry she said that her sister (aged 11) died on Sunday last. Monica, her sister who died, was in their home when it received a direct hit & the shock upset her heart. She has been in hospital almost continuously ever since ’42. We went to visit her when I was on leave & she was very sick then & I’ve been expecting Terry to write & tell me she had died for the past few weeks. Terry also has 3 or 4 other sisters – either one or two married, one in the land army & one at school & two brothers – one at school & one about 18 in the Merchant Navy. He may happen to get out to Aussie.

            Terry doesn’t know anyone in Aussie & don’t think any of her friends have married Australians. As for living in a better home than we have, I don’t think she has because they have never had much money. I can’t answer definitely because they have been bombed out two or three times & the house they live in now is one of those “take it or leave it type” & of course, they had to take it. I’m afraid house linen is scarcer in England than at home & also more heavily couponed. 

            Forgot to tell you that the money arrived OK. I opened an account at the C/wealth Bank with it. Also put more in it since.

            Don’t think Terry can cook very well yet but she has been going to cooking & sewing lessons for the last couple of months. She may seem a bit shy at first but really has plenty of life in her & is always talking & laughing about something. She also has a bit of a Lancashire accent. She tries to tell me she hasn’t but I often notice it.

            By the way, Terry is R.C. but in name only. Goes to church less often than Dad. We will be getting married in a C. of E. church. – Let me know if there’s anything else.

            Love to Dad

                        Lovingly Yours             Frank

 

Monday 7 March 2022

Air Letter No. 15 I’m not yet ready to get married

Air Letter No. 15

AUST. No 34171 
Cpl Cooney, JF.,  
AUSPOST KODAK HOUSE, 
KINGSWAY LONDON ENGLAND 

15thAugust ‘45


                  Dear Mum,

                                    I received three airletters from you on Friday but I didn’t answer them straight away because I was just leaving camp to spend the weekend at Brighton.

You asked me a lot of questions about Terry in your three letters but I have just finished writing a letter to Terry & called everything off. ‘ve been trying to do so for the last week or so but have only just got around to it. As a matter of fact I went down to do it at the weekend but somehow or other I just couldn’t.

                  I’ve thought about this marriage quite a bit & come to the conclusion that I’m not yet ready to get married & settle down.

                  As you can see from my new address I am no longer with 467 squadron so I will not be going to the Pacific but unless I can get out of this one I will be in Denmark by the first week of next month.

                  Now that the war is all over I’m hoping that 467 & 470 sqdns will break up & the fellows in those squadrons who have just come over from Aussie will come to this one & all of us with a fair amount of overseas service will be able to get home. Of course I don’t know yet what will happen but it looks as if it may finish this way.

                  In future just address my mail to Auspost etc. without any squadron No. on it because I may be shifting around  bit from now on. Not that I haven’t been doing so ever since I came to England but I hope to be in the PDRC at Brighton & then on the boat for home.

            Glad to hear George Brissett will be discharged shortly. Had a letter from Mr. Ebeling at Lovelocks & he told me he had applied to Air Board Melb. For my release so as soon as I can get away from here I should be a civilian again.

            I went out to British Thermostat Co. on my last leave & had a talk with the managing director & could have started work that day if I had wanted to but it was too far out of London so I went to Kelvinator Ltd & got a job there in the servicing dept. so if I can get out of this squadron I will work there until the boat leaves & get a bit of experience.

            No more for now but will write again soon.

 

Love to Dad

                                                            Lovingly Yours             Frank