Letter No. 18
Middle East
21st Oct 1942
Dear Mum,
Just a few more lines to let you know how things are going over here. I am still feeling as well as ever & hoping that everyone else at home is the same.
As I expected the storm blew itself out on Saturday night & since then the days have been very warm but now the nights are tarting to get a bit cooler & we have to have a blanket over us.
Yesterday morning all the boys in the tent woke with very big heads because the night before Ivan Hansen, one of my tent mates had his 23rd birthday party & he put on the four dozen bottles of beer according to the squadron regulations. We sat around talking & drinking until about twelve o’clock & then went to bed. Hence the very big heads yesterday.
When we arrived in the desert we had to pack all our surplus gear into two of our kit bags & they were sent to the kit store. Yesterday morning we got them back again so as to pack away our summer gear & get out our woollen clothing for the winter.
One of my bags had been dropped in a pool of water & all the clothing in it was soaking. Worst of all was my blue & drab uniforms & my overcoat. I had to leave them in the sun all day & let them dry out properly. The bags went back to Cairo this morning.
It starts to get rather cold from about 4 o’clock of an afternoon now & we have to wear a pullover & at night we now have blankets over us.
We now have supper in the tent each night before we go to bed & yesterday we got a dixie of dripping & some roast spuds that were left over from tea & about 10 o’clock we had fried bread & hot roast spuds. A very good drop I can tell you. Fried bread is the favourite dish of everyone in the tent & we have it for morning & afternoon tea.
The wet weather brought around the mosquitoes & right now we have to sleep under mosquito nets that fix on the tent & cover all of the bed or else we get eaten alive.
Got some work to do now so I will close & get to it.
Give my love to Dad & Betty Lovingly Yours
Frank
Letter No. 19
Aust No.34171
LAC Cooney JF
No3 Squadron
RAAF
Middle Easr
25th Oct ’42
Dear Boop,
Just a few lines to let you know that Stork arrived back from Palestine & that he bought the things for me that I mentioned in my last letter to you. I packed up the evening jacket & posted it to you yesterday afternoon because if I leave it in my kit bag & take it up the desert with me it is liable to get spoilt. Please send me a cable as soon as it arrives. To me the jacket seems a bit small but it is only supposed to be a bolero so I expect it will fit you OK. I don’t know whether to call it a birthday, engagement or Christmas present so you can call it whatever you like because I have still got the pyjamas & the bracelet, necklace & a brooch for the other days.
I put the pyjamas & linens in my kit-bag that went to the kit store at Cairo but the bracelet etc I left in the safe at the pay station because a fivers worth of jewellery is not the thing to leave in a kit while I am away from the tent.
I expected to be going on leave a few days ago but all leave was cancelled in both Cairo & Alexandria. The reason you probably guess if you read the papers. I drew out some money to buy a present to send to Mum & Dad but for the next few months the chances of leave are very remote indeed.
Once we start to move up I won’t be able to write very often or give you any idea where I am but if you have a look at the war map each day you will be able to tell how far up the desert we are.
There’s still no sign of the parcels you mentioned & I am beginning to fear the worst about my “Christmas” cake. It looks like you will have to send two next time to make up for it.
I went to the pictures again last Friday night but I had seen the show before & I only went to fill in the evening. The show was “Mutiny in the Big House” with Carlton McLane - not much of a show.
Hope you will excuse the scribble but the pen is not working too good.
No more for now but will write as soon as possible. Give my love to Dad & Betty & regards to Leo
Tons of Love
Frank
Letter No. 20
Middle East
29th Oct ’42
Dear Mum,
I’ve got a few minutes to spare before tea so I am panning you these lines to let you know the events of the last few days.
Yesterday was a day that everyone will long remember because the Commanding Officer Squadron Leader Gibbs D.F.C. shot down another enemy aircraft bringing the squadron score to two hundred.
Today the camp has been alive with newsreel photographers & they took a movie film of the C.O. & the pilots so I suppose you will see it on the screen at home very shortly.
We also had a visit from the public relations officer & Sqd/Ldr Gibbs made a recording giving a brief history of the squadron etc & this will be broadcast over Australian radio stations.
Unfortunately we were unable to have the celebrations we were promised because now that things have started to move at the front we are kept rather busy & cannot be released for a few days. However after things slacken off a bit we may have he party.
The original idea for the party was that two hundred pounds was to be drawn from the canteen funds & it was to be held at the Alexandria Fleets Club. There was going to be enough beer for everyone to get merry & the only orders were that before one passed out he was to make arrangements with his mates to lift him back on the truck. If on the other hand, one was still on his feet at the finish he was to assist with the loading of the trucks. It was to be a typical three squadron party. but we don’t look like having it for some time, as I said before.
i don’t look like getting any more leave for quite a while so you had better do as I suggested & take some money from the allotment & buy the presents.
We have now got a tent in the camp occupied by Wogs & it is called the Dhobi. Here they do washing, ironing, boot repairs, tailoring & also cut hair. You can’t beat the dogs for system because when I was down there yesterday I happened to watch one of them doing the ironing & instead of dampening the clothes in the usual way he got a mouthful of water & blew it out in a fine spray over the clothes. Very nice & clean - I don’t think!
Still I suppose it’s not much use complaining because we get eight articles washed each week free. The squadron foots the bill.
Received another Comforts parcel a few days ago consisting of tobacco, cigarettes, papers, tooth paste, razor blades, soap & another pair of underpants made by the Christian Science Committee at Mosman. The last pair I used to wrap up the little parcel I sent home about a month or more ago containing the cross for Aunty Molly.
I think that the most useful thing we have in the tent is the primus. Now that it is a bit cool at night we have a bit of supper before retiring. Last night for instance we sat up until about 10.30 & then decided to make some supper so we looked in the yaffill box (tucker box) to see what we could find. To start with we made toast & then fried three eggs each after eating this we were still peckish so we heated up three 14oz tins of baked beans & made two slices of fried bread. I must admit that this sounds like a good bit for four of us but we are about the best eaters in the camp so it was only just enough.
The canteen has now got a supply of American tinned food & we often have a tin of cream of mushroom soup for supper. Sounds rather good for the desert doesn’t it?
One of the boys just came back from the canteen with a cable for me. It is the one that was sent by Betty on the 16th. The cable office must be busy because that’s thirteen days it took to get here. Usually it’s only a few days.
Would you ask Betty to get some of those Penguin books & send them over. One of the boys received about 6 of them in the last mail & since then they have been read by nearly everyone in the squadron.
That’s about all for now but I will write again in a few days if I’m not too busy.
Give my love to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo. Also wish everyone I know a Merry Christmas etc for me.
Lovingly Yours
Frank
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