These letters are mostly from my father John Francis Cooney to his mother Elsie, there are a few in the collection to his sister Betty.
Letter No. 9
To Betty Cooney Aust No34171
LAC Cooney JF
N03 Squadron RAAF
Middle East
11.9.1942
Dear Boop,
You may have been wondering why I haven’t written for the last 2 weeks but apart from being rather busy I have had absolutely nothing to write about so I have just had to wait until I heard from home. Anyhow my patience was rewarded because when I came back from leave yesterday afternoon I found two letters waiting for me, they were number 2 from you & number 3 from Mum - letter no. 2 from Mum must still be at the Base Post Office & will probably arrive in a few weeks. Such are the workings of the RAF.
The way you speak about the necklace you would think that it cost a small fortune - actually it cost the large some of 4/- & if I hadn’t lost all my money at cards & two-up I would have got you some things that would have made your eyes pop out.
So far I have received no word as to whether the model of the Taj Mahal has arrived yet so a few days ago I sent a cable & asked them to let me know because if it doesn’t arrive I will have to write to the shop in Bombay & they will send you another one ……. I hope.
In my last letter I told Mum that I had lost the mother-of-pearl cross that I had bought in Bethlehem to send to Aunty Moll, well about a week ago I received a parcel from the Town Mayors office in Tel-Aviv & un it was the cross & an Raaf badge that I had forgotten all about. I don’t know Aunty Molly’s address so I will send it to you & you can give it to her because I wouldn’t like my other Macpherson St relations to get hold of it. I will also send the RAAF badge for you in the same parcel.
Next time I go into Alex I will get a few presents for Christmas but I won’t send them home because there is a good chance they will get lost on the way. Anyway I will get a few cheap things & send them just to say that I sent something.
We spent this morning in a vain attempt to put up a tent. The wind & sand was blowing at about 40mph & we would get it about half way up & down it would come again so we had to let it go for another time.
In the letter I received from Mum she said she had read about the heat we had been having over here & supposed that U had lost a bit of weight but as long as I get fed on steak & onions etc, about 6 times a week I will put it on rather than take it off.
In your last letter you said that champagne was potent stuff well I’m telling you that until you have tried the wine over here you don’t know the meaning of the word. The worst of it is we are only a short distance from the vineyards & the distillery & when we feel like some grapes we go over on our motor bikes & get some (if the Wogs don’t see us) but the wine costs the large sum of 3 1/2 pilasters (10.5 pennies) a bottle. It is really a very good wine but much stronger than is obtainable at home. We generally manage to get two or three fights per bottle. Also a very large head next morning.
This morning I went to the pay office & made an allotment to Mum of 6/- a day. I made it on as fom the 16th of next month but from what I am told it will be about 10 weeks from now before you will hear anything about it so tell Mum not to worry if it takes some time to come through.
When I was in Alex. last Tuesday I had a haircut & believe it or not I was able to get a part in it. This is the first time I have been able to do it since I shaved it off a couple of days after I arrived in the desert.
While I was on leave I went to the skating at the Alex. Sporting Club & then to the pictures & saw Jimmy Stewart & Hedy Lamarr in “Come Live with Me” - a rather good show.
We have also had open air pictures at the camp a couple of times lately. It’s rather rude having a blaze of light showing when everything else is pitch back & not being very far from the front lines. Still we were able to see the show in peace.
I am having a few days rest now because I got a bit of a cut on my leg & it poisoned & the Doc. said I had to keep off my leg as much as possible.
No more now so give my regards to Leo & love to Mum & Dad.
Lots of Love,
Frank x
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