Letter No 38
Middle East
7th Dec ’42
Dear Mum,
There is very little to report for the last two days but I’m sending you this short note to let you know that I sent your parcel yesterday afternoon. Please send a telegram as soon as it arrives.
Went into town again yesterday. There were no trucks going from our ‘drome so we had to walk several miles along the road before we could thumb a ride. On the way home we were dropped about 7 miles from camp & had to walk home & as rain had been falling during the afternoon the road was like a mud flat. It was pitch dark & by the time we arrived at camp our shoes were wet through & our trousers were covered with mud. - our hike” took us over three hours & we were all done-in when we finally got to bed.
While I was in town I bought pipes for myself & the rest of the boys in the tent. These are as much a necessity as they are a pleasure because the other day Ivan was lighting a cigarette & his beard caught on fire. With a pipe we can keep the fire away from the bush. I’d hate to lose this beard after all the cultivation I have put into it.
We were having a look around the town when Stork spotted a piano accordion & he thought he would like to own it, so he bought it for 10 quid. Ashe has never played one of them before the proverb that “ music hath charm” is definitely out when Stork starts to make noises come out of it. Still he knows a bit about music & with a little tuition from one of our corporals he should be able to knock out a few tunes for our Christmas party.
That’s all I can write for the present but will write again shortly.
Give my love to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo
Lovingly Yours
Frank
Letter No 39
Middle East
10th Dec ’42
Dear Mum,
Have been on the move ever since I wrote to you last & this is just a short note to let you know that I’m still alright. For the first couple of day travelling we passed through country that reminded us all very much of home. It was very hilly & the valleys were all green & ploughed, along the road was lines of Australian gum trees & the surrounding hills we all green after the recent rains. I was just about ready to take back all I had said about this part of the world when we came to a part of the desert that is as bad or worse than what we had just left.
Have been playing cards quite a bit lately & tI have swelled the Cooney fortune by a couple of quid. No doubt that the position will be reversed if we continue to play.
When we arrived here I received a cable, that had been sent by Aunty Molly on the 17th of last month, to say that the parcel had arrived etc. etc. I’m glad to know that it is alright. I also received a letter from Col. Elliott’s brother. You will remember I mentioned him in one of my letters some time ago as knowing the Spurways. The letter must have been chasing me for some time because it was written on the 17th of last month & he was stationed somewhere near Alex.
At one of our camps on the way up we were close to a Senoussi village & we watched the women making “bread”. First of all they lit a fire in a clay oven shaped like a dome & with a hole in the top. When the fire had been reduced to coals they made the “bread” in flat slabs & stuck them on the side of the oven & put a lid on it. In about five minutes it was cooked. - very effective.
That’s all for now will write again in a couple of days.
Give my love to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo.
Lovingly Yours
Frank
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