Letter No 56

Aust No 34171

LAC Cooney, JF

No 3 Squadron

R.A.A.F.

MIDDLE EAST

21st Jan '43

 

Dear Mum,

 

                  Today is about the best day I have known since I arrived in the desert. To start the day off we managed to get enough water to have a bath, the first for several weeks. Then this afternoon we received four & a half tons, repeat tons, of parcels as well as a few dollars. I received one parcel & a pudding from you & a cake from Aunty Emily. There’s still no sign of your cake or the one from Aunty Lizzie but I suppose they will turn up shortly. I received three letters, they were number ? (dated 2^nd Dec), number 15 from Betty & one from Mr Hansen.

As soon as the biscuits arrive I will send you a cable containing No. 63. Parcels always take a lot longer to reach us because they take up quite a lot of room & all the transport is going flat-out bringing up rations & stores.

                  One thing I am now thankful for is the fact that we are away from the dust storms. We are now in country where there is plenty of vegetation & the aerodrome is like any green field at home. Another thing that makes this place better is the weather. For the last couple of months we have been getting around with all the clothes we could find but yesterday I was stripped down to shorts & sandshoes for the first time in months. The winter wasn’t nearly as bad as we were led to believe but it was quite cold enough when we spent most of it in the open.

                  I don’t know how my overcoat & best blues are getting on now because we only had our kit-bags for a day & then had to send them back to the store at Cairo. I think they shuld be alright because I managed to dry the out fairly well.

                  Keep me posted from time to time with what the lady who reads the cards can tell you about me.

What she said about me coming home is quite likely but as for the three stripes I think they’re out of the question.

                  That’s all for now. Give my love to Dad & Betty

                                                                        Lovingly Yours

                                                                                          Frank

 

                                                                            Letter  No. 55                                             

Aust. No. 34171         

LAC Cooney, JF

No3 Squadron

R.A.A.F

MIDDLE EAST

20th Jan '43

Dear Boop,

 

                  Have just finished writing to Mum & this letter is in answer to your letters numbers 10, 11 & 13. I answered No 12 some time ago. I definitely don’t mind you having that bracelet that I sent to Betty N. &, as I said before, it’s much better for you to have it than to have it returned to the lost property office where anyone may get hold of it. I have intended writing to Mrs Carter & thanking her for letting you know the parcel was there for some time but somehow or other I haven’t had a chance.

                  Re suggestions for parcels I think you have a good idea what to send, however I just asked the boys what they thought would be most acceptable & the suggestions I got were:- chocolate (if possible), dried fruit, nuts, Horlicks tablets, asparagus, any sandwich spreads – except cheese - , lollies of any description. Now & again you can include a toothbrush & a tube of paste. Don’t forget that cakes are still the most acceptable parcel of all.

                  It’s a long while since I have had any word from Aunty Lizzie & the cake she mentioned in one of her letters has not shown up yet but I still have hopes of it arriving shortly.

                  See that you keep Mum away from the hospital if these blood transfusions are going to play up with her at all.

                  As soon as the cake tins arrive I will send them back to you again. I don’t know what I will be able to put in them but I will fill one of them with cigarettes for Dad & if we can get any leave in Tripoli I will see if there is anything in there that I can send home. I’m afraid I won’t be able to get any calico in Alex because at present we are about 1800 miles away from the place. Most of the parcels come over done up in a piece of sugar bag or some such fabric. So if you can get hold of any of these bags it would be better to wrap them up in these.

                  I’m glad to hear that the cross & brooch arrived alright, all I’m worried about now is whether the coat & jewellery has arrived yet I have been expecting to receive a cable to say that the coat has arrived but so far I have been disappointed.

                  Well, Bet, I’m afraid that’s all I can make up for the present but I will write to Mum again shortly.

 

Much love to Dad & Mum & my regards to Leo

 

                                                                        Lots of Love

                                                                                          Frank

                                                                     Letter No 54

AUST. No 34171

LAC Cooney, JF

No. 3 Squadron

R.A.A.F.

MIDDLE EAST

20^th Jan ‘43

 

Dear Mum,

                  At long last we managed to stop long enough to let our base party catch up to us with our mail & got quite a few letters & the parcel containing the soap washers, etc. The letters I received were numbers 18, 19, 20 & 23 from you, two from Peggy, one from Mrs Nicholson one from Miss Wilmot & one from Vivi & Maureen. I also received some Readers Digests etc from Mrs Michaels & another package from Miss Wilmot & numerous papers & magazines from you & Betty.

                  Please don’t worry so much about me & Betty N because, as a matter of fact, I have forgotten all about her & my contention is that there is better fish in the sea than ever came out of it & there should be plenty of girls about my age still left at home.

                  Re the allotment, I still have enough to exist on because the only things we can spend our money on is cigarettes & a few sundry items at the canteen & so the money is mounting up in the pay-book & the pennies have been falling the right way for me, as a matter of fact, after tea last night I increased my wealth by about £5.1/-. My remuster should be through shortly & that will bring my daily pay to about 7/3 a day.

                  The squadron seems to be getting quite a bit of publicity at home now because every paper that we receive seems to mention the squadron.

                  We now hold three important desert records, they are firstly – a record number of enemy kites shot down, secondly, record serviceability of aircraft & we have been in the desert longer than any other squadron. So it’s about time we were taken up to Syria for a spell.

                  I have been expecting to hear from George Buxton for some time but as yet no letter has arrived I’m hoping I will hear from him in the next mail.

                  I think I answered Betty’s first letter on the 28^th July. Anyway I received the copies of George Brissett’s letters. Can’t understand what could have happened to him or why he hasn’t dropped you a line before this.

                  Betty & Dad are quite right when they tell you that you are to stop giving blood donations if it is going to affect your health. There’s plenty more people that can give blood & feel less ill effects than you do.

                  That photo of our 1000^th bomb was taken when we were down in Alexandria & all the lads in the photo are armourers in our flight.

                  I wondered how long Mills would be able to stand up to the A.I.F. up north but I didn’t think he would be able to get his discharge. I thought they would put him in some job at a base.

                  That’s about all for now but will write again shortly. Hope we receive some SO (?) parcels shortly ‘cause they are a long time overdue.

                  Much love to all at home

                                                                                          Lovingly Yours

                                                                                                                              Frank

 

PS excuse writing I lost the nib out of my fountain pen