Letter No 61
1st Feb. ‘43
Dear Boop,
If I’m not careful I will be getting writers cramp
because this is the eighth letter I have written home in the last twelve days.
This one is in answer to your letter number 14 which arrived here on the 29th
Jan. I still have twelve letters to write to different people. I received a
cable from you last night to say that the parcel had arrived. I suppose the
parcel was the one containing the jewellery, if so, that means the evening
jacket must have gone astray or if it arrived the cable you would naturally
send has gone west. I will wait until I hear from you before I send anything
valuable again because I don’t feel like parting with a fiver for another coat
if it is not going to get home.
All your letters from 1 to 15 have arrived so there
is no need to send any copies. The only letters I have not received are numbers
2 & 4 from Mum & they were sent to the Base Acc. Off (sic) & so
they may turn up anytime within the next few months.
I hope you keep your promise & don’t get
married before the end of ’43 because then I think I can promise to be home by
then. If I ever send a cable to say that I’m coming home be sure & get Dad
to lay in a stock of beer ‘cause I’m sure going to need a keg or two to wash
the desert out of my throat.
I gave Rex
your regards & thanks & he said that congratulations are not in
order for him & that Norm Dunn has got the bull by the tail – He is not
a “Daddy” – yet.
A terrible thing happened here the other day. Our
friends from the ack-ack post arrived here several hours before us &
immediately went out to get some water. They asked an ‘Itie’ civilian where
they could get some water & he said he would take them to it but instead of
taking them to the water he took them to the distillery & they found a vat
full of wine. The vat was ten ft square & fifteen ft deep so they got a few
hundred gallons of it & issued so much to each gun post. The issue was ½ to
2 gallons per man & naturally enough there was numerous drunken gunners.
They brought a five gallon tin of it over to our tent & we had a party one
night. It was very sour & delayed action – you don’t know you’ve had enough
until after you have had a damn sight too much. The after effects are cruel
& so we are keeping well away from it.
I went into Tripoli last Thursday & like
everyone else I was very disappointed in the place. When the British took
charge of the place all the shop-keepers closed up & took to the hills. They
are beginning to drift back again now so in a few weeks I may be able to buy
something & send it home. Otheriwse I will have to wait until we go out
before I can buy anything.
That brings me to another point. Unless we go out
of the desert within the next two or three weeks it will be impossible to get
anything to send Mum & Dad for their Wedding Anniversary. As things stand
at present I can’t see us getting out for at least the next few months, so I
will just have to send them something if & when I get a chance.
We had another picture night last night but instead
of sitting out in the open we sat in chairs in a theatre that had been used by
the Jerries about a week ago. The show we saw was “Hellzapoppin” & although
it was positively ridiculous it was a jolly good show.
Well, Bet, that’s all for now but I will write to
Mum again as soon as a bit of news pops up.
Give my love to Mum &
Dad & my regards to Leo
Tons
of love
Frank
P.S. Just cut Mum’s pudding
& found it had more bugs & worms in it than the cake did. Must have
been the fruit. Put a bit more mixture in next cake.
F.
