Thursday 10 December 2020

Letter No 63 Winston Churchill visits

 Letter No 62 ……. MISSING

 

Letter No 63

AUST. No 34171 
LAC Cooney, JF 
No. 3 Squadron 
R.A.A.F. 
MIDDLE EAST

 4th Feb. ‘43

 

Dear Mum,

                  Had another leave in Tripoli yesterday but that is not why I am writing to you to-day. The reason is that I have something important to tell you & that is that this afternoon I had the good fortune to attend a parade before Winston Churchill. He arrived yesterday afternoon & I was rather disappointed that I did not see him but today at two o’clock we were told that there would be a parade at three to welcome him. Naturally there was a frantic dive for razors & clean clothes & we were over at a parade ground well before time so as to get a good view of him. Mr. Churchill had been in Tripoli all day receiving the Eighth Army & I was surprised to see him looking so well after what must have been a rather hard day for him. He was dressed in an R.A.F. uniform & I must say that he looked much better than his old black suit & bowler. I took a few photos of him & they should turn out alright because it was an excellent day. If they are any good I will send you a copy when I get them developed. I now have nine rolls of film in my kit that are ready to be developed.

 

So much for the sensational news & now for Tripoli. I managed to get a few more things for you yesterday but they are nothing like I was going, and am going to get for you if & when I canget back to Alexandria or Palestine. What I managed to get was a couple more pairs of stockings two table centres & a three piece dressing table set. As I said before I am not much of a judge of stockings & to make these Italians understand what I wanted was beyond me but I hope you can use them. The dressing table set was the only one left & as it took my eye I bought it.

There is a couple of inches of the border torn but I think you should be able to repair it. When I make up the parcel I will include Betty’s evening bag because I couldn’t fit it in the parcel that I packed up the other day.

                 

Nearly walked my legs off in town yesterday I just walking around & taking photos. We had a look at the old Roman ruins & then walked around the waterfront to have a look at General Balbo’s monument & tomb. This place had only been built recently & the mosaic work in it was marvellous.

 

Well, Mum that’s all for now but will write again shortly.

Give my love to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo. I may include something for Dad in the parcel if there is any room.

                                   

                                    Lovingly Yours

                                                      Frank

 

P.S. Forgot to tell you about the parade & inspection by General Alexander that I saw yesterday but I will write again tomorrow or the next day & tell you about it

                                                                        F.

 

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