Letter No. 91
19th May ‘43
Dear Mum,
Well, Mum, I
finished the job on my kite yesterday afternoon & covered it up & I’m
hoping that it stays as it is for the next few weeks ‘cause I feel as though I have
earned a bit of a spell. Whether I will get it or not is something else again.
In my last letter I got as far
as telling you about our trip to the battlefield, that was on the …th.
The next
day Ivan & Tubby, two of the boys out of my tent, & myself, had nothing
to do so we got dressed & buzzed off to Tunis again. Shortly after we
arrived there we met up with a few New Zealanders & they gave us a German
jeep because they were going back to the Delta the following day & they
could not take the car with them. We drove around the town for a while &
then decided to have a good look at the battlefield at Tarcruma.
We had
only gone about 60 miles when the buggy broke down & as we knew absolutely
nothing about the engine we decided to leave it on the side of the road &
try to hitch-hike back to camp. We were between Tarcruma & Pont du Fars
when we met the C.O. out on the scrounge & he said it would be alright with
him if we went back to Tunis & came back to camp on the canteen truck in a couple
of days. That was quite OK with us so Ivan & I went on to Du Fars &
Tubby went back to camp with the boss.
I’ve hitch-hiked on a lot of
different trucks since I’ve been over here but what we did at Du Fars topped
the lot. We were sitting at the cross-roads trying to thumb a ride for about an
hour & didn’t even look like getting a ride when we saw a train coming
along the line so we decided to try & thumb a ride on it so Ivan & I walked
over to the line & started thumbing. The driver grabbed the brakes &
pulled up right in the middle of the crossing. We hopped aboard & off we
went to Tunis, arriving there about half past four.
We were walking down the
street & wondering where we would sleep that night when an old lady came
along & started talking to us. She told us that she was born in Sydney
& lived in Rose Bay for over forty years. She insisted that we stay with
her for the next couple of days as we were the first Australians she had seen
since leaving Aussie.
She put on a marvelous supper
for us & then we went into the lounge room & started talking about home
etc.
The next day we went with her
for a walk around the town & then for a drive to see the ruins at Carthage.
This lady must have been all of 75 years old but she skimmed her car through
the traffic like a Sydney taxi driver.
That night we had a good party
& we left the next day about one o’clock & came back to camp.
Nearly all
the population of Tunis is French & if all French women are as beautiful as
those in Tunis I’m all for getting into France & having a look around.
It’s a
pity the shops weren’t open because I could have got you some dress material. There
were plenty of shops with windows full of material but, unfortunately they were
all shut. They may be open in a week or two, so I might be able to get a bit
more leave & see what I can do.
Well, Mum, that’s all for now
but I will write again as soon as a bit more news crops up.
Much love
to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo
Lovingly
Yours
Frank
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