Letter No. 98
AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., ABROAD
7th AUG ’43
Dear Boop,
I was just
about to answer your airgraph letter No 35 when No36 turned up & so I will
answer them both together. From the time you posted they have only taken three
weeks to reach here & so they are much better than ordinary mail which has
been taking anything up to ten weeks to come across.
If you do happen to get married soon don’t forget to let me know
as soon as you can. I sent your pyjamas etc. when I was in Cairo about a month
ago so I hope they get there before you get hitched.
I received
a cable from Mum to say that she had received the £20 but as things stand at
present I think I will be sending home for it again because my leave ran away
with quite bit. But I let it go for a
while yet until I see how fast I can
save again.
I also
received a cable from Lovelock’s to say that they had not heard from me for some
time so I’ll have to drop them a line, probably one of these.
That’s all
for now. Much love to Mum Dad & Leo
Lots
of Love
Frank
Letter No. 99
AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., ABROAD
7th AUG ’43
Dear Mum,
I have just finished writing
one of these airgraphs to Betty & this is in answer to your letter No 78
sent by airgraph on the 8th July. It arrived here on the fourth. As
a rule they only take 21 days as did one I received from Norm Dunn, but I
suppose that he just caught the plane with it.
I have been into hospital
again & this time I got my appendix out so I won’t have any more trouble
with them. I have already posted you a letter telling you all about my
leave. Unfortunately I didn’t get to S.
Africa.
I haven’t had any word from Auntie Lizzie for about four months or
more so if she has written to me I can’t understand what has happened to the
letters. I haven’t written to her for about 2 ½ months but I will send one of
these to-day if I have the time.
I have just finished consuming the greater part of a very large
watermelon. Melons grow in abundance around here as do grapes but the grapes
are very small & not much good at all.
Well, Mum,
space is limited so I will finish. Much love to Dad & Betty & Leo - Lovingly Yours
Frank
Letter No. 100
AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., MIDDLE EAST
6th Sept. 1943
Dear Mum,
It’s
nearly a month since I wrote to you last but I have not been able to write
until now. A day or two after I wrote to you last I was taken to hospital again
for a couple of weeks. The trouble this time was that I broke out in a rash all
over my body, legs & arms. The rash then turned into blisters which broke
& left marks all over me.
The cause
of this complaint is that I had good food for a month while on leave &
after so much bully etc it was too much for the constitution.
I haven’t
received any mail for the last month although there is some around somewhere.
There are only about 20 of us left on this side now & so all our mail goes
over & after it’s sorted ours is sent back. We should get some in a day or
so. No more room now so I will write to Bet. Much love to Dad & Bet.
Lovingly Yours, Frank
Letter No. 101
AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., MIDDLE EAST
6th Sept. 1943
Dear Bet,
Have just
finished writing to Mum but these things are so darn small that I didn’t have enough room to write
as much as I wanted to.
I have no idea whether you left the clan of happily unmarrieds as
yet because mail is very scarce. At the present time the twenty of us in this
camp are having a very good time & we are all quite content to spend the
rest of our overseas service right here. We cook all our own meals & so we
live well.
Breakfast each morning consists of steak & eggs or bacon &
eggs (three) & of course we have oatmeal to start with. Nobody worries
about lunch very much because tea is always the best meal of the day. I am the
cook for the mob & last night I put on soup followed by pork sausages in
breadcrumbs, marrow, fried onions & baked potatoes. For sweets we had beaut
pancakes & golden syrup. All in all it was a good meal. I made two plum
puddings the previous night but something went wrong with the cooking. Much
love to Mum, Dad & Leo. Lots of Love – Frank
Letter No. 102
AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., MIDDLE EAST
20th Sept. 1943
Dear Mum,
I have been
receiving one or two letters nearly every day this week but I have had both
hands bandaged up & so I have not been able to answer them. From you I
received letters 69, 70, 80, 81 & 82. Letters 71 to 79 are still missing
with the exception of airgraph 78. Everybody else’s people seem to think we
will be home soon, but you are closer to
the mark & I don’t think there is a chance of leaving here before it is all
over but of course that won’t be very long now.
Tell Betty that next time she speaks to that big, fat, useless
Phil Gilbey to tell him he might try to tell the truth for once because I would
be very surprised if he even saw me over here & for over twelve months
before he left he wasn’t even with the squadron & so he couldn’t have seen
me when I came out of hospital & so the first hand news was just so much
bunk. Everyone here hopes he will be posted as far from Sydney as it is possible
to send him & not in the city as he hopes.
I suppose the reason why Aunty Lizzie hasn’t heard from me for so
long is because I wrote to her a couple of weeks ago for the first time in six
months or more.
Just
received a cable from Betty to say that she was getting spliced early this
month so I suppose she has left home by now.
.
Letter No. 103
AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., Cent. Medit. Forces
8th October 1943
Dear Mum,
I received
your letters No 71 to 80 about a week or so ago. They arrived just as we were
packing up prior to going on board the barge & as we have been on the move
ever since I have not been able to answer them. We are now somewhere in Italy
but I can’t tell you exactly where just
now. It has been raining the last few days but that is nothing to what we will
get when winter sets in properly.
You were asking if chocolates carry alright, well they melt &
go very dry but they taste OK so you can keep on sending them because I like
chocolate & it is hard to get any over here. I received Parcel No21 with
this mail.
I suppose Mrs Michaels is very pleased that her Fred doesn’t have
to go into the army after all. I suppose her Jack is still ‘roughing it’ at
some station near home.
Haven’t heard from George Brissett yet, so I will send him an
airgraph sometime to-day. No word from George Buxton either.
I said I might have to write home for some money to pay back what
I borrowed for leave, but I have saved about £25 since I came back so I won’t
need any from home. However I think I will be buying a few things to send home
because everything is so cheap. Dress material is only a couple of bob a yard,
& first quality fully packaged silk stocking are only 6 pairs for £1. All
undies are cheap too so when we get near a town I will see what I can do. Beer
is 3d a bottle & champagne is 2/-. A good place this Italy.
The cable from Rodineades (? Hard to read) hasn’t arrived
yet but will probably turn up later, no more room now. Note new address. Much
love to Dad, Bet & Leo Lovingly
Yours, Frank
Letter No. 104
AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., Cent. Medit. Forces
8th October 1943
Dear Bet,
Mail has
been arriving in twos & threes for the last few weeks & I don’t know
what I have answered & what I haven’t. however your letters 33 & 34
& airgraphs 39 & 40 are here now. I received the second page of
airgraph No 40 about ten days before page 1. So I knew you were going to get
married but I had no idea when. I also received your letter cable.
You say that
the younger set has adopted a squadron up north. The boys here think it would
be a good idea if some kind souls adopted a squadron in Italy seeing as how we
are a duration mob & those up north only stay for about twelve months. I
will have three years service up tomorrow & over 18 months of that has been
spent overseas & from what we were told we’ll be here for another twelve.
Just the same it’s a lot better being in a civilised country after being in the
desert so long.
I meant to tell you before that the things I was making for you
out of Perspex won’t ever get finished because when we were packing up we had
to cut our gear down to a minimum & so the half-completed box ended up in
the fire. Sorry & all that, but that’s how it is.
As for the hitch-hiking, it is not at all uncommon, it is the only
way to get around over here. The bus service isn’t what it used to be. One of
our boys arrived here yesterday, after hitch-hiking from Cairo. He was told at Cairo that we were
somewhere in Italy & to get here as best he could so you see it’s quite the
usual thing. That’s all for now. Much love to Mum, Dad & Leo. Lovingly Yours Frank
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