Letter No. 112
29th Dec ‘43
Dear Mum,
Just finished an airgraph to you but as I couldn’t
answer your letters 100, 101, & 102 on it I am writing this one.
We haven’t received any Xmas parcels yet but we are
hoping that they will turn up soon.
So Jack Michaels has left Aussie. He must have gone
off the ground in a kite. That’s the only way some of them could leave Aussie.
I’ve had a good time so I suppose I can’t complain but it’s about time we saw
some replacements. Tell Mrs. Michaels that if Jack didn’t enlist for overseas
service he didn’t join the Air Force because when one signs on the line, the
fact that he’s joining up for overseas service is before him in black &
white.
You say that you saw “Reunion in France”. It was on
at the theatre in town last week so I went to see it. Just a fair show. The
programme changes every three days. I went in to-day & saw “Street of
Chance” (rotten) & to-morrow I’m going to see Clark Gable & Lana Turner
in some show that’s supposed to be pretty good.
Glad to hear that the dress material suited your
taste. Don’t know whether I will be able to get you any more here because
things are moving rather slow & the army gets most of the things before we
arrive.
I told you in the airgraph that Christmas dinner
went off ok, so now I will be able to give you a more detailed account of it.
One Xmas Eve the canteen got in a large supply of wine which was sold very
quickly with the result that ours was a very merry camp that night& there
was some very big heads next morning. Our tent was about the quietest in the
camp because none of us can take to the wine & so we only had a couple of
bottles to celebrate the occasion.
Xmas morning was cold & wet & we thought we
would have to stand in the rain & eat our dinner but about 10 o’clock the
rain stopped & the sun came out.
We drew our issue of five bottles of beer per man
&, as there was one of the boys in the hospital, we drew his & had it
ourselves. As I am on good terms with the canteen Sgt I managed to get another
two dozen for the tent. Fifty bottles seems a lot for four of us but we drank
slowly & didn’t finish it off for thee days.
We went to dinner at 12.30. all the pilots &
officers ate their dinner at our mess & so a good time was had by all.
We started off with turkey, chicken, ham, pork,
roast spuds etc, etc & then had a back-up of same followed with Xmas
pudding & tinned fruit & cream.
Six tables were set out in two large tents &
covered with cake, walnuts, preserved figs, smokes, oranges, apples & various
other odds & ends. It would be hard for you to imagine just how nice the
place looked. It surprised all of us & was a credit to the cooks.
I don’t think I have ever eaten so much in one meal
before & it was all I could do to stagger back to the tent.
One of the other boys & myself “obtained” a
truck after dinner & went to visit our Scotch friends on the Bofors at a
‘drome about 45 miles away. When we arrived there at three o’clock they were
just about to sit down to their dinner & we were made to sit down too &
along came our second dinner. I was knocked up about three quarters of the way
through. My belt was about three inches too short when I had finished. All the
boys sat down & we were waited on by a Maj., two Capts & a Lieut.
We got back to camp again about 7 o’clock, knocked
over about eight bottles between four of us & then went over to the
officers mess for supper. Their mess was beautifully set out in buffet style
& one picked up a plate & helped oneself. There was bowls of fruit salad,
& trifle & cream, roast legs of pork, turkey & chicken (whole),
cocktail frankfurts, pickled onions, oyster pates. I could go on for pages
listing the different dishes. We just walked around tasting this & that as
we felt inclined.
That was how I spent Xmas. I couldn’t wish for
anything better over here.
I couldn’t help noticing
in one of those “Sun Newsletters” that mushrooms at home were 6/- a pound. All
we have to do here is walk around 200 yds from the tent any day & we can
fill a kero tin in a couple of minutes. Mushrooms on toast make an excellent
supper. “Great War” isn’t it?
Very, very strong rumours are going around the
squadron at present that in a month or so certain squadrons in this wing will
be leaving Italy within a couple of months & going to the land where Mrs
Thomlinson came from. We were always the apple of the Air-Vice Marshall Tedders
eye & a great favourit of Monty’s & I think we have a 90% chance of
going. This squadron will be one of those to move out. The C.O. said that 80%
of the ground staff of this squad. Will be on their way home by next June.
-----Here’s hoping anyway.
I’ll let you know somehow
if we are moving or on our way home.
No more for now but will
write again soon.
Much love to Dad, Bet & Leo.
Lovingly
Yours
Frank
P.S. The enclosed
envelope is the one which contained the photos of the wedding. I told you why I
was sending it in Airgraph No. 8 F.
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