Letter No. 114
21stMarch ‘44
Dear Mum,
This is not going to be a very long letter but it is such a long time since I wrote to you by sea mail that I thought I had better make an attempt.
Squadron Leader Barr, a former C.O. of ours who was shot down & taken prisoner during the retreat in June ’42, returned to the squadron yesterday afternoon.
He was in a prison camp in Nth Italy & escaped when the Iti’s decided they had had enough. Last night he told us what had happened to him since he escaped. Of course I can’t tell you how he got back but, believe me it was really thrilling. He certainly had had some experiences which just about made our hair stand on end. He hopes to be going back to Aussie very shortly.
Went to another concert yesterday afternoon. A South African one this time & quite a good show. We have been fairly fortunate in the way of entertainment the last couple of weeks with concerts & pictures a couple of times a week.
We built a large pre-fabricated hut in the middle of our dispersal area & it was opened as 239 Wings Welfare Club. It is all laid out with chairs & tables, draughts, chess, cards, darts, etc. a cup of tea & a bun can be bought at any time of the day, for a small charge.
Group Captain Duncan is expected at the squadron in a few days time & as he’s the guy in charge of all RAAF in these parts we are hoping that we will get a bit of news on how long we are going to be over here.
No more now but will send an airgraph in a couple of days.
Love to all at home, Lovingly Yours, Frank
NOTE: If you want the full story of Squadron Leader Barr’s adventures, see
https://www.3squadron.org.au/subpages/barr.htm
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