22/2/1943 Repairing an Italian kite

 Letter No 69

AUST. No 34171 

LAC Cooney, JF 

No. 3 Squadron 

R.A.A.F. 

MIDDLE EAST

22nd Feb. ‘43

Dear Mum,

                                    I intended writing to you yesterday afternoon but “B” flight had a days leave so that they could go back to Sabratha to see the Roman Ruins there & so we had a kite each to look after all day. Letter writing had to be put off until to-day.

                  I will send you & Dad a cable for your silver wedding anniversary, tomorrow ‘cause cables seem to be taking a long time to get home these days.

                  I received a cable from you this morning to say that a parcel of tapestry had arrived but I cannot get the idea of the last part of the telegram ‘cause it says ‘Rumor not true” 

                  What the rumor is I can’t fathom out at all but I will no doubt hear what it is when you write. Also received two newspapers from you in this morning’s mail. They were the Smiths, dated 21^st of Nov. & a Daily Mirror of about the same date.  There are a couple of parcels still to come but they should be here shortly because there seems to be very little mail lost these days.

                  We are expecting two or three trucks to arrive here from Alex. In a day or two. They are going to be loaded with canteen supplies. I hope they receive them shortly because our canteen has been exceedingly dry for several weeks & a few good things to eat would be very nice at present.

                   I forgot to tell you before that when we were at one of our ‘dromes we found an Italian kite which is very much the same as our Tiger Moth & it was in perfectly good condition & so we salvaged it. I have been working on it for the last four days & it should be flying tomorrow. Once the pilots canfly it alright we are going to get a flight in it & possibly a bit of dual flying. I’m hoping so at any rate.

                  That’s all for now Mum but I will write again soon

                                    Much love to Dad & Betty

                                                                                           Lovingly Yours,

                                                                                                            Frank

 

 

19 Feb 1943 Nothing much to tell

 Letter No 68

AUST. No 34171 

LAC Cooney, JF 

No. 3 Squadron 

R.A.A.F. 

MIDDLE EAST

19^th Feb. ‘43

Dear Mum,

                                    Nothing much to tell you again today but its time I wrote again so here goes.

                  I managed to get two parcels away to you today so don’t forget to let me know when they arrive. Have still had no word as to whether your parcel of tapestry etc. have arrived yet but some of the boys have received cables to say that parcels they had sent about the same time as I sent yours had been received so I am hoping that I will get a cable in a few days.

                  If you have any intentions of sending me any canteen orders I hope this letter reaches you before you send them because they are no good to us at all as our canteen cannot get them changed. The Aust. Army Canteen Service has gone home & there is nowhere else we can cash them. So now, you will have to send parcels.

                  Arthur Lee came back to the squadron yesterday after being in hospital in Palestine for four months with a poisoned leg. The Doc. Tells him that with a bit of luck he should be home by summer. If he is lucky enough to go home I will tell him to call in & see you & he can tell you about this place.

                   Just received word that we may be going back to (CENSORED) to a rest camp for four days. The squadron will go in three groups & we will stay in houses in (CENSORED). The R.A.F. have headquarters in there somewhere & from what I hear the billets are rather  good. Of course, this leave all depends on how things go up at the front.

                  That’s all for to-day Mum but I will write again shortly

                                    Much love to Dad & Betty & my regards to Leo.

 

                                                                                          Lovingly Yours,

                                                                                                            Frank

16th Feb 1943 Dentist in the Desert

                                                                             Letter No 67

AUST. No 34171 

LAC Cooney, JF 

No. 3 Squadron 

R.A.A.F. 

MIDDLE EAST

 16^th Feb. ‘43

Dear Mum,

                                           Very little more to tell you this time so I am writing on the small sheets of paper so as to make it look a bit more.

     As I expected we have moved up about forty odd miles from our last ‘drome because it was much too boggy to operate from.

The ‘drome we are now on is very hard to take ‘cause at our last stop we were surrounded by green grass & dozens of date palms but here we are in the desert again & I think it is worse than we have had anywhere on the trip up. At other desert ‘dromes we were able to walk around alright as the surface of the ground was rather hard but here it is like trying to walk on a beach.

The cooks have been getting plenty of cheap labour this last couple of weeks because the wogs around these parts are rather hungry & each morning about five or six kids come into the mess & chop up wood for the stove & do all the dirty work around the place. For this they get a packet or two of hard biscuits & they go away quite satisfied.

We all had a dental inspection a few days ago & I’m glad to say that my teeth are OK.

Yesterday we had our first issue of beer from the Italian brewery in Tripoli & I think it’s the best we have had since we came over here, excepting, of course, the brew we get from Aussie. The price is definitely a good add. For the beer too ‘cause a 16oz bottle costs us 3d. Strange as it may seem the Naafi is in charge of its distribution & nobody seems to know why its so cheap. The main problem is that there is a shortage of bottles & we can only get as many full bottles as we return empty. 

That’s all I can muster for to-day but I will try to do better next time.

                                     Much love to Dad & Betty

                                    Lovingly Yours

                                                      Frank