Letter 113, On leave at the hot springs near Vesuvius

  

Letter No. 113

AUST. No 34171 

LAC Cooney, JF 

No. 3 Squadron 

R.A.A.F.,  

Cent. Medit. Forces

22/1/44

Dear Mum,

                                    It is about a month since I sent you a letter by surface mail but that is only because there is so little news. I have my work cut out trying to fill an airgraph. This is just to let you know what I did on leave.

We expected to be away for two weeks but the army took over our hotel at Amalfi & so the leave was cut down to eight days so that everyone could get away.

We had a very quiet time indeed because Naples was out of bounds owing to a typhus epidemic amongst the civilian population & so we spent most of our time at the hotel.

In peace times the hotel was a sanitarium for people suffering from gout, lumbago & similar ailments & in each room was a bath into which flowed hot mineral water straight from the hot springs on Mt. Vesuvius. It was good to be able to hop into a steaming hot bath anytime during the day or night.

The hotel was at a place called Pozzoli, about ten miles from Naples & we spent our days just wandering around the town. We just used to walk down the street & buy a couple of pounds of walnuts or almonds & then sit on the sea-wall & eat them.

I only went on two trips while I was there. They were to the top of Mt. Vesuvius & Sorento. It took us an hour & a half to walk to the top of Mt Vesuvius & about ten minutes to come down again. I wouldn’t like to see you try & walk it. It was almost too much for me.

That is all I did for the eight days I was away. The weather was beautiful the whole time we were there & it has been pretty good since we returned.

I spent the day to-day putting up a hut for our mess. It is about 15 ft wide & 30 ft long & stands about 10 ft high. It is made from galvanised iron & angle iron & just fell together.

Well, Mum, that’s all for now but I will write again soon.

Much love to all at home

                                                      Lovingly Yours

                                                                                          Frank

Airgraph 9 A good fight with snowballs, Airgraph 10, Airgraph 11 The Africa Star

 Airgraph No 9

AUST. No 34171 LAC Cooney, JF No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F.,  Cent. Medit. Forces

5^th Jan ‘44

Dear Mum,

Received your airgraph No9 yesterday. Also received one from Mrs. Carter (Randwick). Surface mail seems to be taking a long while to get here these days if the latest you have received was written in August. Our Xmas mail was being sorted at one of the Post Offices when a gale struck the place & blew the tents down. From what we hear everything was wet & now it all has to be dried & sorted again. I hope our parcels weren’t damaged too much. Just received a “Via Imperial” Xmas cable from Lovelocks.

Had a heavy fall of snow this morning & a good fight with snowballs was started. Now a terrific wind has risen & the sea looks as if it may flood our camp any moment. A few of the squads were washed out last week. Our tent was badly battered in the last gale & so as soon as this wind drops we will put up a new one.

No more now but will write again soon.

Much love to Dad & “the Family”,                  Lovingly Yours     Frank

 

Airgraph No 10

AUST. No 34171 

LAC Cooney, JF 

No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F., 

 Cent. Medit. Forces

9^th Jan ‘44

 

Dear Mum,

                  About 40 bags of parcels & papers arrived here yesterday. I was expecting several parcels but the only one I got was from Mrs. Palmer. No doubt yours will arrive soon.

I received several bundles of papers & magazines including one from Lovelocks, also an airgraph from Norm Dunn & a cable from you saying that you had sent me £40. Thanks for same, will let you know when it arrives.

Next Wednesday I’m going to Naples & Amalfi for a couple of weeks leave. Expect to have a good time. May not write while  I’m over there but will let you know when it arrives.

I believe you now have to pay duty on smokes if I send them home. Try and find out what is charged per pkt of ten or twenty & if there is any limited quantity. Have thousand Cravens to send Pop.

No more now but will write again soon. Much love to Dad & ‘the family’

                                                      Lovingly Yours     Frank

 

Airgraph No 11

AUST. No 34171 

LAC Cooney, JF 

No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F.,  

Cent. Medit. Forces

21^st  Jan ‘44

Dear Mum,

                  When I arrived back from leave last night I received a fair amount of mail. From you letters No’s 96, 103, 104 & parcels 23,24 & 25 – they will be disposed of very quickly. To-day I received airgraphs 10 & 11. No. 11 was written on Jan 7^th which is rather smart work. I also receive two letters from Betty. One containing the wedding photos that I thought had been lost. In your letter 96 they cut out the name of the place that Tom Williams did his spec. Nav. Course.

The cold weather is still on although the sky has been clear during the day. The hills are still covered with about 8ft of snow & that doesn’t warm the place up very much.

To-day your favourite son received the ribbon & clasp of the Africa Star. Should look pretty good on the blue’s. don’t get the medal itself until after the war is over & with the new landing to-day it looks as if things will finish soon – I hope so anyway; I’ve had enough. The money hasn’t arrived yet but should come soon. Will write later & tell you about my leave.

Much love to all at home                    Lovingly Yours     Frank

 

Letter 112 Christmas dinner

  

Letter No. 112

AUST. No 34171 

LAC Cooney, JF

No. 3 Squadron R.A.A.F.,  

Cent. Medit. Forces

29^th 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.