蜜芽传媒

APPENDIX SOME EXCERPTS/TRANSCRIPTS
FROM DAD鈥橲 MANY FREQUENT LETTERS FROM ABROAD

Airletter 28/9/42 42nd General Hospital MEF....
鈥滿y sweet little Ann,
....Tell Mummy I am getting on ever so well now and hope to be out of this place very soon now. Don鈥檛 you think I am lucky? I have two eggs for breakfast and chicken for dinner. There are a lot of trees around this place and it is nice to see them after being in the desert for a long time with only sand and rocks around .......
..............Still the war won鈥檛 last very much longer now and then we will be together again and will have lots of fun. Mummy tells me that you are getting on well at school and also with your music..... You will be able to play to me when I get home and I shall be able to sing or whatever your Mummy calls it...I saw a spider that was as big as a saucer. There are some great big black beetles too and funny things called scorpions and ever such pretty dragon flies...I haven鈥檛 seen any rain for weeks and weeks 鈥� I would love to see it rain 鈥� Don鈥檛 you think that is funny?.....鈥�

Airgraph 27th Jan 1943 No 3 Con Camp MEF
鈥�...Mummy told me all about the time you had at Christmas and of all the lovely present which you had......Sorry, darling, that I could not send you a present but I will bring you something nice home with me. Won鈥檛 it be lovely when I come home. I am longing to see you and we will have lost of fun together and 鈥� don鈥檛 tell teacher 鈥� I will help you with your lessons. Help your Mummy lots won鈥檛 you my sweet little Ann. Lots of love and xxxxxxxx from Daddy Ern.鈥�

Airletter 17 April 1944 21 PW Working Company, MEF
My very precious Ann,.....Mummy has told me about the excellent Report which you had from school. Ann, darling I think you have done extremely well and I am very proud of you, keep it up and then when you become a young lady you will be able to work in an Office......I think that you have a strong inclination towards Office work......when I took Jill and you to the offices of Quaker Oats Ltd you spent your time in the office, using the typewriter, whilst Jill spent her time in the factory watching the machinery working... French is very useful but, darling, try and do as well with English because that is essential...... when you start your business career. .....What do you feed your tadpoles on? I am glad that you have received two of the parcels of 鈥楲ifesaver鈥� sweets which I sent...I have sent some more 鈥楲ifesavers鈥� also jelly sweets and tins of fruit salad. Please tell Mummy that I have sent her a lb. of sugar... I love my little girls and I will send as many parcels of nice things as I can...I hope that this war will soon be over so that I can come home again and be with you and Mummy and Jillie, we will have some lovely times together then... The sands are very white and are very bright in the sun. I am sure that you would enjoy yourself ever so much here but I like Hunton Bridge better...鈥�

Airgraph 4th March 1943 (No 3 Con Camp) MEF the address was scratched out, possibly by the censor, but it is now visible.

鈥淢y dear Ann... I had a letter from Marian鈥檚 daddy and he says he is not in the desert now but in a place where there are lots of trees and plenty of grass instead of sand and flies......鈥�

Air letter c 5th May 1944 鈥� from 21 PW Working Company, MEF
鈥淢y very precious Ann....I can get a lovely view of the sea from my tent. Wish you were here then we could go scrambling over the rocks together looking for crabs and other things...I found an octopus 鈥� it was only a

small one but...you turn up your books and you will see that they are nasty Things......I found a snake and, as I had my rifle with me, I shot its head off because snakes also are nasty things. Then I found a chameleon and I have got it for a pet. They are funny looking creatures and they change colour...I will try and keep it and bring it home with me. Mummy would like it.鈥� (No, I know that she would have hated it!).... 鈥淚 want you to look after Mummy whilst I am away so you will help her as much as you can won鈥檛 you, darling, and do as she tells you because she is a lovely Mummy. 鈥�
9th May 1944 鈥� from 21 PW Working Company, MEF
鈥淢y very sweet Ann....I was glad to have all your news, darling, and I think that there is a great improvement in your writing, in fact I think you are a very good writer now...I have lost my chameleon and I was not able to find another...Has Mr Barton had those photographs printed yet? I am looking forward to receiving one as I am anxious to see how my little girls are growing up...Well, darling Ann, I love you ever so much and I am longing for the time when I can get onto that boat and start on the homeward journey 鈥� 鈥榗ause I have been away for such a long time now...Perhaps this blessed war will soon be over now as the Germans are getting such a terrific number of our bombers over Berlin that old Hitler must have ever such a bad headache...Well, cheerio, darling, lots of love and xxxxxxx from Daddy Ern. PS Give my love to Mummy.鈥�

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