Our Father's War

by Thomas, Julie

  R.A.F Station, Sheikh Othman, Aden, Feb 11th 1942

  It is some time since I have written home and must offer as an excuse the irregularity of mail these days. I am still waiting for mail to follow me from London, however something should come to hand any day now as it is over three months since I left. You will be surprised to hear that at the moment I am in the Red Sea enroute to Egypt for a spell of two to three weeks. The real reason for this trip being that four pilots were required to collect four aeroplanes from Cairo and fly them to Aden and I was lucky enough to land the trip.

  To go back a little, we arrived in Aden about a month ago and I have had four of the most pleasant weeks in my life. In fact I felt guilty the whole time as I did nothing but play golf, tennis, squash and go swimming at a grand ocean beach. As you can imagine, life contrasted very strikingly with my experiences in England and in fact I felt as if I were in a totally different world. The climate in Aden at present is about perfect every day, like our best summer day and also very healthy.

  We found that we had arrived too early to commence instructing the pupils and had nothing to do at all. I accepted the job as adjutant to the unit C.O. rather than sit in the mess and do nothing all day, so I sit in the office every morning. We work from 7am till 12.30 each day and have a siesta in the afternoon, commencing tennis or golf at 4.30pm. We have an Arab native to wait on us hand and foot and as a result we live like kings. In fact I haven't done a thing for myself for weeks and will find it rather hard to settle down to civilian life after being addressed always as "Thomas Sahib" pronounced with the greatest reverence by my boy. There is a picturesque village just outside our aerodrome where thousands of the Arabs' goats and camels all live together and the stench in the midday sun has to be smelt to be believed. I will send some snaps later of this place. The mosques are also well worth photographing.

  When the opportunity of a trip to Cairo turned up, I immediately approached our C.O. who is a fine chap and one of the most famous and experienced fighter pilots alive. As I had been his adjutant for a while and we were on good terms, he gave me the trip with three of my pals. I can tell you I am looking forward to seeing some of our NZ boys in Cairo. I have heard a great deal about the recent Libya attack from pilots who have come down to us for a rest and apparently the NZers did some magnificent work, again at a terrible cost.

  Needless to say my thoughts are always with New Zealand these days as a result of the Japanese menace. I would very much like to get home to a fighter squadron and defend my own country. In fact I am making an effort in that direction and there may be a chance. I am sick of doing nothing in this part of the world.

  I am enclosing a snap of my fellow NZer John Frecklington, a sheep farmer from Palmerston North. He came out from the NZ squadron with me. The other man in one snap is an English lad who is with us on this Cairo trip; he is a veteran of the Battle of Britain and a D.F.C. In the other snap is a Canadian, also a veteran of the Battle of Britain and France, he is the only survivor of his squadron and also a D.F.C. I will write from Egypt and give you my experiences there. In the meantime, will say cheerio now. I am very fit and brown as you can see in the snap. Best love to all, Hal.

  C/- New Zealand Forces Club, Cairo, Feb 22nd

  No doubt you will be surprised to receive a note from me written in Cairo. Although I have sent a letter giving the news that I was coming up here for a while, there is no knowing what mail is getting through.

  I must say that I have had one of the best weeks of my life up here meeting all my old pals and having some grand reunions with them. I have also been very fortunate to see so many of my own particular crowd who, as luck would have it, all happened to be in Cairo at once. We are absolutely free here, awaiting news that our aeroplanes are ready to fly away. We stayed at Sheppard's Hotel for a few days and then moved over to the NZ Club which has good accommodation for officers.

  I have spent nearly every day going out to the NZ Camp at Maadi and finding friends, usually finish off in one of the officers' mess and have a real night of it. We had a real Auckland tennis party yesterday at the Maadi Sporting Club. There was Eric Halstead (fighting fit and very proud of his daughter) Gus Taylor, Lois Cameron (V.A.D) Denise Wootton (V.A.D) Audrey Row (V.A.D) and others I can't remember now. I am just going to a party with Gus Taylor who has treated me like a King; he cleaned my teeth today for me in his surgery. He is also very proud of a son whose photo he carries around and whom he has not yet seen. I discovered that the Camp Adjutant at the NZ camp used to board with Pip and I at Mrs Krompa's in Wellington and he has been through Greece, Crete and Libya. We had plenty to talk about and he has given me his car while I am here.

  I am looking forward to receiving some mail from home (via London) when I return to Aden as I have not had anything since leaving England on Nov 9th. Well I must close now. I am always thinking about you at home these days; everything will be O.K. in the Pacific. Cheerio now, best love to all, Hal.

  Savoy Hotel, Luxor, Upper Nile, 14th March

  Dear Dorothy,

  As you can see by the address on this paper I have recently been doing some touring, this time on the Nile River. Luxor is one of the holiday resorts of Egypt, the climate is very healthy and the river on this spot looks much cleaner and more inviting than at Cairo. The famous Aswan Dam is not far from here and I can tell you that it is a pretty grand sight flying over this famous spot. We had lunch at Luxor and saw some old ruins, 5000 years old and also some amazing memorials the Pharaohs had built for themselves in the famous Valley of the Kings.

  However I am afraid that I must admit that our own scenery in good old NZ is far prettier and more interesting than these old ruins which seem to attract tourists from all over the world. I am finding it hard to settle down now in Aden after a grand holiday in Egypt and we are all very restless. Naturally I have had very little mail since leaving England and look forward to each ship that arrives from London with mail. Well cheerio now, will write more next time, best love, Hal.

  C/- RAF Station, Sheikh Othman, Aden, April 17th

  It is some time since I have written home and also some time since I have received any mail, in fact the irregularity of mail these days often makes writing seem futile. However some of the letters are certain to arrive eventually and I will keep writing regularly just to make sure. I have been sending a cable about every three weeks and have been pleased to receive your replies and have first hand information that all is well at home. As you can see by the address I am back in Aden after an enjoyable trip up to Cairo, I think that I described my leave to you in a recent letter from Egypt. I flew an aeroplane back and saw a good deal of the country in that way, although as you can imagine the majority of Egypt is not worth looking at.

  A letter arrived today from Mr Harold Moses dated Jan 23rd in which he gave me most of the Moses family news in amusing style. I was sorry to miss Raymond in Cairo; he was a long way away at the time. I spent some time with Ken's good friend Ben Toswell and learned all there was to know of Ken's fate. I believe Ben has written to the family and told them all he knows. I had a most amusing note from Alan Gray the other day in his old breezy style; it seems hard to believe that he is in a prison camp. Those lads deserve some reward after the war for what they are going through at present.

  As for myself, there is not much news from this part of the world, it being one of the backwaters of the Empire. We are fortunate in having wonderful sporting facilities here and also plenty of time to indulge in tennis, golf, swimming and squash. The water is as warm as anywhere in the world and at the moment I am very brown and fighting fit! My itinerary lately consists of flying every day, golf, tennis the next day and swimming the third. You can see that we are not leading a very strenuous life and are becoming very fit with plenty of exercise and good healthy food.

  Every Saturday night a dance is held at the Union Club in Aden and of course there are far more officers than girls which makes the competition fairly terrific. I am very lucky in this resp
ect as I am friendly with one of the Sisters at the RAF Hospital here; there are only 16 Sisters and no nurses. These dances are rather amusing as two of us from our mess take two of these girls and about ten of our best friends come also, so that we are always outnumbered in the party. However we don't mind as dancing is much appreciated in this place when most of the lads don't see a girl for months.

  I have recently received some parcels via London. They are about seven months old but still very much appreciated. From Mrs Grayson a fine cake, The Bennetts and Coulams, The Rotary Club, The Kohi Sewing Circle and also home, as well as Weekly News and Observers which are pounced upon by the New Zealanders here. Would you thank the above for me and I will write a note of thanks to each by surface mail. Well I must close now to catch the mail van. I hope this reaches you in good time and that all is fine at home, Cheerio now, best love to all, Hal.

  C/- RAF Station, Sheikh Othman, Aden, May 5th

  I must write this letter to catch an air mail which is supposed to be heading in the general direction of home, I will try it anyway. I had a letter two days ago written from Rotorua on Jan23rd, although it was fairly old, I was very pleased to hear from you, Mum, Dorothy and Clive. Please excuse the rather dusty appearance of this notepaper but there is a dust storm raging outside my room and everything is covered by half an inch of sand.

  I received a letter from Pip yesterday; he is very fed up with the climate in England and also with instructing. He said that he would give a month's pay to come out to Aden. Actually we have all sorts of advantages out here. I have really had a grand time here and would come back again if I could put the clock back. My golf has improved lately and I can beat most of the officers in the mess and after playing tennis consistently for three months I am the best player on the station. That doesn’t say much for the other lads but the standard is not very high here. I play with the American Consul and an oil man and we have some close battles.

  However despite all the good points, I am getting very sick of doing nothing much. I have had a good holiday and seen a lot more of the world and am now keen to get back into the fighting again. There are too many deadbeats and people who are trying to stay in a safe job around this place. After living in a squadron where men are doing something real and every lad is 100% and can be counted on, it is rather degrading to be thrown amongst a lot of people whose only worry is that the price of golf balls is going up. I am expecting a move any day now and will let you know my new address if I can, in the meantime use this one and they will forward my mail on to me. Give my regards to all our friends and I will write back to them, I still get a great number of letters. I was very amused about Mrs. Giles being frightened on the waterfront. She should have been in London 18 months ago. Cheerio now, best love to all, Hal.

  Hotel Cecil, Alexandria, May 26th

  As you can see by the above address I am enjoying a spot of leave and having my first look at Alexandria. At the moment I am sitting in the lounge of the hotel looking out onto the crowded square, watching an old native magician swallowing fire and eating broken lemonade bottles. He is really very clever and I wish that I had a movie camera to record the magic.

  Two of us were granted a 48 hour leave yesterday and we decided to hitch-hike into Alex for a look at the city and to enjoy the luxury of a bath and a bed for a while. It is very strange that after being under canvas I found that I have been unable to sleep on a soft mattress and found I missed my old camp bed. I had three showers the first day here and intend to have another half dozen before returning to the desert.

  I think I wrote and told you that I was moving up to the Middle East just before I left Aden and I also sent a cable from Cairo upon arriving there. I had a few days leave there and strangely enough met a lad who told me that Irwin Bailey was in camp. He came in the next day and we had a good old yarn, it didn't seem like two years since I had seen him. He has apparently just become engaged. It makes me feel quite ancient to think of Irwin engaged and Patricia married. He was looking pretty fit and is going onto fighters; he has been waiting a long time. I gave him a few good tips that have saved my life over France many times. I think that he rather looks on me as an old veteran. I also saw and had a grand party with Gus Taylor and Eric Halstead, we always have a real reunion.

  I moved up to the desert after a few days in Cairo. Strangely enough Jack Frecklington is still with me, we have been together for fourteen months now by some very good wrangling every time we move. We volunteered for the Middle East together and left England from the squadron together, were instructing together at Aden and moved up here together. It makes a great difference to have a friend with you all the time, he is a fine chap.

  We have been swimming in the Med, the water is beautifully clear and fresh and the beaches are white like Oneroa and Onetangi. Yesterday I met an old Waitaki boy, Chesney from Dunedin. I travelled from England on the boat with him and he is a good sort, a naval officer and now sports a colossal beard. He took old Freck and me over yesterday and we went yachting with him on the harbour here and are going out again today. It is great to be out on the sea after miles and miles of endless sand. We also went to the races yesterday with him, they sport a palatial racecourse here and we had a grand day picking the horses. I made about six piasties on the day.

  The Egyptians certainly know how to run sporting clubs, they do the job properly. Have never seen a place like the Gezira Club in Cairo and also the Maadi Club, they are magnificent. Tomorrow we go back to camp and back to work. I may be going elsewhere as things are getting quite fierce here in some sectors, I will write as soon as I know anything. In the meantime my address is H.Q. R.A.F. Middle East and they will forward my mail on to me, it will be good to get some letters again. Cheerio for now, I am fit and brown from living in the open air, in fact this clear air and lovely climate are as good as anywhere, except home. Best love to all, Hal

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  123 SQUADRON

  C/- H.Q., R.A.F., Middle East June 28th

  I am in Cairo at present for a day or so and of course immediately went in to H.Q. to see if there is any mail waiting for me. I found that six letters had been forwarded to me yesterday to my desert address. I have not had news of home since Jan 23rd so was annoyed at the trick of fate. My last desert address is now no more so I suppose those six letters have gone also. However I will be around for a while and will be able to intercept the next letter that comes along, it seems years since I have heard from home. That can not be helped when you are dashing around the country like I have been and I know that they are arriving.

  Imagine my surprise when I heard that Irwin Bailey had arrived in the desert recently and was about a mile from my camp. He was doing a non flying job. Poor old Irwin has had a raw deal; he hasn't seen an airplane for months. However that is not his fault and he is still keen. The day after Irwin arrived Gus Taylor heard that I was 20 miles away when he landed up there one evening and came straight over to see me. I was glad to see him; he is a grand fellow old Gus. We picked Irwin up in the truck and went up to the N.Z. Dental mess. We were entertained royally that night and Gus drove me home the next morning. We sat in the mess tent and drank the health of the Rotary Club that night; it seemed such a strange coincidence that our three families should be represented in such a God-forsaken place as that camp.

  I've had another flying visit to Alex since last writing to you and enjoyed a bath as never before in my life. It was my first real wash for weeks and the sand left behind in that bathroom would have amazed you. My next visit was to the hotel hairdresser and he took 45 minutes to give me everything he advertised. The transformation was unbelievable and I had to apologise for the sand clogging his clippers. My next step was a good restaurant and there I ate a meal that would have done anyone justice. I am sure that it is worth living under canvas in the desert just to enjoy these small luxuries that one takes for granted in peace time. One develops an entirely new perspective on things and the ordinary things of life, if removed for a w
hile, take on a new value when they are restored for a precious 48 hours. As I sit and watch these fat civilians eating large meals, drinking expensive drinks and wearing fine clothes and looking absolutely bored, I feel sorry for them when I think of the enjoyment I am now able to obtain from a glass of iced water or putting on clean pyjamas.

  I notice by the paper that some Air Force men have gone home to NZ. I believe in order of priority, I am pretty near the top of post-war trained pilots. I would like to have a crack at those Japs but I don’t think they will ever reach NZ and there certainly is much to do here. However, Dad, you might enquire how they are selecting these lads and I will do the same here. Cheerio now, best love to all, Hal.

  Australian Soldiers Club, Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, July 13th

  As you can see by the above address I am at present visiting the Holy City and have been doing some real sight-seeing in the last few days. I have been thinking of you today, Mum, on your birthday. I sent a cable to you, Dad, from Tel Aviv a few days ago. It is quite a coincidence that I should arrive in Jerusalem on the occasion of your birthday and spend that day seeing some of the most wonderful sights, from an historic point of view, in the world.

  I was very fortunate in being given two weeks leave from the desert, actually I have had no official long leave for nine months, all my travelling during that time being done on duty. I went out to the NZ Camp and spent two days meeting old friends. Tom Thornton, my old Wellington pal, put me up in his mess, he is still adjutant. Irwin and Gus and I had a photo taken which should be going home with Irwin. After three days in Cairo I flew up to Tel Aviv and decided to have a look at Palestine and Syria. As you have probably read, Tel Aviv is a really modern city which has been built in the last 30 years and is a beautiful place when compared with other cities in the Middle East. The streets and buildings are very clean and white and the people themselves are fit and brown, they seem to spend all day bathing at the beaches. They are a happy and very hospitable people and really cannot do enough for us, especially the New Zealanders. I met a Mrs. Goodman Chiant, I think her name was, who knew the Moses family when she lived in Auckland.