Letters of Thomas Rampton Hunter, 1940-1944 - Part 14

down the mountain & it was delightful
seeing the terraced orchards of fig & olives
with pines interspersed amongst them.
Sunday we went by car to the intersection
of 2 small rivers a few miles away & the 
road climbed down wooded slopes to a
Turkish bridge 1000 - 1200 feet below. Two
water mills were grinding barley & crushing
olives & extracting pure olive oil. Also
a small pottery was here with 2 potters
wheels & a primitive kiln.
Our Xmas dinner should be a success
as it is being catered for in a local cafe
and the beverages etc are good and  
ample. On Boxing Day we are

running a party for the local kids & 
one of our chaps whose Arabic vocabulary 
is good, is acting as Father Xmas.
Owing to the attitude in the
Far East, I am still holding a
parcel I wrote to you last about.
Hope that your Xmas was a cheery
one & that you are both well & 
happy. Sorry I was not with you
but next Xmas perhaps?
All the boys are extra well
Love Tom
[*REP*]

[*40*]

[*R E Playford*]
Mrs B.M. Hunter,
277 Springvale Rd,
Tunstall,
Victoria,
AUSTRALIA
[*AWM2017.208.1*]

No 41

VX.17049
CPL. T R. HUNTER

2/1 Aust Corps Field Survey Coy
R.A.E. A.I.F. Abroad
Sunday, 28/12/41
Dear Mother & Jean,
I have received a letter from
each of you and again Mother I must thank you for
the canteen order. I hope your Xmas is a happy one and I
can assure you that ours went off most successfully.
A hectic Xmas Eve, a good dinner on Xmas Day
and plenty of Aussie beer for the boys throughout the
day. The local wine-muscatel was excellent but it

soon ran out. Boxing Day, we gave a party to the local
children and just about 200 turned up. It was held
in a local house & we supplied lemonade and sandwiches &
finally our Father Xmas presented bag of sweets to them.
They put on dances, songs & also English hymns
& for them, our chaps had a bit of an orchestra & 
sang carols etc. The whole afternoon proved a 

huge success and our reward was an afternoon tea

from the ladies which could not be surpassed.
It gave us all a kick to see these kids enjoy themselves
especially as some are very poor.
There are many Greek refugees in & about this
village & in about a fortnight we intend to do
something for them. They now get cast-off clothing
& odd tins of food etc. & I think they can do with

it.

The enclosed menu was printed by us
& I am not one to go chasing signatures as you will
see

2
[*P.S on Xmas Eve we each received our hampers from the
Comforts Fund, and I must say they made up an
ideal A. 1. parcel.*]
Jean's letter of the 8^th arrived on the 21^st so the
mail sevice is still good but as the Far East situation
is serious. I do not hold hopes for such prompt mail
deliveries in the future.
Bad luck about our little Peggie. I was sorry to

read about it.
In a parcel I received from Eric Cox & the Boys was a lovely
fruit cake baked by Miss Florence Madden c/o Coach & Horses, so I’ve just written & thanked her.
One of our boys had special leave to go to Palestine a
week or so back and he met Ralph Doughty & Ralph
was very well so he said.
The present I purchased nearly three weeks 
ago for you, is still with me, but I'm going to
take the risk & forward it to you.
I have been nearly overpowered today with
answering cards & letters and pardon me dear
people if this appears a little abbreviated but for
the last 4 days, I think you'll understand how
difficult the writing problem has been for us.
It’s been very cold & stormy & the snow is -
again thick on the nearby hills & already some
of the boys have been ski-ing. Will be there in a few
days myself
I’m waiting to read if Jean has made the
big hike as I fear  Ralph may have had to forego his holiday.
Well Lots of Love
Tom
[*RE Playford*] 

[*41*]
[*R E Playford*]
 Mrs. B.M. Hunter.
277 Springvale Rd,
Tunstall,
Victoria,
Australia 

AWM2017.208.1

No 42
VX 17049

CPL. T.R.HUNTER
2/1 Aust Corp Field Survey Coy

R.A.E.   A.I.F. Abroad
Sunday, 4/1/42
Dear Mother & Joan,
On Friday morning 
snow commenced to fall lightly and now
there is anything from 12-15 inches
everywhere and of course the boys are
having the time of their lives. Yesterday
it was bitterly cold, a high freezing 
wind & the temp was something like 
25o F & 7o below freezing point.
But today there is no wind & 
it does not seem nearly as cold.
All the taps & pipes have frozen
& to obtain water, we have to 
melt the snow and a kerosene tin
crammed full gives only 3 or 4 pints.
The boys are packing some steps 
with snow thus making a
steep run down for 40-50 yds but
at the botton is a stone wall
with iron gates & the tin toboggan
may come to grief - In fact it
has. Traffic has come to a 
standstill but the electic
light is still fighting on. 

2

On Friday, Bill & I went in our
staff car to Tripoli - further
up the coast. It was a very
cool run - hail & rain & at
one stage when right by the sea,
a large wave splashed the car.
Tripoli was disappointing in the
fact is is mainly a “Wog” town,
the European section being very
small, and the remainder, thousands
of small stalls and bazaars, anything
up to centuries old.
On New Years Day, a beautiful
fruit cake arrived from Joan in  
perfect condition & it's been so popular.
Yesterday morning a parcel of
assorted tin stuffs & biscuits
arrived from Scotts the first of 

anything of it's kind apart from mail for
any of us.
Well dear folk, I must
admit we're having a bit of
fun but ———.
Hope you are well
Yours

Love Tom
[*R E Playford*]

[*42*]

[*R E Playford*]
Mrs. B.M. Hunter.,
277 Springvale Rd,
Tunstall,
Victoria,
AUSTRALIA

[*AWM2017.208.1*]

No. 43

VX17049,
Cpl. T. R. HUNTER,
2/1 Aust Corps Field Survey
Coy. R.A.E. A.I.F. Abroad
Monday, 5/1/1942
Dear Mother,
Your letter No. 36 of 19th Dec. has
just arrived and you mention about the new
allotment of mine.
You state that your form book is made
out 6d. extra per day for you and 6d. for me.
The explanation of that is: On November 7th, the
A.I.F. were  granted in extra shilling per day.
Those with dependents (as in our case), the
soldier had to grant 6d. of the 1/- to his
allottee (dependent) and the Govt. gave an extra
6d. to the dependent - making a total increase
of 1/6, for the soldier keeps 6d. and the dependent
has 1/- increase. The total increase per
fortnight therefore for you is 14/- (1/- per
day) making your total £4 -18 - 0 instead of
£4 - 4 - 0 as previously. All that is yours.
You sent me a letter dated 11th Nov (?)

mentioning about a 14/- per fortnight increase
which I believe you have confused with my allotment
to the bank of 28/- per fortnight.
This bank allotment is paid direct by

the Govt. to the Bank and when I read of you saying
that you would pay 14/- made up in your form
book to my bank account, I knew there was a little

confusion and thus I waited until I received more
news of it from you.

When I first told you of my Bank
allotment, I mentioned that you could go occasionally 
to the Bank, that was not for you putting in

money for me, but to have my bank pass-book made
up to date from the bank’s ledgers.
In other words, you collect per fortnight
for yourself £4 -18 - 0, and the Govt.

pay into my account, 28/- per fortnight.
I think that should be clear now
Mother, and I will send this letter in a duplicate
form to you again to ensure a copy arriving.

2.

You gave some very funny little bits in

your letter about the doings of the "boys".

I can just imagine them and frankly am not

really surprised what they get up to. 
I wrote to you yesterday, and told you

about our snow sports, In the afternoon we

had two toboggan runs and a sheet of galvanised

iron and a couple of bits of wood travelled

miles altogether down these runs with 6 or 7

on each time. George has made a pair of skis

and sticks and is now out on them but by his

performance, he's been on his back most of the 

time. 

In many places the snow was nearly two feet

deep but now it has been melting a bit and

it seems as though it may all melt - and have

sluch everywhere. Jack and I have had many

walks out into the snow and from the top of the 

hill nearby the view last night was beautiful -

the trees bowed down and the roof-tops piled

high. Many of the roof-tops are flat and the

Wogs have been hard at work shovelling it off. 
A lot of fun can be had in the snow but it

has its draw-backs - wet clothes and boots and

one has to keep chaging socks and pants. 
Of course, all cameras have been working 

overtime and I should be able to get a few

decent snaps from some of the others as I ran 

out of film on Saturday. If you could send

a couple ↑ by ordinary surface mail, Mother, they

would be very acceptable. 

All Air mail from here in future is to be

either these cards or only two pages in ordinary

air mail envelopes so the Sentinels etc.,

will have to go surface mail.

We're all extra well here and I hope you 

and Jean are so, and happy,

Love, 
Tom

[*R E Playford*]

[*43*]

[*R E Playford*]

Mrs. B. M. Hunter, 

277 Springvale Road,

TUNSTALL,

VICTORIA, 
AUSTRALIA 

[*AWM2017.208.1*]

Photo of Alep -   See original document