Letters of Thomas Rampton Hunter, 1940-1944 - Part 4

AWM 2017 208.1

Letter N^o7
VX 17049

CPL. T.R.HUNTER,

2/

1 Corps Field Survey Coy,

R.A.C.  A.I.F. Abroad

Wednesday 9.4.1941
Dear Mother & Jean
Was very pleased to receive your
letter from [[?]]  of the 17^th March which arrived here
last Thursday. I did not answer  it before
as then I know we had a good chance of going
to Jerusalem and on Monday we left camp at
7.30 A.M for our trip. About 3 hours brought us
to the place through very hilly country practically
barren of all trees the only one being three
in a small afforestation area. In this section
in the Judean Hills mostly the formation is
rounded &  very few sharp peaks. Rushed into
the Holy City & picked up a guide & proceeded
to the other side where we visited the Church
of all Nations - a very gaudy place in many
respects built in the same grounds of the famous
olive trees -very stunted & the marks themselves
only admitted that they were the “supposed” trees.
The church built in 1923 had the money donated
by various nations & the mosaic work in
ilself was wonderful. It possessed the stool
of which Christ was supposed to have prayed
upon after his betrayal xx by Judas.  Fransican
Monks (R.C)  are in attendance here  & behind
this church is a Greek Orthodox Church (which

we did not enter)
 

2
about 100 yds away is an underground church
with a most impressive  entrance - not much
more than a hole in the ground & upon entering
& descending awkward steps , amidst a strong smell
of incense you are met by monks with candles
& you find great difficulty in seeing. Hundreds of
ancient lanterns burning near the ceiling weakly
show paintings & figure work upon the walls
& this is where the Virgin Mary (?) is supposed to lie.
Then proceeded through a hilly windy road to
Jericho in the Jordan Valley dropping from about
2000 feet above sea level to 1300 feet below sea
level. No vegetation was visible except for a
puny salt bush & the new Jericho - There have
been three - is a very small place intensely green
through being built around a copious spring. Walked
over some ruins of old Jericho -  just remains of mud
bricks & dust & viewed the Hill of Temptation where
J.C. was tempted by the Devil.  A monastery 
was built high up in the side of this hill & 
it protruded into grottos in the hill. This was a
Greek Orthodox Monastery. Travelled along to the
Dead Sea - the lowest open place in the world
& the Jordan flows in but there is no outlet.
Xxxxxx This sea has 25% contents of salts & potash &
we went in for a swim & you cannot sink even
doing the breast stroke ones feet kicked
AWM2017.2081
 

3

out of the water Had a scrap of lunch & on the
way back the bus played up & we finally stopped
at the house  of the Good Samaritan a very
smelly place with a few remains at the rear &
patches of old mosaic tiling set in the crusader’s time.
Waiting for the bus to be adjusted I encountered a
swarm of fleas. Not a few but hundreds & while I
stood scantily clothed in the middle of the road
de-nitting. myself the lads took several photos
Rather  lousy for I while but I have either got rid of
them altogether or passed them on. You can
just imagine  what a clear path I had for 
a while & the things that were said of me.
Eventually arrived back in Jerusalem & straightaway 
proceeded through myriads of narrow alleys, all the
while being pestered  by hundreds to buy this or that
& arrived at the wailing wall of the Jews. It has
been added to & rebuilt a few times & here I took
a snap of Bill leaning, against the wall next to
an elderly Jew. From here  to the church of  the
Holy Sepulcher - an ancient place held together
with modern steel straps & supports to prevent
it from crumbling. Entered here like a mob 
of Sunday school  children & were shown the ^top
xxx of the tomb or hole where the nails of
the cross were supposed to be. Queen [[?]]
may hundreds of years back of years back pinched these nails.
 

4
for her son why  I do not know & in this
this place are the 14 spots where J.C.
stumbled or stopped, the spot where he was
supposed to have met his mother, the V. Mary
before his crucifixion the split in the rock
of God’s wrath of the crucifixion & the R.C
section with the Virgin Mary. The Holy
Sepulcher is in the centre of this queer
place in a small circular dome like tomb
with hundreds of ancient lanterns burning, the
lanterns  being an open glass bowl with a floating
wick & the base  all filigree silver  work - wonderful.
works of art. Inside this tomb like affair is the
Sepulcher -a slab of marble in a tiny cell parallel 
in beautiful marble. All the time various
denominations were chanting in long corridors
carrying candles & long xxx robes. The R.C. & Greek
Orthodox Church appeared  to be most prominent
here. We then rushed out through the
alleyways through a little of the new Jerusalem 
& in the bus & back to camp. One did
not have time to look at any  possible thing
at leisure as all this complete tour was
conducted in one day & the bus breaking down
robbed of us as least an hour. The Great Wall
is there but it has been rebuilt & everything
here - Jerusalem - pertaining to biblical history is
AWM in 2017-208.1
 

5

[*P.S. again Jerusalem possessed that horrible stench*]
built upon supposition, gaudiness & tardiness was a
very prevalent factor in the biblical section & to
my way of thinking nothing at all was  substantiated.
I thought that I would be more
impressed with biblical & Holy awe than I was
but the whole trip was very interesting. In the alleys
we passed many trinket places & stalls but time
did not even permit us to stop. The architecture 
in old Jerusalem varied in all old types & a
prevalent design being somewhat a Gothic or Moorish
type at which amused me was the fact of these
ancient walls possessing modern hollow bricks to
reinforce  them. Took a few snaps & when
time permits  I will send some to you
The may be some avoidable delay in mail
but I will write regularly. Everyone is
keeping very well & happy. Newspapers are
available at 10 mils each- 3d - 4 pages daily &
once a week the A.1.F. News - news of Australia
so, we get a bit of news. Still have plenty
of gear & today were issued 2 athletic singlets & underpants
&  still more gear is yet to be received  so it
looks if I shall need a couple of camel’s to carry it all
Have you seen Ron or Joan at all?
Lots of love
Thomas
 [[?]]

AEPlayford
No7
HC Laytort
Mrs. B.M.Hunter
277 Springvale Rd.
Tunstall
Victoria
Australia 

AWM2017 208.1

Letter No 8
VX 17049

CPL T.E. HUNTER.

2/1 Corps Field Survey Coy

R.A.E.     A.I.F. Abroad

Sunday
20/4/41
Dear Mother & Jean,
About a week ago I received
from you both a letter & the day before I had

just written. Went for a day’s march one
day to some very old ruins built by the Romans
& ^[[?]] ^exists remains of Head stone, columns, walls etc.
The Crusaders came to this spot through their
ramblings & from here was the discovery
for them of spring onions which they in
turn took back to France & England. Had
about ½ hour in the surf which freshened us up.
Since  then we have moved to Eygpt &
here things physically are different - plenty
of dust - in fact  that much on one day, that
kerosine tins could be heard rattling alone
& we would dive out of the tent & grab a
passing one & it was a difficulty to
find yourself & direction to the tent.
The train journey was, after a while
a tiresome one & we arrived here late at
night with a freezing cold wind and only
one blanket but we some soon managed
 

to get comfortable There was an old
Dago ground- sheet ^about which is twice the size
of ours & this when buttoned up makes a
very good sleeping bag. Last night a
party of us went to a town & there
we realized what a blackout really is
You cannot see a darned thing & continually
bump into people. Saw some
interesting night places &  life there is
pretty fast.
On account of the dust all the boys
in our tent including myself have had
our hair clippd off & we look like some
new order of Monks. About half the
company are now shorn & it certainly 
is much cleaner.
Judging by the local paper the war
appears to be moving much in our favor &

soon we hope to be doing some practical
work. Have heard  some very interesting happenings
from chaps who have been in the war zone.
All of us are in perfect health & enjoy small
route marches daily which keeps  us pretty trim
Well people,  

Lots of Love
Thomas.

[[?]] P. Lambert

AWM2017208 1