Letters from Frank John Mulcahy to his family, 1941-1945 - Part 6

3

about it, the Aussies can really put on a show if

they try. A few days after the Duke had departed

we received a screed from the Major in charge of

arrangements for the Dukes visit, thanking us for

our co-operation and remaking that the smartness,

efficiency, and willingness of personnel concerned

was most marked, and was of considerable

value to the arrangements on hand. Whacko!

Of course, it is only to be expected, seeing as how

we are the two best DR Sections in the AIF.

We can still put our hats on alright. We also

received congratulations from our Commanding Officer

for our work. 

Well Mum, this is all the news for now, so

I will close, hoping this finds everyone at home

in the best of health.

Love to All

Frank

 

JHalifax

SX3022

Sgt. F.J. Mulcahy

2 Aust. DR. Section

"A" Aust. Corps Signals

AIF. Australia

14 Mar 45.

 

Dear Dad,

I was very pleased to hear from you

about a week ago. I apologise for not answering your letter

before this but I have been kept very busy these past few

weeks, and what free nights I have had have found me

with little inclination for writing. When I did not receive

a letter from Mum for some time, I guessed it was

because she was fully occupied looking after Gran. I dont

think the end can be far away now, for she seems to be fading

fast, from all accounts. Anyhow, if I live to her age I shall be 

quite satisfied to push off.

I guess the old place has livened up a bit of a weekend

now that Uncle Frank has started stopping over there.

I'll bet you and he have knocked a few bottles of grog over

in the process, too. 

No, you are quite wrong - I was not putting on side whilst

I was escorting the Duke around, - as a matter of fact I was

terribly bored with the whole darned show.

I am glad to hear that you have put on more weight -

you must be getting quite a pot on you, now. I am still

the same, I haven't lost any weight, and haven't put

any on.

2

Gosh, we are having lousy weather up here - do you know,

we have only had about two weeks of really fine weather in

the past three months, and it is nearly a fortnight now since

we last had any sort of sunshine. Yesterday morning it was 

pouring rain, we had the wireless on, and girls came on the air

singing a song entitled "I was born in Sunny Queensland".

You should have heard the abuse she got from the mob.

Needless to say we switched it off - we just couldn't go for it.

As I mentioned, I have been fairly busy of late. We have

no officer at the moment, and all my corporals are engaged on

duties outside the section, consequently I have to do the lot myself.

The only thing I don't do is censor letters. There is no doubt

about it - the DR'^s are the jacks-of-all-trades in this Unit.

Whenever a job out of the ordinary crops up or they need a 

stop-gap to fill a position temporarily, they just automatically

turn to the DR'^s. It certainly says a lot for the versatility 

and prowess of the DR'^s and generally we receive credit

for it, but there are a few who fail to recognise it.

Actually, helping out as we do, almost univariably pays dividends

and we receive little concessions that we would not have

ordinarily. As a rule we do not mind coming to rescue, as it

were, and we don't expect any thanks, but it makes up us

ropeable when some of these people just take it as a matter

of course, without any attempt at a word of appreciation for our

3

efforts. Needless to say, such people do not get the fullest

co-operation from us, and they have only themselves to blame.

However, let's hope that someday the Army will recognise

realise the worth of the DR'^s and raise their pay accordingly.

At the moment they are sadly under paid - I don't mean the

N.C.O.'s, but the men themselves - a paltry 1/- per day extra

is far below their worth, and they definitely deserve higher

pay.

Well Pop, I guess there is little else I can write about -

nothing much happens up here and today is just the same

as yesterday and the day before as far as we are concerned, 

-therefore I have no alternative but to draw this rather dreary

epistle to a close, hoping that you have not been too bored with

it's contents.  Love to all at home and I hope you are all well

Cheers,

Frank

 

14/3/45

Weather -

I was born in 

Suny Queensland.

 

PR00649

Australian 

War Memorial

Air Mail

 

14/3/45

 

M^r. F. Mulcahy

32 Corunna Ave

Colonel Light Gardens

South Australia

 

AUSTRALIAN

MILITARY FORCES

PASSED BY CENSOR

4107

 

[[?]]

 

PR00649

Australian

War Memorial

 

SX3022

Sgt. F.J. Mulcahy

2 Aust. DR. Section

"A" Aust. Corps Signals

AIF. Australia

24 Mar 45.

 

Dear Mum,

Sorry I haven't written for some time but

as per usual, I have been rather busy and apart from that,

there hasn't been much to write about.

The weather up this way has broken at last, and the

past few days have been absolutely perfect. I hope it keeps 

that way - I have had enough rain to last me for twelve

months.

That woman who grew the sunflowers was probably Colin

Wagener's wife, but he is not in New Guinea. I had a letter

from him just recently and he is located just outside

of Brisbane. He has just had another son presented to him

by his wife and he is tickled pink.

It is quite likely Alf Asher saw me whilst I was with

the Duke. I remember quite a number of chaps yelled out

to me during that time and I seldom had a chance to see

who it was.

I am not certain, but I think I recall that Peggy Kerwin

whom you mentioned, I am quite flattered, I had no idea

so many people were interested in my welfare.

We have a wireless set now - received it a couple of

days ago. It was bought out of Regimental funds and issued

to us by the Unit. It is much better than our old set, having

2.

a better tone and wider range. We could only get two stations

on our old set, consequently our choice of programmes was

considerably limited.

It was a red-letter day today. One of the chaps had some

champagne sent up to him by his people - real genuine stuff

too. It didn't go far, but we got a glass each out of it. It

wasn't bad, being millionaires for five minutes. It is the first

time I have tasted real champagne. We did have some

whilst in Syria, but it wasn't the genuine article.

We saw a very interesting film the other evening, entitled

the "Battle for China". It dealt with the war between China and

Japan, dating back to 1923, and consisted of films taken by

British and American Army newsreel men, plus films taken by 

missionaries and smuggles out of Jap occupied China and also

films captured from the Japs themselves. It was uncensored,

being for the troops only, and it was pretty gruesome in parts.

It showed just what a marvellous job of resistance the Chinese

have been doing against the Japs during the past seven years and

the sufferings and hardships they have undergone during that time.

In my opinion, they should show "Battle for China" to the public

on Australia in its uncensored form, so that they may realise

just what sadistic animals the Japs are - it would do some of them

good, especially if they stop to think that the same thing could quite

easily have happened in Australia.

Will close now, with love to all at home

So long

Frank

 

[[?]]

 

24/3/45

Battle for China

 

PR00649

Australian

War Memorial