Letters of Malcolm William Keshan, 1940 (Part 19)

Received 7/1/41
SAG

"A" Coy. 19 Aust: Inf. Tng. Bn.
A.I.F.
Abroad.
31.12.40

Dear Dot,
Well darl here I am again with a pen ink and pad to see if I
cant fill a few pages with news etc, this makes No 7 now, I guess it
wont be long before I reach double figures, this is not going to be a long
letter as there is very little to tell you, most of it will be in answer to your
letter No 4, which incidentally I received on Christmas Eve, remember me
saying in the last letter I was disappointed because I would not get a
letter from you before Christmas, well as you see I was wrong, and very
pleased that I was. Im glad to hear you are getting my letters regular
Dot, I was not sure just how you would receive them, I thought you
might have received them about once a month. And another thing young
lady never mind trying to tell me that bet was only for matches, because
it wont work, not if I can help it any how, you just wait and see, and
its to late to get out of it, so dont try. Well you certainly surprised me darl,
I wouldn't have known you worked at Phsie, that is worked hard, if you
hadn't told me, and you say that you could show us soldiers a thing or
two, well that ok with me, if you like you can come over here and be
my personal instructor, but I wont promise to do exactly as you tell
me, not all the time anyhow. That will be the day darl the day you
get married I wonder who the lucky guy will be. Talking of marriage
reminds me, one of the chaps over here received a present from his
girl friend the other day, it was a piece of her wedding cake, not
bad huh. You were right darl, I am an old ass, a bit of a fool to I
 

(2)
guess, but then Im a funny person and get funny ideas at times, the main
trouble is I have been taking to much for granted trust me, but now
being in my position, so far away I mean, I guess there is nothing else I
can do but leave it all to you and hope for the best, but dont say Im not
a trier, and now the next move is yours, dont forget to let me know if you
decide on anything. Now listen, lay off this talk about getting my foot bitten
off by a camel, you will be making me nervous if you don't. That snap
of the boat was taken in the Suez just in case you would like to know. Just
a reminder darl if my letters stop all of a sudden dont let that stop yours, you
can never tell when mine might get held up for a month or even more, dont
forget now, I will write regular, and you will probably continue to get the
letter regular, but thats just in case you don't. How did Christmas go sweet
did you have a good time, and the New Year I hope you enjoyed yourself
we celebrated Christmas rather well over here, had a party in the Sgts mess
with free beer and lots of toasts, which I drank in tea, I didn't have a drink
believe it or not seeing you seem to think Im such a heavy drinker. All the
Sgt's and Officers acted as waiters for the men on Christmas day talk about
fun, I dont think I made a very good waiter I used to eat as much as I served
out but it was fun while it lasted. Its funny in our tent when ever any of
us receive a parcel everyone gathers around while he opens it, and if there
is anything in it eatable there is a general cheer, and a chorus something
else for us to eat, thats all we seem to have been doing lately eating, since
just before Christmas up till to-day we have been having six meals a
day, between eight of us we have cleaned up about twelve cakes just as
many plum puddings and tins and tins of fruit and cream, and Ive
started to put in weight but I suppose I will soon loose it all again after
the New Year and when I get down to a bit of hard work again. (Yes I do.)
 

(3)
Enclosed you will find a few snaps sweet, they were taken in Gaza, and
there not very good ones though, there is one of an Arab making clay pots,
its interesting to watch one minute he has a lump of clay in front of him
and next minute its a pot, then there is two others taken with the Palestine
Police horses, and one outside Sampsons Tomb, the day we took those we
visited the Municipal Stables trying to get the chap there to bring out two
horses they had there so we could snap them, they were the best looking
horses Ive ever seen honest and I wish we could have snap them, they were
valued at £600 each. Im glad to hear George likes camp, its ok for a while,
but then you can have to much of anything, wish him all the best for me
when you see him next. Well I guess this is going to be a very short letter
sweet as its getting to noisy to write however Ill leave it until to-morrow
and see if I cant improve it a little then so until tomorrow "Cheerio". Well
here I am sweet back again and still nothing of interest to tell you. You remember 
me saying Mac and I were back to-gether again, well we split again
on Sunday worst luck. You will probably be down at the Valley on your holidays 
when this arrives, I was going to address it to you there, but I thought
I had better not. Let me know if Ray has left the Building, as you mentioned,
if he has I will drop him a few lines with your address as he can post those
snaps on to you. Well sweet I guess this is just about the limit this time
wish everyone all the best for me, and Lots of Love, don't forget to have
a good time on your hol's. So it's until next week when I will
be writing again "Great Big Cheerio" and dont forget to write.

                                                                                                         x     x     x     x
                                                      Very Sincerely Your's        x    x      x     x     x
                                                                Mac                                x     x      x     x

                                                                                                            x      x     x

                                                                                                                 x     x
P.S. Even though there is only three pages they are well           x
filled so don't get cranky at me for only writing three.
                                                                                         Mac

                                                                                         X

 

A. F. W3078
ACTIVE SERVICE
AIR MAIL

This envelope must not be used for
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Note:-
Correspondence in this envelope need
not be censored Regimentally. The
contents are liable to examination at the
Base
The following Certificate must be
signed by the writer :-
I certify on my honour that the con-
tents of this envelope refer to nothing
but private and family matters.

Signature

Name only
M. Keshan

[Up to three letters may be forwarded in this
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Address:
Miss D. Williams
37 Byrnes St.
Bexley
Sydney
N. S. W.
Australi

Received
16/1/41

 S.A.G.