Letters relating to William Arthur Allsopp - Part 7

ON ACTIVE SERVICE
we should have completed our
course altogether and get our "Wing".
Before we left Winnipeg we had a
parade in which we received our
Wireless Badge, accompanied by
a pretty little speech from the
Commanding Officer, but for all
that, we are still on the same
rate of pay though, if and when
we get out of here, we will be
sergeants and receive with deferred
pay out, 2 dollars 95 cents a day or
about 15/- in English language.
Well, Mum I had better close
now with love to the family and
to yourself and hope pop is striking
it lucky. Give my regards to the
Moores and all the mob and tell
that worm Pomby to write

Love
Bill
I forgot to tell you that I

havent heard from Bede. Ask him
next time you write if he received
my letters.
 

AUS. 411063 L.A.C. Allsopp. W.A.
Base Post Office
Ottawa
Canada
16th November ’41
Dear Mum;
Received your letter yesterday
and glad to see you still going strong
And everything at home allright.
Received quite a swag of mail this
time., from a couple of fellows from the
Shire and one of Bob O’Reilly. He seems
to like his job, and quite settled down, but
I think he will get sick of working for a
boss and miss the free and easy life
of the bush. Most of the boys have got the
craze of sending Christmas cards so
I had to be with them and have
spent quite a busy few hours licking
envelopes. I also received a parcel
from the Peel Shire Patriotic Fund
containing a swag of balaclavas and
neck & chest guards, gloves and socks,
And after having first go at them, distributed
them to the boys. They arrived at
a good time, as we have been doing
a lot of flying and it is as cold as blazes
once you get up a few thousand feet.
The clouds are usually pretty low and
it was that cold the other day we had
to knock the icicles of a gun we were
 

2

using, the barrel of which had been
in the slipstream of the plane. It really
isn't so bad now as we are pretty well
rugged up and only gets cold once the
wind begins to blow. The snow has
been laying around in patches for the last
few weeks but this morning when we
woke up it was snowing hard, and
continued all day long and now there

is about a foot of snow everywhere.
We had a great time in it for a while,
but soon got cured of throwing snowballs
as you get as wet as blazes, even though
it is as powdery as could be and
doesnt hold together at all.
We have only a week to go in this
course and this part of it is really a
great loaf, firing away plenty of the Government's
ammunition and peering into the workings
of a few different types of machine guns

When we have completed this we go out
as fully blown sergeants and the flight that

I have been in since I left Lindfield will
split up pretty well; some of the boys receiving
commissions, whilst others will go into
the Ferry Command but there will still be

a few of us left. We have finished most
of our exams, but still have the morse
test to pass before they let us out, but this
course is to be followed by another

of months at whichever place we might
be posted to. We received our wireless
badge before we left Winnipeg, I dont know
whether I told you that or not
(PR05361
 

3
and the air force describe it as a "checked
hand holding forth a thunderbolt", but
its really only another piece of metal
to catch in dresses in a  crowd.
we are supposed to receive our Air Gunners
Badge next week, but they say they have
run out of Australian equipment, so it
looks like us going without for a while.
We got issued with some real good
winter clothing, gloves & underclothes and
a winter forage cap that is all the
world like a tea cosy and are in fact
called that but if not beautiful to look
at serve their purpose of preventing the
ears from being frost bitten.
This is a pretty good camp with the
food an improvement on Winnipeg with
a C.O who keeps things moving pretty
fast, not that it worries us very much,

but still there is not so much baloney

and red tape to get around. A few of

of the boys have been speaking to Australia
from the camp, costs about 20 dollars for
three minutes and its strange to hear thats
its a beautiful day there, whilst here it

was nightime and snowing. Just in case
you might be interested you are exactly
18 hours ahead of us here. We had a 
sweep on the Melbourne Cup the horses being
taken from an early betting sheet and the
only two horses we didnt put in
 

4

ran first and second so we had
to toss for the prize. I drew Reading
and so never had a run for my
25 cents.

I suppose Bede has received his
wings by now and well into operational
training. I was reading in an old
Sunday Telegraph where Pilot Officer
Doudy had landed in England, and
was giving his views on the stoicism
of the English people. He should make
a good officer as that was his aim
all along. The rest of the fellows who
came over on the boat with us must
be there also as they should all
finish together. You can tell Mrs Edwards

that her parcel must have gone astray,
as I never received it last and, the only one

that I got being from the Shire for
which I duly wrote and thanked Jerry
Flynn.

You can see by the enclosed prayer which
sheila can use to improve her french, that
I am still a good boy and go to church

every week, usually on a Saturday as the
Chapel is reserved for Protestant Church
Parade on Sundays. I suppose they have
the same movement as the sword of the spirit

at home, as it is universal amongst all
denominations to promote a movement

for Christianity's sake, amongst the armed
forces.  The priest comes from the town

Dunrobin to say mass and he is something

like Father Healy with the exception that
he doesnt listen to what you tell him
in confession which is a break for
us. We were roped into a Protestant
PRO 5361
 

5
Church parade before we woke up, last
Sunday through a printers error on orders
and xxx us tykes were all nicely

seated thinking we might learn how
the other 'half lives and worships, when
someone rushed in and ordered all
R.Cs to fall out so we were a bit
disappointed. That letter that Bede
said he wondered how it passed the
Censor contained nothing of importance
except to express my views on the management
of the R.C.A.F. and at that time all letters
were censored on the station. It is very
rarely that your letters are opened by the
Censor and even when opened, have always
been intact whereas some of the other
fellow letters' from home are all chopped
about. I suppose they will be a bit stricter
now that xxx Japan is getting cheeky and

the mail might become a bit disorganised.

Sent you a Christmas Card wishing
you and the family the best for Christmas
and the new year and if that doesnt
arrive accept same now. I wish I could
be there for Christmas and get stuck
into a good feed again but it might
take a while for me to get back my taste
for good food again. You speak of Stan
being cured well I am just the same
and my favourite dish now is cheese
and baked beans from groceries
 

6
sent to the fellows from the Patriotic
funds. Dont think that we are not well
fed, but Jack will tell you what
Army food is like. I was glad to
hear that Jacky Burke is safe even
though a prisoner of war, but what I
hear from the English fellows in camp
here they are well treated, whilst
the Red Cross does them pretty well.
Well mum I have just about run
out of news whilst the [[? ?]]
isnt working too well so I will have
to say cheerio for the [[??]]

love to yourself and the men and
hope that pop can back a few
winners. Remember me to the neighbours
and wish them a happy Christmas
from me. So with love to all.
Bill.
PRO 5361
 

Postcard- Montreal Canada. See original document
 

30/11/41
Dear Mum;
Sorry I haven't written
but will write later
on. stopped here for a
week, and up to date
is the best city in Canada
that we have seen.
Love to all
Bill.
Mrs H. Allsopp
16 Napier St
Tamworth
NSW
Australia
PRO 5361
 

411063
Sgt. W. Allsopp
Base Post Office
Ottawa
Canada
3rd December '41
Dear Mum,
Have been receiving your letters
pretty regularly for the last month or so
so everything in the garden’s lovely, though
it looks like the mail being a bit disorganised
if things don’t look up on the Pacific.
We heard today about the ‘Sydney’
and a lot of the fellows had friends
and relatives aboard; so now they are
xxx savage against the xxx Nazis
We have shifted from xxx
Canada and are now stuck
in a place called Truro in Nova
Scotia miles away from any big
city and well out in the bush.
We had a bit over a weeks leave
to reach here, so stopped over at a
few cities on the way, Toronto, Quebec,
Montreal and Ottawa. We really
went to Toronto with an idea of
going to see Niagara Falls, but all
the fellows reckoned they weren’t
worth the money it would cost in
train fares & so we concentrated on
roaming around the cities. Montreal
is the largest city in Canada