Letters of Jack Lusby Burns, 1941-1945 - Part 6

5.

Kong (chinese) from  whom I bought

it promised to buy it back then

he I want. I'm hoping to realise

at least £20 on it so it

should be a bargain. Does

20 17 miles to the gallon. His five

brand new tyres and is in

peaked running condition. Some

of the lads have gone over

the engine and they reported it

A.1.

Have had  a visitor

from another arm of the army

during the past week so have

been showing him round. Have

been on duty for the past week

and very little has happened.

As nothing very much happens

here, I am saving a fair

bit of money. Think I will

make another allotment of

5/- per day as there is sure

6

to be a great deal of money

needed for those [[shows?]]

etc. Will fix this up during

the next few days. Will make

it retrospective from the first

October '41. This should give

you 8/- a day dad to play

around with.

Deferred pay has now

been entered into our pay

books i.e. the army keep 3/6

a day for us which is given in

a lump sum to us when we

return. The rats here have been

a bloody nuisance during 

the past week or so. However

we have now requested in

a cat.

JL Burns

Cheerio my dears.

Hope you received the parcels mum

With lots of love

Your Loving Son Jack

 

AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL

FORCE

JL Burns

[[CENSO?]]

155

26/10/41

VX39159

Lieut JL Burns

NO .1. INDEP.Coy

My Darling Mother and father

The mail

closes in approx. 1/2 hrs

time so here's for a

hurried note.

The Race

Meeting went off with a bang.

The tote was a high

success, we made £32.6.0

on it! As this represents

£300 10% it means that

at least £300/% must have been

wagered. the chinese and coons

were delighted with the sight

of a "whitemaster" decorated

in various coloured guises

riding horses up the straight

At night time

we held a combined concert and

2

Savings Bank Collin’s St 

Melbourne but I don't know

where the pass book is. See

if you could find it for me

& forward it to me please.

Boats here are just

the same - every one is keyed

up and on the "qui vive". Every

one takes great interest in the

news both home & abroad.

Have just finished answering

the mail and am endeavouring

to catch another mail leaving

in two-three hours. Am going

to drop a two page letter on

note to each of the relatives.

Hope that both you

and dad have a grand Xmas

& New Year although the gov't

seems to be putting restrictions

on everything. So they should

we've played too much.

VX39159.

Lieut. JL Burns.

NO .1. Indep Coy

A.I.F Abroad

17/11/41.

Dear Mother and Father

It is now

over two weeks since last

I wrote but previous to that

I wrote every week so I

don't know why my letters

are not reaching home.

Yesterday, I received

over a month's airmail.

Four from you mum and

one from dad so I was

very pleased to hear from

those I love so much. With

this airmail, came all our

surface mail. I received

two parcels - one from Gloria

Colley of Albury and the

other from Manning Watson +Co

2

It was jolly nice of them. I

also received numerous bulletins

and Sporting Globes - thanks

very much dad. Miss Williams

sent my two mags. Jolly good

of her.

Have just come back 

from a trek where we had

quite a fair share of fun

and incidents. Some of the

lads (three) were negotiating

a river lined with mangroves 

when suddenly a crocodile

shot out of the bank and

circled around the bamboo

rafts the chaps were on.

(I should add that these rafts

are composed of 5 or 6 long

bamboo lashed together with

vines - they are sufficient to carry

the weight of one man and even

3

then partially submerge in

the water.) However it gave

them quite a nasty scare.

Later on another chap and

myself took 3 ½ hrs to go

1200 yds into the jungle. - We

had to cut our way with

bush knives. Golly, this

jungle was thick.

At last the drought

proper has broken and we 

now have rain each day

and night. does it come

down. It simply falls in

a solid sheet of water. Tis

quite pleasant drinking rain

water once again. Amazing

how quickly everything grows

here. Yesterday a barren

patch of sun scorched ground

- today a fertile luxuriant

4

patch of green.

Saturday witnessed

the holding of a Chinese fete

for their refugees. It was a

royal day. They had Crown

& Anchor, Housey housey,

Hoopla Spinning Wheels etc.

I came home poorer by

about £2. Lost a bit on

Crown & Anchor but won

a bit at Hoop-la. Four of us

formed a combine and paying 

1/- for 6 shots managed

to ring a 10/- each time.

in the end they put a 1/-

there instead. Managed to win ^in a raffle

a super framed tapestry work

of chinese goldfish. it is worth

quite a bit of money I believe.

Anyhow I will send it home

5

at the first available

opportunity. Hope you have

received my camphor wood

box + other parcels ere this.

Noted by your letter that

you are forwarding me a

gramophone - gee thanks ever

so much. Dad & guess that

the taxation will hit you up.

Am making a further allotment

as mentioned in my last letter

of 5/- per day. to date from

7 November. Not 1st October.

You know the car

I bought well at the present

moment it isn't. I lent it

to some of the lads one day &

they crashed into a tree.

6

It was a bit of tough luck.

The day the accident happened

was out in a boat all day.

with the majority of my section.

We went for a cruise amongst

the neighbouring islands for

a pig shoot. Walked miles

& didn't see a pig. Called

in at the traders place

supply vegetables for this 

unit. They turned on a royal

'beano' for us.

Under the jetty where we 

tied up to go on our pig shoot'

we shot a ^coral snake. It was

beautiful coloured & like most

beautiful things here - highly

dangerous. Cheerio my darlings

Hugs + Kisses Your Loving Son Jack.

 

AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCE

[[ENSORED?]]

JL Burns

84