Michael Billings Collection - Wallet 11 - Part 22 of 24

Kay Keep this for a Souvenir-  
its the card with the A.I.F.  
Hamper. Good hamper too. 

I think I nearly forgot to send  
Ada Bill & Red my love  
and best wishes for the  
Season. Tch. Tch.  
M 
  
PR00610 
Australian  
War Memorial

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
  
From: VX38483 
Name: Cpl. M. Billings  
Unit: Dist. Accounts Office 
New Guinea 
Date: 25.12.43 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 

Darling Kay, 
A Merry Xmas to you 
and the darling child, sweetheart  
and may God bless you darling 
for your sterling work and noble 
sacrifice of 1943. I pray that  
1944 will be a year in which  
you will be granted peace and  
happiness as a just recompense.  
It certainly has been one in which  
you have felt the full impact of  
life withs its many implications. 
Well, it won’t always be like that 
and maybe 1944 will be the year  
during which the famous silver  
lining will show itself. Its  
certainly been a long time but  
at least we both are in one 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
2/ 
piece and no irreparable damage to either  
mind or body has been suffered.  
The worst feature is the time factor 
for these are years which we  
particularly can ill afford. The  
old adage ‘So much to do with  
so little time to do it in’ is  
singularly applicable to our  
predicament. However when I  
read that you are holding your  
own, and the lad is thriving  
and don’t feel quite a wreck  
myself; I know we’re still in  
the race. 
Just knocked off as the  
postal bloke came in and  
whacko, three for me this  
morning, yours of. 19th, and one  
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 
 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
  
3/ 
each from Mum and Uncle Tom.  
Exceedingly pleased to get one  
from you today. It was a beaut  
too; eight pages of well varied  
comment. You do sound pretty  
well in yourself, the note of  
hope and expectation is the right  
drill. I shan’t say much about  
it in this letter as I’m working  
all day today and the work is  
coming up in spasms so I don’t  
know how much time I’ll have  
for it. So tomorrow I shall be  
off and will put a letter to 
poor Kathie as No. 1 priority. 
I would have been very  
disappointed had I not had the  
chance to write you today for 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 
 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
  
2 4/
visions of you & Richard dominate  
my thoughts, particularly so  
because of events last night.  
Being Friday, we went off to the  
pictures and were rewarded by  
a magnificent feature ‘Random  
Harvest”. Quite a hackneyed  
theme really, but the artistry of 
Greer Garson & Ronald Colman  
put it on a pedestal. It sort  
of typified that perfect love between  
man & woman so rarely attained.  
The restraint of the stars was  
something to marvel at and  
speaking for myself, the beautiful  
moving portrayal, particularly the  
effort of Greer Garson, put me in  
an ideally receptive mood for 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 
 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
  
5/
Midnight Mass. I can truthfully  
say that I’ve never seen such a  
demonstration of faith in my life.  
I’ll try and sketch the spectacle  
for you.  It was said in the open  
air at the Moresby Stadium to be  
precise,  the altar being set up  
in the boxing ring with the faithful  
on the ground below and on four  
sides of the altar.  The trucks & 
jeeps started to arrive at 11 o’clock,  
coming from Aussie & Yank camps  
for miles around.  Mass started  
right on midnight and at a  
conservative estimate there were  
5000 present.  And mark this  
well, I didn’t see a single chap  
come late.  Our Chaplain General 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
  
6/ 
said the Mass, just a simple Mass 
& a like Sermon. All the time,  
a squad of padres, U.S, Air Force &  
Army heard hundreds of confessions.  
When Holy Communion was given,  
I should say at least 3000 received.  
So many in fact, that I heard that 
the three priests near the end had  
to divide the wafers into portions.  
One thing I will say about the  
Yanks, the Catholics are very devout  
and attentive at Mass. It really  
was a great sight, Green shirts, Khaki  
shirts, blue dungarees in a  
confused mass, the ring lights  
seem to throw an ethereal  
reflection on the sea of faces as  
though each was conscious that 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
  
7/ 
the Great Master, the true leader of  
we little people was come amongst us,  
perhaps, who knows as a herald  
of the peace our hearts ache for.  
All the time, a scratch choir  
composed of soldiers and natives  
sang those songs and hymns so  
appropriate to the feast and the  
excellence of the singing took my  
breath away.  First "Adeste Fidilis"  
Ave Maria (that was for our wives 
and mothers & Sweethearts), Silent 
Night, Holy Night and others. When 
Mass concluded, the celebrant read 
a telegram from the Chaplain  
General of the Army, Dr. Mannix 
who is Vicar General to the U.S. 
Army also. Then very quietly, 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
  
8/ 
the crowd moved off, the trucks 
started up and in fifteen 
minutes all was quiet again. 
Pray that the stillness presages 
that peace we hunger for. It 
certainly was a scene I'll never 
forget, one you can look back 
on with pride and affection and 
I felt within me the surge of many 
emotions, one of which was that 
while our fellows are like that, 
we could never lose. And with 
us were those Aussie boys who have 
consecrated this island with their 
lifes blood, never fear, Sweet, they 
came along with God to tell us to 
tell you that they had found peace 
and rest from the struggle. 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy. 

The Salvation Army 
  
ACF 
AUSTRALIAN COMFORTS  
FUND 
  
YMCA 
  
From No.:  .................................................. 
Name: .......................................................... 
Unit: .............................................................. 
          .............................................................. 
Date: ............................................................. 
USE MILITARY ADDRESS ONLY. 
  
9/ 
I have just won the toss 
to see who stays in the office 
during lunchtime so I'll sit down 
with the boys after all. 
I'm awfully pleased  
that Sylvia had no trouble and 
that John Clarke bids fair to  
be a credit to his father. One 
speck of consolation, pet, to him his 
dad will be a memory of a knight  
in shining armor, and with that 
to live up to, he should aspire 
to pattern himself in the same 
mould. It's all so harrowing for 
your poor mother to have those 
last intimate mementos returned 
just at that time. For the old 
its doubly hard for they have no 
  
IN YOUR LETTER DO NOT REFER TO: 
The name of your transport, or other transports in your convoy ... dates of sailing ... ports of call ... destination, descriptions of troops, or other information which, if intercepted, will be of value to the enemy.