2/Lt Williams RK
‘B’ Squadron 61st Recce Regt
Recce Corps
Home Forces
Thursday
Chotie Darling
Many thanks for letter. I would have replied before this, but managed to get a 24 hour from midday yesterday to noon today. Both Diller and Brinner were home so we had quite a reunion at the ‘Beach’.
Unhappily going back I had the most horrible experience – the worst experience that any man can have. I lost my wallet!
Not only did it have £6 in it but also my ticket. I was stranded on Brighton Station with some 5 shillings in all! There was no Railway Transport Officer there so I went in desperation to the YMCA* where the manageress lent me a quid. Awfully good of her, as I had no security to offer her. However, I managed to get back OK, if late.
I’ve just written to Bognor & Brighton Stations but don’t expect to hear anything. Don’t say anything about it or mother will go frantic.
On top of this I’m going on a scheme for a week and am afraid I won’t get a chance to write you.
I’m well settled down now and am quite enjoying myself, though I shall be glad when I get this next week over.
How are things with you? Glad to hear you arrived back without trouble, and hope you got the groundsheet O.K.
Met that old friend of mine from the 43rd, Don Johnston** (the one who would repeatedly play the ‘Warsaw’). Hadn’t seen him for ages.
Have you heard of Eric lately? You might ask Eve to prod him a little about writing me. That is if you still correspond.
There’s a Lieutenant here, a burly West Country farmer, who buys anything on sight. Last week he bought a grand piano and a herd of Friesian cows! Quite a lad.
I’ve bought a new hat, though I didn’t pay much for it! Twenty shillings is about my mark….
No real news to tell you. Things here are very cushy until a scheme comes along – then everyone starts flapping.
I’m thinking about starting to buy some period furniture as you’ll never get any after this show. Period stuff is still reasonable, anyhow.
Must close here – write you next week.
All my love, Darling
Dicker
P.S. Don’t bother to write for the next few days as I won’t get it for a week.
*Young Men’s Christian Association
**See Chapter 7 43rd Reconnaissance - the beginning of the end.
© Chotie Darling
18th November 1943 - beginning of the RAF’s bombing campaign 'the Battle of Berlin' (not to be confused with the Soviet battle of Berlin in April and May 1945). In 16 raids thousands of people were killed and hundreds of thousands made homeless. By the last raid, at the end of March 1944, more than 500 RAF planes had been lost. (From WW2-net Timelines and Wikipedia.)
20th November 1943 – beginning of Operation Galvanic, the US bid to capture the Gilbert and Marshall Islands from the Japanese. These strategically important islands lie to the west of central Pacific, between Hawaii and the Solomon Islands. The successful but brutal 3 day Battle of Tarawa Atoll reulted in nearly 5,000 Japanese and Korean dead and more than 1,000 Americans, with 3,000 US casualties. Tarawa land area is approximately 12 square miles.
22nd November 1943 – opening of the Cairo summit between Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang Kai-shek of the republic of China to plan for post-war Asia. The Soviet Union was not at war with Japan and did not attend. Roosevelt took an anti-Imperialist stance and agreed with Chiang Kai-Shek that Indochina would not be returned to France.
25th November 1943 – US air forces based in China bomb the Japanese island of Formosa, now known as Taiwan. (From WW2-net Timelines.)
26th November 1943 – sinking of HMT (His Majesty’s Troop Ship) Rohna, off the Algerian coast, by a radio-controlled glide bomb from a German Heinkel plane. The Rohna was carrying more than 2,000 troops, mainly American. 1,138 men were lost – the largest loss of US troops at sea in a single incident and kept secret until 1967. (See Rohna Memories.)
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