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| At the Rats of Tobruk Exhibition |
Mum and Dad both talked freely about the friendship and camaraderie of camp life. Mum revelled in the comradeship, drill and discipline. It suited her outgoing personality. Her intellect and innate leadership blossomed in the Australian Women's Army Service.
And Mrs K our latest Lieut,
We know that she will be a beaut,
As an N.C.O she was always Lil
And as "Madam" I'm sure we'll like her still.
From Fawkner Park Personalities Xmas '43 Signals Magazine.
The friendship and camaraderie shines through in the little ditty for your Mum :D)
ReplyDeleteIt was the friendships that mattered most to my father, too. He kept them up until there were only one or two of the men left. Interesting what you say about your mother ... did she keep records, too?
ReplyDeleteJulie, Dad picked up his diary writing habit from his Mum who kept diaries all her life. Unfortunately the family in their wisdom chose to destroy all her diaries for fear of what they may contain. To halt Dad's protests they gave him just one, her very last one which I now have. In both cases they are just a tiny entry recording the highlight of each day (not the long ramblings found in my journals) but such a wonderful intsight into the person nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteBut I digress. Mum did not come from such a tradition. She did keep all of Dad's letters sent to her during the war. A whole suitcase of them apparently. However Dad made her burn them ... he said they were full of romantic drivel. When I went through her things I found she kept just one - the one he had written to her at the end of war telling his wife of 4 years that he was going home to the farm and she was to join him. She told me after he died what a shock it had all been to her a city girl expecting him to join her there. She would have known that letter was there for me to find one day so was giving me the background i needed to understand.
There were many bits and pieces of wartime memorabilia. Her paybooks, uniform, magazines etc. A rich treasure trove too but different from my Fathers.