14-08-1942 Letter  from North Africa (6 pages)

Cousin Bob Taylor has a letter in his mother's own handwriting of the following excerpt from Dave’s letter of 14.8.42 to his mother:

            The last six weeks or so, there have been time when I thought that being a soldier was worth Six & six a moment, but those moments don’t come very often, and as a rule, the worse they are, the bigger laugh we get afterwards. Only Aussies can do that, laugh afterwards. I don’t mean weeks or months, but in the space of minutes or hours, after danger, these Aussies can laugh.

                       Do you wish to know of the very first time, that I have ever realised just what it to be an Aussie, what it felt like to be one of them and to be really proud of the fact. It happened coming up to this Desert battle some time ago. Civvies were leaving Alex in droves, mostly by train; they thought Mr Rommel was the winner at last, the roar of his artillery could be heard up the coast road, his flare could be seen by night. Our brave cobbers the Kiwis had already met him, well, odd building were blazing in the city as this Btn. came driving through, lorry after endless lorry, packed with sunburnt, healthy Aussies, and as the convoy sped through those cities foreign streets, where from every window, roof-top, door & garden gate, men, women and children, waved, cried and cheered, at street corners dense packs threw flowers, cigs, papers, and gave us their God Blessing in Arabic.

             Where dear old ladies wave hankies & blessed us, young pretty girlies gave cheery smiles and threw us kisses. Young mother held tiny tots up so they could see the Australians more easily. And just what were these same mad Aussies doing, how were they taking this rowdy passing welcome?

Mother mine, that’s just when I felt so proud to be one of them, to see & watch & hear them, every man knowing full well where he was going & what was ahead of him & not so far either & every man shouting & waving, singing songs, Ki Yi Yippy & a lot of others. Calling out so loudly - Oh o oh, when they spotted an extra good sort & altogether not seeming to give a damn & that is the very thing that makes me so proud to be an Aussie; these chappies with the big wide grins & rough manners are the only soldiers in this mad world today who can do that sort of thing & I have seen thousands of troops in this dirty ME - Indians, S’Af, Poles, Scots, Tommies & Free French besides the silly looking local? direction. And our boys are the only ones that laugh & sing & joke when things are really tough. The NZ’s are the next to us in ways, in looks we are no dif, they are ever so much quieter. Seldom use our slang.