Deolali. India

May 19th 1942

Dear Daddy.

Herewith the long promised letter, that I have been meaning to write for 6 weeks, but first let me say how sorry I am about your second baby, which Budge has told me about. I do hope that Jane did not take it too hard, having Stella must have helped a good deal.

I had better tell you my adventures in a chronological order. I left Port Dixon on Jan 11th having sent Budge to Singapore about a fortnight earlier. I was the last civilian to leave as the order for evacuation never reached me, but when the Police were disbanded the previous day, and I noticed that nearly all others had left, I took it as time that I moved as well. The Japs were then supposed to be about 30 miles away. All my work had stopped on Govt. orders, and I had sent all my labourers, and assistants to Singapore and was busy myself trying to get all the plant out that I could manage. I drove the firm’s lorry down to Singapore, piled high with various baggage, and had no adventures except at Muar, where 3 Jap planes made a dive bombing attack on us, where we were parked awaiting a ferry. They didn’t drop any bombs, and I was lying face down in a very nasty mangrove swamp awaiting my end, and was very disappointed at the anti-climax. It was apparently just Jap sense of humour. Later in the day after I had left Muar, they returned and gave it a good plastering.

We moved back into our old house in Singapore and were optimistic about everything until about the end of January. I had made Budge put her name down for evacuation, and on the last day of the month she was told that there was a passage for her. It nearly broke my heart seeing her off with Caroline under those circumstances. I thought at that time that she was going direct to England. After she had gone, Frank Grazebrook Budge’s brother-in-law a Major in R.E., Gordon Ransome, a Professor of Medicine in Singapore, and an Australian War Correspondent named Henry Stokes, moved into my house to share.

All this time, I was working hard building temporary camps for the Army, in the exact area where the Japs eventually landed. We had air-raids almost continuously but being all day out in the Rubber Estates, I was fairly safe, and had the great pleasure of being first on the scene when a Jap plane, having received a direct Ack-ack hit, exploded – and crashed within 100 yards of me. Unfortunately, all members of the crew were dead, although only one looked badly damaged, and he had his head off and was burning nicely. After about a week the Japs started shelling and the very first salvo came over at breakfast time and landed all around our house, one shell hitting the house just above us, that had been turned into an Australian Hospital. This went on every morning and in the evening, and we got quite used to it.

Then one evening, a terrific barrage started, and we counted 97 shells per minute, although they weren’t all Jap, and were not landing near us. This barrage went on for four hours, and we went to bed thinking that all the noise was our guns. Next morning we learnt that we were mistaken, and that the Japs had landed on the Island. Henry Stokes the War Correspondent was a mine of information and kept us completely informed of all news, although at one time we were fed up with him as his news was always bad, but unhappily true. On Tuesday Feb 10th we learnt through him that things were pretty hopeless, and I went down to the Bank with a view to getting most of my money out of the country, keeping a little in case it came in useful during internment. The previous evening Ransome and I had been down to the Yacht Club and stocked up his little dinghy with provisions etc with a view to escaping if it became necessary. After visiting the bank, I went off down to my work, to see if it was possible to carry on. I wasn’t allowed up the road however, which was apparently under heavy mortar fire and dive bombing. I then thought I would call in at the Temporary Office we had. Our original office being next to the Civil Aerodrome very soon became uninhabitable, and the second one we moved to had been completely demolished by shells and bombs. I called in for a few minutes before going to lunch, and our Secretary told me to keep in touch with him all day. At lunch Henry Stokes said that he had been ordered to leave that evening with all the other correspondents, and advised us to get out immediately if we wanted to get out at all.

I then went round to see our Secretary, and he told me that the Admiralty had ordered him to give them a list of all our staff with a view to evacuation, that he had done this, and that I was to meet them at 3pm with a view to embarking on a Naval craft at 4pm. It was then about 1.30pm, so I rushed home, and packed a suitcase with some shirts etc. The previous evening we had been ejected from my own house to make way for some Australian wounded, and all my furniture, silver, glass and private papers etc were stacked in the garage. I couldn’t even find Budge’s photo, or my cameras, so I lost all possessions I ever had. On my way to the Docks there was another heavy raid, but we finally got on board and sailed. The last sight of Singapore was the most melancholy I have ever seen. The whole sky was covered with black smoke from the various oil tanks set on fire, and guns were firing continuously. We had an uneventful journey except when eight Jap planes flew over us, and one of them took time off to bomb us. Our high angle gun kept him up however and he only dropped one bomb which missed us by 15 yards. We were amazingly lucky compared to some people who had hours of continuous bombing, with their ships being sunk. We arrived in Batavia and changed to a Dutch ship, which after what seemed an interminable voyage brought us to Colombo, from whence I sent my first cable to you and Budge. We didn’t know what our final destination was, but were finally told that it would be Bombay, where we arrived on March 1st. On landing, I wrote to the C.R.E. Southern Command, and applied for a commission with the R.E.s. He wrote a very nice letter back asking me to go and see him, but before I could go I was called up before a National Service Labour Tribunal. The usual delay followed, and finally I got my orders to go to an Officers’ Training Unit. Meanwhile, Gammons of Bombay, offered me a job which I refused, although the pay was attractive being Rs1300 per month. I had set my mind on the Army and told them so. This Gammons is no connection with the Malayan firm only having been founded by the same man. The Manager of the firm then went to Delhi and saw the Engineer-in-Chief and applied for my release from Army Service, without my knowledge or consent. They are engaged on the new China road, and he somehow managed to persuade the E-in-C that I was just the man for it. The E-in-C then wrote to the G.O.C. District, and asked him to interview me and to persuade me to take on this civilian job. I saw the General and put forward my case, and told him that I was quite willing to go as an Army Officer, but would not go as a civilian. The General quite agreed with me, and replied to Delhi that those were my final terms. Delhi still hum and hawed and so I happened to find out a branch of the Army that had absolute priority for men, and went and offered myself to them, explaining the whole situation. They immediately accepted me, and within two weeks I have been promoted Acting Captain, although I am still on a training course. I can’t I’m afraid tell you much about the job owing to censorship, but I am in the Corps of Indian Engineers, which is the illegitimate offspring of the Royal Engineers, and some but by no means all of my brother officers are peculiarly coloured. The whole show is in fact a most amazing mixture of Classes, colours etc but when I join a Company, I shall be doing work with which I am very familiar, and will probably go overseas. My address for letters, which I cabled to you is c/o Imperial Bank of India, Bombay.

I only wish I could have Budge and Caroline here, but I think India is a filthy place, and at present where I am now, the heat is terrific. Anyway I shall never know that I will be in one place for certain, South Africa is much safer than India, and the sea passage across is by no means 100% safe, so I have put the idea out of my mind. I miss her terribly, and I am sure that she is the best wife that anyone ever had. I want her to stay in South Africa where she can bring up Caroline with plenty of food, and get really fit herself after her 3 years in Malaya, and the horrible experiences she has been through lately.

If and when the sea is really safe again, and if the war seems as though it is going to continue for some time more, she may possibly decide to return home to England, or even go and join you in Mexico. I know you would love them both.

I shall finish my course here in two weeks, and then, I don’t know where I shall go. I’ll write and tell you how I am getting on later, but while on this course we never have a minute to ourselves except in the middle of the day, when it is usually too hot to write.

My love to Jane and Stella, and Ruth’s children.

Love

Pat

By the way Frank Grazebrook stayed behind being on the General Staff and is now a prisoner of war. Henry S and Gordon Ransome left on another boat the same evening, and Gordon came with me to Colombo and Bombay. His wife is one of Budge’s oldest friends and is with her in Durban. Gordon has now joined the I.M.S. as a Major

c/o 220 Ind. Port Contr. Coy IE

ABPO 18 India

Sept 28th 1943

Dearest Daddy.

It is months and months since I heard from you, and almost as many months since I wrote, but you mustn’t think that it is because I have forgotten you or Jane or Stella, but boiled down to simple facts I suppose it is part laziness and part a constitutional inability to write letters that seems to be getting more marked as I get older. I write to Budge every week without fail and that effort seems to drain me. I know that she writes fairly often to you so that you are kept in touch and know where I am, and roughly what I am doing. The last letter I had from you was dated November ’42 but it arrived here in early June, nearly seven months on the way. This rather discouraged me, but Budge tells me that you got my letter from Ootacamund, so that apparently the mail service does work occasionally. I had better start from after Ootacamund and tell you what I have been doing since then. After leave I went back to the Company at that time stationed outside Bombay, and we remained there for another month. It was an ideal spot in which to be stationed, with broad clean sands, and a clear sea, and we spent a lot of time swimming and rowing as we had by then completed the job for which we had originally gone there. At the end of February we had to return to Bombay and spent an unpleasant month there. I hated the place, with no interesting work to do, and noisy dirty living quarters that forced one out in the evenings. I used to spend most evenings at the Bombay Yacht Club, of which I was a service member. The days were occupied in trying to keep the men employed, and as they can none of them be called natural soldiers, they soon became fed up with drill etc. they are all tradesmen, and recruited from all parts of India and when they are given an interesting job of work to do, they work like hell. But keeping them smart and clean on parade was heart-breaking, and I was never exactly proud of them, although we were adjudged the smartest Company in the Group, and given a small flag the size of a pocket handkerchief to tote around on parade. Our Havildar Major who is an ex-Regular Gurkha was disgusted when I made him carry it. After a bit I was ordered to send a draft to this part of the world, and although I was very disappointed that I could not come myself, I was glad in that it showed me that we should all be moving soon. The draft moved off while I was in bed with flu, and soon afterwards the rest of us were ordered to another place about 40 miles from Bombay, to build a wharf there.

We spent two very pleasant months there, completely on our own and undisturbed by anyone. We were under canvas, and I got used to sleeping in a 40lb tent that would just take my camp bed and nothing else. We had nearly finished our job when we got moving orders to come here. The peace of life was only marred by a most unpleasant C.R.E. to whose face and figure I took an instant dislike. He tried to charge me with some cement that got damaged in a rainstorm, which infuriated me, as having worked for Contractors for most of the time, I have a far better idea of the value of materials than he had, having slumbered through life in the M.E.S. I demanded a Court of Inquiry and got it, and came through an easy winner, with I believe remarks as to his behaviour and reliability attached. I was glad to see him later in Orders, that they had recognised his ability, and reverted him back to Major. Finally we had to move here, and it was rather a business, as there were only we two officers, the others being on the draft, and we had to move in two parties.

I hate the business of moving, as one cannot, as in the British Army leave everything to the R.S.M. and Q.M.S. Every little thing has to be supervised by an Officer, or something goes wrong. Everything went all right however, and after about four days travelling we arrived at our destination. I think I can tell you that it is in Eastern Bengal but the censor may cross that out. Now we are here, I expect we shall stay, and only move as we advance into Burma and perhaps further on.

I have been exceedingly busy, as at present I have no other officers with me, one being on leave, and the others scattered around with small detachments, so that I have had to carry the whole weight myself. Luckily, just before we came up here, which is considered a forward district I managed to obtain a couple of good B.O.R.s from a British company and am slowly getting rid of my previous Anglo Indian W.O.s When we first arrived we were sent up river about 8 miles from the Port and Base, to build jetties, bridges and roads. We stayed there nearly 3 months, and then I was sent for in a great hurry up here, in order virtually to rebuild a port. Everything is done in a great hurry in the Army, and starts off with a terrific amount of commotion and talk of priorities, and then everyone forgets about it, and things resume their normal course. Why they can’t foresee what is wanted on an L of C even just a few weeks before it is wanted, is beyond me, and it would make a great deal more efficiency. I have never regarded the R.E. as engineers, and my opinion of them now technically as civil engineers is even lower. I suppose it was all just the same in your day, but I don’t think I should be able to stick it in peacetime as you managed to. I am quite happy here, living in a comfortable bamboo hut, and don’t miss company at all. My years in the Sudan quite accustomed me to living by myself, and I never feel the need for anyone to talk to, except of course when I have Budge with me. She is the perfect wife and I keep on missing her terribly, it being over 18 months since we parted. I can think of no other ambition at present, than to have the War end so that I can rejoin her, and we have decided that we are going to take a very long holiday together. We may come out and see you, if communications are easy. Sue looks absolutely lovely to my eyes. I don’t know whether Budge has sent you any photos of her, but she is just my idea of what a child should be. It is six years since I saw Stella so I suppose that now she is quite big, and you are thinking of sending her to school. In your very much delayed letter you spoke of being rather worried by the fact that the Railway was to be taken over by Government. Has that happened yet? Surely the Directors will have to give you some pension after all you have been nearly 20 years with the Railway now. Anyway don’t worry too much about it. If Budge and I settle in England, or even in South Africa, we can always look after Mummy, and Dick will be getting at least a Major’s pay for the rest of his life, and will be able to subscribe something. Aunt Grace is a different matter, and I have always felt rather hard hearted about her, as she never seems to have contributed anything useful to the world. I really do feel that the best thing for her would be a place in a home for Aged Gentlewomen or some such thing.

Ruth tells me that Mummy has been working extremely hard for the whole war, and really it seems to have been just what she needed, and I am told that she is looking extremely well on it. Dick, I have heard very little about, except that he went to Staff College, but whether he passed out successfully I don’t know. I expect he is very much looking forward to some Active Service, as he has been in India or England for the whole war. I suppose he will get his chance soon, and is lucky not to be in this part of the World, as most other parts are preferable. I rather envy the chaps in S. Italy myself.

Oct. 7th I have left this letter for a bit in the hopes that something more of interest might turn up that I could tell you, and yesterday I got another letter from you dated March 8th and enclosing two photos, one of Stella and the other of your new house. Again the letter had taken seven months to come, although how it managed to take that time quite mystifies me, 3 to 4 should be sufficient. I also received an Air Card from Mummy who had been staying with the Chances. She tells me that Ruth, Betty and Nancy are all going to have children in December, and also that Dick is now G.S.O. II Southern Command. It strikes me that I am wasting my time in this jungle hole, with the highly placed relatives I have. Sir James Grigg the War Minister is a cousin of sorts of Budge’s. Joan seems to be the confidante and right hand woman of the Prime Minister, and now Dick with a gorgeous red arm band, and probably suede shoes.

I am not clear whether the new house is your own or rented, but it looks very pleasant, and of course I suppose there is no petrol rationing to stop you going into town by car. It sounds as if your groom should get the sack. What was the name of the one you had when I was with you? A man with large handlebar moustaches. I must stop now as I have to prepare to Court-Martial a man this afternoon, and I am not very well up in the legal side, and if one writes a word wrong in the proceedings the legal experts cancell the whole affair, and the punishment, and make one look a bit of a B.F.

Give my love to Stella and Jane. The former looks extremely well, and exactly like you. I am looking forward to seeing my Sue and introducing her to you all.

Love

Pat.

220 Ind. Port Constr. Coy. IE

ABPO 18

South East Asia Command

4/5/44

Dearest Daddy.

I have just had two letters from you, one written in January and one on March 14th. The latter arrived before the January one, and has therefore only taken six weeks, which is a bit of a change from the usual 3 to 6 months. You seem to be moving in high and mighty society nowadays, with the numerous ambassadors, ministers etc. I am rather surprised to hear that you are trying to sell your Cuernavaca house, as it was always such a retreat for you, but if the place is getting spoilt I don’t blame you, but mind you stick out for a handsome price for it. The odd dinners you attend make me a bit jealous as I have forgotten what good food tastes like. the British or Indian Armies haven’t changed their rations for the past fifty years, and all we get is bully beef, with rather scarce anaemic vegetables occasionally, and also a peculiar type of American sausage, which even animals refuse and which is called a Pork and Soya Link. I sometimes feel that someone in high authority, or on some purchasing commission must have substantial holdings in Bully, as no variation is ever served, not even Meat and Vegetable.

We are now in a comparatively rear area, about 20 miles from the nearest Jap, and have been here for the past two months. We were right forward at one time, and I in fact was the first person in to the village at which we were to work after it had been cleared by the infantry. We worked hard there, had grandstand views of battles two or three miles away, and at one time were cut off for a few days by the Japs who got across our L of C. Two years ago, that would meant a general retreat, but this time it only meant a period of suspense while they were cleared out. On one of my recce’s I motored slap bang into a battle in which our Tanks were taking part, and stayed to watch it for a few minutes before hurriedly turning the car and buzzing off. Life was interesting during those two months, and the last two months have been an anti-climax after them.

We are all rather bored now, and a bit fed up, and are looking forward to a complete change of the station for the monsoon which is just about to start. Most of us have got the 1939 - 43 Star out of the last few months, but as a man who has been sitting in Calcutta for that period also gets it, it doesn’t mean much to us. I do think that the Bengal –Burma border is probably one of the bloodiest spots on the face of the earth, as it is damned hot, very damp, very malarious, and has absolutely none of the amenities of civilisation. I have private grouse of my own in addition. It being, that some time ago, last Christmas to be precise, an Army Order was published stating that wives could now come to India from the Colonies and the U.K. I made my application to bring Budge out here and park her in a Hill Station, and it was refused on the grounds that I was in an operational area. The inference being that if I had a nice soft job in Delhi or Simla I could have her, but since I was B.F. enough to be near the fighting I couldn’t, I would dearly love to meet the man who made that decision. I have protested vigorously, but that was two months ago and there has been no reply. These statements in the paper that all men with 5 years service abroad have [to] be repatriated, are hardly accurate, as I have met several with more.

Another masterpiece from Delhi has also said that Indian Army officers will not be repatriated, and that no scheme for leave home is likely to be evolved. In fact, once in the Indian Army one is stuck here. Another letter was soon published saying that a leave scheme for I.A. officers would be evolved but would take time. The whole set up makes one feel very bolshie. Budgie is very well and so is Sue. She writes wonderful letters very regularly, and they are one of the joys which I look forward to. Another is the Reader’s Digect which I had all last year from you. You say you have continued the subscition and also added “Life”. I am very grateful and thoroughly enjoy them. “Life” has not yet started to arrive, but if you have either my Bank address, or the address at the top of this letter it will do so. Unfortunately there is a Major P.E. Holmes R.E. in this area, and he would get anything addressed to my old address c/o D.C.E., although I expect he would forward it. I have had a card from “Magazine Digest” saying that you had opened a subscription, and it went to him first. Nothing has arrived as yet. Could you get the address changed to c/o Imperial Bank Ltd., Bombay, as they will always know my latest? I am afraid this is rather a dull letter, but I can’t give you any news of my work as everything is censorable. I received the two photos of Jane and Stella. The latter has grown enormously and is more like you than ever. We Holmes certainly leave an unmistakeable imprint on our children. Give my best love to them both. Budge tells me that one of the Mitchell-Innes is going to divorce her husband. Anne I suppose. I am afraid I thought her husband was an absolute wash out.

By the way, your March letter was the first I had heard about your Insurance venture. I hope it is a success

All love to you

Pat

Major P.E.M. Holmes IE

220 Ind. Port Constr. Coy IE

S.E.A.C

Nov. 16th 1944

Dearest Dad.

I wrote to you last when we were up in Nuwara Eliya on leave but that was about two months ago. First let me say how very much grieved I was to hear about Dick’s death in Italy. I sent you a cable as soon as we heard of it from Mum, and I hope you got it. I don’t know whether you heard any details but apparently he was shot through the head by a German sniper in an attack on a village called San Savino in Italy. He was commanding the leading company in the attack, and at the moment of his death was engaged in giving orders to his 2-i-c. It came as an awful shock to me, as I somehow never thought but that he would come through all right. His best friend Warren whom I know well, was also killed in Italy a few months earlier.

Budge and I have settled down happily here and as comfortably as possible in a very small and rather native type bungalow in rather a noisome side street. It is not really too bad, although of course not up to what we were used to in Malaya, but on the other hand for me it is comparative comfort after two years of tents and palm huts. Sue has grown taller since she has been here and is full of energy and looks awfully well. I told you all the arrival news in the letters from N’Eliya. We stayed in N’Eliya a fortnight at the Grand Hotel, which was rather a dump, compared with what it could have been. It rained a good deal of the time, and towards the end, Sue got a touch of dysentery, but Budge and I kept well. It was my first leave for nearly two years, but I found it rather relaxing and didn’t feel particularly refreshed by it. The journey back here was pretty grim, what with changing and waits at wayside stations, and I really was quite pleased to get back. I cannot understand why India and Ceylon can’t put on better train services, after we have been in the country all these years. In India one still has to carry ones own bedding when travelling first class dust permeates everywhere, and the food served at wayside station dining rooms is foul. Even making all allowances for war, travelling out here can never be anything but misery. Malaya was far better, and so was the Sudan.

I had already arranged that we would share this small house, we are now in, with an officer of another Company and his wife, and this we had to to [sic] for about 10 days when fortunately for us he was transferred. Budge has taken a ½ day job with a Service here and so is at work every morning, which is a very good thing as there would be nothing much else for her to do. I don’t think it is likely that I shall be here for more than another couple of months or so, but we we [sic] have not made up our minds yet as to where Budge should go when I get posted to a more active area. She has friends in Simla and we are seriously considering there, but on the other hand a South Indian station would be much handier and would not involve such a long journey for her. It is all very difficult, as I of course shall not be able to take her to whichever station we choose, as we are always moved at very short notice. I get to dislike the Indian Government more every day, the chief grouse amongst all us Indian Army officers being of course repatriation and for home leave. It is glibly announced that all I.A officers who have been continuously overseas for more than 5 years civil or military are eligible for two months home leave. Eligible we may be, but the only person that I have heard of going home on leave had been here 11 years. Mere 5 – 8 years haven’t got a chance and may have to wait years, in spite of Mr. Amery’s glib lies in Parliament. Another thing is that being in the Indian Army we are not eligible for the vote at Home, as if we were domiciled out here, when the majority of us haven’t the slightest interest in India and joined the Indian Army innocently thinking that it was an Imperial Force, and on the same terms as the British Army. It is particularly galling for me to see British Service men with 4 years served going hom for good, when I have nearly 6 years and can’t even get Home leave and have no chance at all of going home for good. The vast majority of Indian Army officers are in the same boat as I am, the regulars who are domiciled out here being well in the minority.

I have had 3 letters from you recently, dated widely different dates but all arriving here within a few days of each other. I have also had about 3 packets of books, and packets of Blackwoods and Chambers. I am awfully grateful for these, and you have my thanks.

As for “Life”, “Readers Digest” etc I used to get those through Budge in S.S., but haven’t had any magazine direct from the publishers since last January, so if you have been sending them, they have gone astray. My only correct address now is c/o 220 Ind. Port Contr. Coy. IE. – S.E.A.C. – India.

I was amazed when you told me you were 67 last September. Your photos don’t make you look anything like that, and I always seemed to have the idea that you were a permanent 58. I hope you are all keeping well, I must say you always seem to look it. Budge and I are longing if possible to come and visit you when this confounded war is over. Give my love to Jane and Stella, and love to yourself

Your loving

Pat

Major P.E.M.Holmes

c/o 220 Ind. Port Constr Coy. IE.

S.E.A.C.

March. 20th 1945

Dearest Daddy.

First of all let me thank you very, very much indeed for the £150 that you have telegraphed to me c/o National Bank of India. I don’t know what it is in honour of but it is very welcome and I am very grateful. You mustn’t get the idea however that I am short of money as my pay is adequate to keep Budgie and myself, and save something as well, and Budge never touches what small private means she has herself. I am wondering whether it is to mark the expectation of another child, which as you know we expect in June. I am afraid you may be disappointed as to its sex as Budge is certain that it is going to be a girl. Now for our news. I think you know that Budge and I are once again separated, I being on my travels again, and she being safely settled in Ootacamund. It all came as an unpleasant surprise for us as I had been assured that we would stay where we were until about September. Four days after this assurance, we got an order to be ready to move, so I had quickly to make arrangements to get Budge and Sue to a Hill Station before we moved so she wouldn’t be left on her own. We immediately closed the house, or rather to let it to new tenants and Budgie went to stay with friends. We then wired to Ootacamund and booked accommodation, and a week later I saw her off on the train, sending one of my havildars with her to help her on the way. In many ways it was the best thing for us all, as the climate we were in was not a good one either for Budge of for Sue, and I know that I should never have persuaded her to leave me as long as I was stationed there, and it would not have been a good house to have a new baby in. As it is she is in as healthy a climate as India has to offer, with plenty of food of every kind. Budge was found to be lacking in red corpuscles and that is now being rectified, and Sue is apparently brimming with energy even more than she used to. The day after I saw Budge off, I had to fly up to Calcutta, a journey that takes only 12 hours as against about 4 days by train. The wartime plane is hardly comfortable, but it is a thousand times better and cleaner than the wartime Indian Railway. I was in Calcutta on various duties for nearly three weeks staying at a dump called the Grand Hotel which is now exclusively for the Services, and in which one shares a single room with at least two others. I spent my time running around after various Staff officers, and having an insight into the inner working of an Army. One conclusion I did come to was that far too many people are involved in one perfectly simple action. To get anything done one has to see a minimum of 4 officers. I was offered a job up there myself, but as nothing was said about promotion I declined it, as if I am to remain in my present rank, I would rather remain here with the Unit, especially as our work will get considerably more interesting with the recapture of Rangoon and Singapore. I left Calcutta some days ago and am now on a ship making my way [cut out by censor] to another part of the World.

Like most people, I am fed up with the Army, especially with the Indian Army, or that part of it that deals with leave, repatriation etc. No complaints against the Troops or the officers one meets, but a lot against an Organisation that denies one the right to return home permanently after any period of service although men in exactly similar circumstances are repatriated after 3 yrs 8 months. Amery, glibly gets up in the Commons and says that we are entitled to Home leave after 5 years service overseas, civil or military, but he knows full well that we haven’t a hope before we have done 8 years. Anyway 61 days leave after all that time is a hollow mockery. How I loathe politicians and Indian Govt officials. The Indian Army is always six months or more behind the British Govt in any pay increases, leave schemes etc, and then seems to grant them with a bad grace. All Indian Army officers I have spoken to feel the same way about it and are anxious to transfer to British Service, although for most of us that is not possible. I suppose the War will end one day however.

I haven’t much thought of what I am to do after the War, but Budge’s father has made a suggestion that I go into his Brickworks, as he has only a nephew to take his place ( the nephew was also at Stowe), and he thinks there would be plenty of room for us both. I haven’t seriously considered it yet, as for one thing I know absolutely nothing about brick-making or selling. However it would be pleasant to work in a concern with a family interest. It all seems so uncertain though as to how long it will be before I get home and demobilised. I have no wish to remain on in Burma or Malaya for the reconstruction period, although I may be forced to. I should dearly like to take some long leave after demobilisation and come out to Mexico and see you and your family, although parking two children will be a bit of a problem by that time.

Sue is the apple of my eye, exceedingly beautiful, and very inquisitive and intelligent, with a sense of humour just like mine. She hardly ever gets cross or disgruntled, but is occasionally a bit stubborn and obstinate, and I find I can never force her to obey me when she doesn’t want to as I always start laughing before I can get really stern. She has no shyness or colour bar and picks up the most extraordinary friends. There were very few or rather no children for her to play with in [removed by censor], which is another reason why it is a good thing that she has gone to Ooty, where there are lots of children of all ages.

How are Jane & Stella? It is some time since I heard from you, and then you had just been down to some place I can’t remember (Cualtla?) and were considering buying some land there in Stella’s name. I believe you have sold Cuernavaca, and I hope you got a good price for it, as judging by newspaper accounts Mexico is experiencing a tourist boom at present with masses of wealthy war escapées. If there are any young and fit British subjects amongst them, they ought to have their passports removed from them, so that they can’t return home when it is all over. The German part looks as if it will be over within a few weeks now, and it is to be hoped that they will fight to the bitter end so that they will get the hiding and devastation that they deserve. I fancy that the ground war is already as far into Germany as it has ever been in any previous war, and the farther the better the outlook for the future. The Japs, if American reports are to be believed prefer suicide to surrender even civilians, 20,000 of whom are supposed to have drowned themselves, including women and children, after Saipan. Perhaps with any luck they will wipe themselves out, and save others the trouble.

Give my love to Jane and Stella and any other of my friends that are still in Mexico, and take care of yourselves.

Your loving son

Pat

Heathfield

Ootacamund

9.7.45

Dear Daddy.

Budge has written to you and I am sending this with hers, so that you will hear all our news at once. I arrived here on leave 3 days ago and Budge and Sue met me at the Station. They both looked amazingly well, in fact I scarcely recognised Sue, so fat and pink cheeked had she become. I never expected Budge to meet me as it is only a fortnight since she had her baby, but she is looking almost better than I have ever seen her, with full cheeks and a good colour. The baby is of course minute and has at present rather a froglike look, and reddish auburn hair. We can’t really see what it is going to look like at present. Budge’s house that she and Eryl Ransome have jut moved into is very nice, with a smallish garden, the only snag being as is usual in Indian houses that there is no running water, or water closets. And of course they need a retinue of servants and nannies to run it and the children. The cook is excellent, and I am eating like a horse, as it is the first really good food I have had for months. Unfortuneately [sic] I have come up here in the rainy season, and it is cold and wet, but I don’t mind as I am taking life very easily.

My life since I last wrote has been one long round of travelling by ship plane and rail. When I last wrote I was on my way down to a small group of Islands a long way from Colombo, where we had some work to do.

I stayed there about 4 weeks, and then came back to Colombo, in a very comfortable Liberty cargo ship. From Colombo I flew to Calcutta and then on into Mandalay in Burma. My unit had been split up all over the place, and in fact had only just now joined up, so I had detachments everywhere. I didn’t stay in Mandalay long, only about 12 days, and then I motored down to Rangoon. It was an interesting drive, about 450 miles long, and I saw as much of Burma as I want to. I stayed in Rangoon about a fortnight, doing absolutely nothing and getting bored stiff. It wasn’t knocked about but all the houses and buildings had been completely looted of everything even down to the last cheap iron hinge. Mostly of course done by the Burmans in the interim between the Japs leaving and us occupying.

After the fortnight in Rangoon, I returned to Calcutta and almost immediately had to go into Hospital with what I called a bad cold, but the Hospital called acute bronchitis. They kept me in for twelve days, although I felt perfectly fit at about 3 days. I was frightfully impatient to get out, as a vast amount of work had accumulated as we had received no mail for 3 ½ months, and it all came down with a bang, and had to be answered. While in Calcutta I took advantage of the temporary good temper of the Brigadier and got 14 days leave, although I couldn’t of course go at once. As soon as I had got things a little out of their chaos, I made a beeline for here, having four perfectly foul nights on the train, which was as usual very overcrowded. I caught what seemed to be a cold, due to the dust perhaps, and didn’t feel at my best when I arrived. Budgie said I looked very yellow, but that is due to Mepacrine, an anti- malarial drug, that we all have to take every day. It has no lasting effects, and the colour goes away almost as soon as one gives up the drug. It certainly stops malaria, which will soon I think be regarded as a punishable disease.

Your negotiations for the sale of the Railway seem to be pretty heart-breaking. What are you going to do when you retire. Return to England, or live in Mexico. I would strongly recommend the latter, as I think England is going to be pretty bloody to live in for the next 10 years. I intend to return there for Budge and the childen’s Sake, as the East is certainly no place for English women or children, and I think men only live half a life here, with a lack of energy that is so constant that one doesn’t notice it. Budge’s father has suggested sending Budge and me on a business tour of America after the war, to help choose the most modern type of brick kiln, which he would want me to erect on my return to England. The tour would end in Mexico to see you both, but would probably, in fact certainly be undertaken without the children. I don’t know of course whether this will all come off as it is in the rather distant future. I am age group 33 for demobilisation and they certainly won’t go beyond 25 this year. No one knows what will happen then, and there may be a gap before they release any more. However I should be out of the Army by the end of 1946, and time passes quickly. The demobilisation and repatriation from here is causing to say the least a great deal of inconvenience as so many are going at once, and reinforcements are not too easy. However it will straighten out as soon they are now flying men out here. It all seems to have been done in a bullheaded way, and most people out here are of the opinion that it is an election stunt largely. I dislike politicians of whatever party intensely and consider the majority of them to be of dubious honesty. There is no repatriation for me until I finish as I am Indian Service. I have applied for transfer to British Service but don’t think for a minute that I shall get it. Anyway I am not really keen to go home until I am released so it does not matter much.

I have just read a book by Col. Mitford called “Dawn breaks in Mexico”. It had a terrible review I am told but I enjoyed it. I don’t think he can have written it himself, with lyrical descriptions of sunsets, and other poetical nonsense. There is not much in the book, and I don’t think somehow it will appeal to those who have not been to Mexico. He gives you a gracious tribute of about 5 words. If you haven’t got the book, write to Budge and she will send it to you.

Budgie tells me that I have been mentioned in despatches. Having been out of touch with Army Orders for some time I haven’t seen it. It may be true however as I don’t think the woman who told her could have made it up. All my love to you all and I hope we shall see each other before too long a time.

Your loving

Pat