{"id":1305,"date":"2023-08-10T18:00:56","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wepidgeon.com\/pidgeonpost\/?p=1305"},"modified":"2023-08-16T11:55:57","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T01:55:57","slug":"war-letters-darwin-tue-10-aug-1943-funeral-service-for-two-mercantile-seamen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wepidgeon.com\/pidgeonpost\/?p=1305","title":{"rendered":"War Letters – NW Australia: 10 Aug 1943, Darwin; Funeral service for two mercantile seamen"},"content":{"rendered":"

W.E.Pidgeon
\nC\/O DPR Unit
\nAPO Darwin<\/p>\n

Tuesday 10th<\/sup>
\n[Aug 1943]<\/p>\n

Darling,<\/p>\n

Got another letter from you posted the 6th<\/sup>.\u00a0 Thanks sweet you\u2019re doing very well indeed.\u00a0 Sorry you haven\u2019t had any mail for 5 days.\u00a0 I can\u2019t understand that as I don\u2019t think at any time have I gone longer than 2 days without sending you something.\u00a0 Maybe a censor somewhere has tossed one out.\u00a0 Why I wouldn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I get fed up with it here.\u00a0 I think I\u2019ll just clean up a few more things & come home within 3 weeks.\u00a0 To cover everything would take me months.\u00a0 So get ready to receive me right.\u00a0 Am looking forward to seeing you again \u2013 it does seem such a long time \u2013 doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n

Wrote 4 letters on Sunday to you, George Finey, King Watson, and the boys at the office.\u00a0\u00a0 So that\u2019s that.\u00a0 I was quite exhausted after it all.<\/p>\n

We have all been washing & ironing today as the batman is sick.\u00a0 Frank Tierney1<\/a><\/sup>Frank Tierney was a War Correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald<\/span> knows all about the job.\u00a0 I think he must have been a good wife to somebody.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Wep hanging out his washing. The Correspondents’ Mess is in the background. (Reproduced in The Australian Women’s Weekly, 20 Nov 1943, p9<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday I spent with a bomber squadron2<\/a><\/sup>RAAF No. 2 Squadron equipped with Lockheed Hudson bombers was based at Hughes Airfield (30 Mile)<\/span> and managed to get a good set up of the \u2018erks\u2019 (as the air force call the ranks who do the hard manual work) loading bombs into a plane.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sketch study for Loading A Bomber On A Camouflaged Field North-West Australia. Lockeed Hudson bomber of RAAF No. 2 Squadron at Hughes Airfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sunday afternoon I make a very quick note of a funeral near here.\u00a0 Two of the mercantile marine seamen who were killed when Japs bombed a ship a few days ago off the coast north from here.\u00a0 I think it would make quite a good picture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Funeral service, Berrimah War Cemetery, Darwin
[ Note: The funeral services held on 8 August 1943 at the Berrimah War Cemetery were for George Dew and Harold Keller, killed when their vessel, ‘Macumba’ was sunk during a Japanese air attack. This particular scene is of the funeral for George Dew which was conducted by Padre T. Gee, Church of England Chaplain – see also<\/a> . They were originally buried in the Berrimah War Cemetery on Berrimah Road, southeast of Darwin. After the war the graves were exhumed and relocated to Adelaide River War Cemetery where Dew and Keller were once again placed side by side] The Japanese attack is described by fellow correspondent Frank Tierney, SHIP SUNK BY BOMBS<\/a> (1943, August 9). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 – 1954), p. 4.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Made a quick water colour sketch of one of the bombed houses here.\u00a0 Water colors are hellishly awkward to manage out of doors.\u00a0 The colour dries on the box before you can get it onto the paper.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Study for Relic of Feb \u201942 – Darwin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Am dashing this letter off because I\u2019m going up the road a little way to finish off a painting of a swimming pool I started some time ago.\u00a0 As the mail will go before I return I am in haste to express my adoration.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Air Force Pool, Darwin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You must be stopping a packet of cold weather down there.\u00a0 The \u201cArmy News\u201d (local paper) mentions it nearly every day.<\/p>\n

Yes I am getting sunburnt.\u00a0 Poor old nut had peeled several times and is now sweetly crowned with a tiara of freckles.\u00a0 Borrowed a pair of shorts from the Loot yesterday so hope to lose the lily whiteness of my nether limbs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a hot day but with extra pleasant cool breeze coming off the sea.\u00a0 The climate here much to be preferred to that down the road where there is a great lack of breeze.\u00a0 The water pipe line feeding Darwin is exposed to the sun and the water from it is incredibly hot where it is tapped into camps alongside it.\u00a0 Almost to hot to shower under.\u00a0 In Darwin you can have a shower any old time night or day & it\u2019s just beaut-o!<\/p>\n

Will be off to the pictures tonight to see \u201cSun Valley Serenade\u201d3<\/a><\/sup>Sun Valley Serenade (1941)<\/a> starring Sonja Henie, John Payne and Glenn Miller and his orchestra. See also Wikipedia<\/a><\/span> again.\u00a0 Be pleasant to see Sonia skiing whilst we swelter & combat the mosquitoes.<\/p>\n

Guess I\u2019ll have to be getting along it is now almost 3pm.\u00a0 So put your arms around yourself for me & save me some great big kisses.\u00a0 Lots of love sweetheart \u2013 till I see you soon.<\/p>\n

I expect to be home for your birthday.\u00a0 Love<\/p>\n

Bill.<\/p>\n

\"42\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
War Correspondent Jimmy Smyth doing his washing in the Darwin area, Bill Caldbeck-Moore stoking the fire. James Frederick (Jimmy) Smyth was a correspondent for the Daily Mirror and Truth newspapers. Bill Caldbeck-Moore was a feature writer for the Daily Telegraph and remained a lifelong friend of Wep’s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Possibly War Correspondent Frank Tierney of The Sydney Morning Herald<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Loading A Bomber On A Camouflaged Field North-West Australia, The Australian Women’s Weekly, 20 Nov 1943, p8<\/a> The Lockheed Hudson bomber, possibly ‘Houdini’ was part of RAAF No. 2 Squadron based at Hughes Airfield (30 Mile), south of Darwin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lockheed Crew, The Australian Women’s Weekly, 20 Nov 1943, p9<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lockheed Hudson Bomber, ‘Houdini’; sketch study for Loading A Bomber On A Camouflaged Field North-West Australia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fuelling a Hudson bomber of RAAF No. 2 Squadron at Hughes Airfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Detail studies for painting “Loading A Bomber On A Camoflaged Field North-West Australia”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Detail studies of fuelling operations for Hudson bombers at RAAF No. 2 Squadron, Hughes Airfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lockheed Hudson Bomber, ‘Houdini’, No. 2 Squadron, Hughes Airfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Lockheed Hudson Bomber, No. 2 Squadron, Hughes Airfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
At No. 2 Squadron, Hughes Airfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
At No. 2 Squadron, Hughes Airfield<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Funeral service, Darwin
[ Note: The funeral services held on 8 August 1943 at the Berrimah War Cemetery were for George Dew and Harold Keller, killed when their vessel, ‘Macumba’ was sunk during a Japanese air attack. This particular scene is of the funeral for George Dew which was conducted by Padre T. Gee, Church of England Chaplain – see also<\/a> . They were originally buried in the Berrimah War Cemetery on Berrimah Road, southeast of Darwin. After the war the graves were exhumed and relocated to Adelaide River War Cemetery where Dew and Keller were once again placed side by side]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Relic of Feb \u201942 – Darwin – The American Headquarters corner Peel and Smith Streets, Darwin was originally McLure’s flats. It suffered a direct hit from a Daisy bomb. Present-day site of Uniting Church.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Darwin buildings: Above Unidentified; Below, Darwin Town Hall, Smith Street<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Darwin Post Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Commercial Bank of Australia, Darwin – Built in 1887 and situated on the northwest corner of Smith and Bennett Streets.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Notes:<\/h3>