p.

7.

continually send troops & equipment & aircraft there
& keep some Navy here & fight in the M.E.
& be prepared at home. It is an awful strain on
men & equipment & on shipping too.

More personally thought, I seem to be full of feelings
at the moment based on small & perhaps rather
silly things but all in connneciton with my coming
home. For example today this Court Martial was
held in the Pioneer Corps Depot & the first one I was
on in Palestine was in the same place & it
therefore gave me the feeling of full circle having
been traversed. And then again, I had lunch in the
P.C. mess, which is next to the P.R.T.D. Mess where
I was in January - the two messes are complete
counterparts of each other, but built the opposite way
round & so I felt that I was now facing the
other way, in other words home. And also everything
seems to be coming to an end - my socks & shirts
& pants & hankies are all getting worn out - my camp
bed is creaking more than ever & seems to be near
the end of its life - & the two papers which
I use for the recording of my letters to you
& yours to me, are very nearly full up. Even
this writing pad is on its last few pages. I
like to think this may mean something - &
I pray that it does not just mean that I
shall have to buy a whole lot of new things.

I have been frightfully careful with my clothes & I
am always having little jobs done by the tailor to keep