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passionate things we do - & what will happen when we get [much underlined] older; shall we stop, & will it be you or me who is offended & hurt when we do stop. And I have decided that we shall never stop - only that we may become more gentle & perhaps a little less ardent. Don't you feel this too, my darling? Tuesday Feb 10th I couldn't write any more last night, darlingI sat here for nearly two hours, thinking about you & about us, & gazing at your big photographs, & looking through my album of scraps which you have sent me, & reading some of your letters. I can sit & think about you for hours, easily - I only wish I had more time to do it. I am very busy at the moment - & I have just done a thing which may easily make me even busier in the near future. I have written, on Sunday, a personal & confidential letter to a R.A.F. Squadron leader - which is the equivalent rank to a Major - telling him, in so many words, that he is unefficient, ineffectual & useless, & that if he did not give me a satisfactory reply by this morning, I would take the matter up with the Area Commander. Nothing happened by this morning, & so off I went & laid my letter before the Brigade Major. He was shocked to the core & just about stunned, as well as barking with laughter, & said I should not write letters like that without seeing him first. I told him I did not want to get the man into trouble behind his back. I then was taken in to see the A. C. - he was impressed & sympathetic & most agreeable, & has asked me to write him a private letter, which he will pass on to the General. So now I am wide open for a counter attack. You cannot tell me that I do
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not push myself! - because quite apart from my perfectly [sincere underlined] & righteous feelings in this case, I also hope that it may do me some good, & maybe I shall be taken vote of a recommended for a Lt Col's appointment - as else sent home in disgrace. I must now really tell you about the Corp anniversary of last Friday - otherwise other things will intervene & it will become dim, & the story will never be told. About 150 of the men's wives & girl friends & families came. Col. Leicester was the guest of honor, as it were - & my invitations were also accepted by Mr Slentok & his wife, & Edwin Samuel & his wife & various other notables about whom you have not heard. We kicked off at 2-30 pm with a full corp parade & inspection by Col L. & march past. The Corp was really excellent & did me great credit, & were much admired by those who know & also those who do not. I was also bloody smart myself & was banging my feet down fit to bust. Even the officers were good, as a result of my having a subaltern's parade every day for a week & giving them the works. After this, we had a bayonet fighting display - & a show armed & marined men fighting each other. And then the great football match against the P.R.T.D. It was a v. good game, & we were beaten 3-2 which was not bad, considering that the Depot is about 6 times our strength. At half time there was a P.T. display - & at the end of the game, the R.A.F. gave a display of low flying attacks. I held my hands up one time, & the R.A.F. officer recognised
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me & came so low, I had to duck down to avoid being struck. They really are crackers, those young pilots. That ended the sports & parades - & music & dancing & food & drink followed. These took place in the dining hall, & one of the barrack rooms which had been cleared for the occasion - both large dreary places on exactly the same pattern as my own room, which I have described to you - but a number of the men had made a really fine job of decorating them, with greenery from a nearby forest & wild flowers, & the Corp's name printed up, & the Royal Arms, & blankets hung over the rather dilapidated black out screens. Pilz Band started off & played like hell for 2 hours from 5-7. We had lots of cakes & sweets & fruits, & all the cooks & a few extra helpers had stayed up until after midnight the previous night, making meat pies & sausage rolls & jam pastries - & another party had been up at 5-0 am cutting sandwiches. And the Welfare Committee did me quite proud with wine. The men & their girls all danced & sang & enjoyed themselves - I beamed about the place. By this time, all the notables had left, except Mrs Samuel - The Hon Edwin having to go & give a lecture somewhere, about colonisation in Palestine. I had a long talk with her in the Mess, mostly about you coming out here, darling - & I now know just how hopeless it is. Her trip to London has never come off, because she just cannot get there - in spite of having tried very hard. (And Ben-Ammi's trip never came off either). She told me that Dr [Weigman ?] had been very anxious to come to Palestine, &
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Churchill wanted him to come - but he would not come without his wife, & they just [would underlined] not give her priority for a seat in a plane. So that really made me feel that further effort at the moment is useless, which you & I had pretty well felt already, I'm afraid. She agreed that the sea trip is out of the question just now & much too dangerous. Oh dear! We then went into the concert, which began at 8-0; it was not particularly good, but everybody seemed to enjoy it, & there is nothing to tell you about it. Except that at half time I made a speech - welcoming the guests & congratulating the Corp. I told the guests that I was afraid that they must think of me as that bad man who stopped the menfolk from coming on leave - which raised a good laugh. I then told the Corp a few things - & finally told them that I felt very proud of them & of my command. They gave me a tremendous cheer & clap, which was very good of them. And then they gave me three cheers - which gave me quite a lump in my throat. It was really an excellent day - & the men enjoyed it to the utmost - which was the most important thing. I'm sending on this photo of me & Peter - the other bigger ones I sent by sea mail, & I just got hold of the one the other day, & so thought it might arrive first by air mail. Some photographs were taken last Friday, & so that should be some more to send to you my darling. I wish I could send myself. Another thing about money - I am conducting a case on my own behalf for a change, to get my
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majority dated back to Jan 9th, when I first commanded the Corp, instead of March 10th. Col. L. replied to my letter & said no - so I promptly replied to him & said I still wanted it, & if he still said no, I should like to see him, & if that did no good, I should go & see the Military Secretary. This date business has always rankled with me, & won't feel browned off about it & am going to do my best to fix it. And financially, it is a matter of #43, which is not to be sneezed at, at all. I am going to try very hard to go to Jerusalem this weekend - Shetok has asked me for lunch, & the Samuels for dinner - & in my case, I [must underlined] see Jerusalem & Bethlehem before I get much older. It is [ridiculous ?], the way I never leave this [swine palace ?]. I expect Ben will come with me, if I go. His promotion confirmation has still to come through& he is terribly anxious to get the extra ones up. I'm afraid I have not replied to your letter very much, darling - & so I will do in my next one. Though, really, replying is a funny business, as it takes 4-5 months, by which time we have forgotten what it was all about. When anything is urgent for a reply, I always write an AG. I will stop now - & that is another day over & nearer to coming home to you, Darling sweetheart - it is all I really think of - & it is certainly all that really matters. I do not care a damn for anything or anybody else. And please tell Maxie that I am longing to see him & teach him to walk & talk. All of my love, sweetest Barbara XXX H.
