Letter from Harry Massey to Barbara Massey

Letter No. 90. Tuesday Dec 30th Major J H Massey 6 Palestinian Coy, The Buffs in E 7

My own darling heart -

Another letter from you today & so five letters which you wrote between 24th Sept & 3 Nov, have all arrived within nine days Anyway - on account of these, & your news, & various other things, I feel much better & brighter than for some time past. And letters new writing pad helps, too - I hope you are able to read my last few letters written on the thin stuff. Two or three letters ago I was having a big grumble about this room of mine & how cold & miserable it was. But it is now quite a lot better; first of all I reorganised the furniture, such as it is, & quite apart from the change, which was welcome by itself, the main improvement is that I now have my table across the room & so look down it, instead of facing the wall. Also, I have been able to rustle up an oil stove from which most of the heat leaves through the open roof but it does remove some of the awful chill from the air. Peter likes it too.

Your letter 68 was the first one from Beaconsfield again. I do hope & pray, my sweetheart, that you will be happy & content & comfortable there, & that you will be able to click it until I come home & that that may be soon.

The bed nearly big enough for two, sounds just right when I come home, I shall hold your hand all day, & hold you tight in my arms all night. Whereabouts is Park Lane? is it near Candlemas Lane, or at the top or bottom of that steep hill, or where. The Tibbles sound quite intereting & pleasant, kind - also your fellow boarders.

My other's Xmas parcel has not yet arrived, has

my blues - but they do not matter, because they are not allowed to be worn now. As you said in one of your letters my Ma certainly is a peach. Fancy asking you to get me out of the Army after the war. As if I shall not want to have as little to do with it as possible, & also does she not yet realise that we shall be having conscription for at least several years because after this war is over, I had an A.G from her a few days ago - onto which she had managed to squeeze ten lines of writing. She told me to be sure I write to Aunt Sarah when I received the money she was sending for me. What does she think I am? Anyway - a registered envelope arrived on Xmas Eve which I opened with trembling hands & found £2 inside which is not too much but better than nothing at all.

Trudi was married on NOv 6th - did you hear that? I had a cigarette lighter with my name insxribed on it from Claimatzki for Xmas which I thought was very decent of him. I also had cards sending the Season's Greetings, from all kinds of Jews, which seemed strange - but I suppose it is just politeness friendliness really. I wished the Coy a Happy New Year in September - which is much the same kind of thing. The head of the Recruiting Dept of the Jewish Agency sent me 6 bottles of wine, 2 of shery, 2 of port & 2 of liquers I put the wine in the mess & keep the rest in my room, for the benefit of myself,

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Ben, & Salaman. I was going to put the port into the mess as well, but Chamalzki, who helped me to undo the parcel, persuaded me not to!

Tuesday Jan 5th - My sweetest darling. I am afraid that this must be a short letter. As you see I have not touched it since last Tuesday, which is a completed record for me. But the intervening time has ben absolute hell. The main reason is that on 31 Dec, one of my Jewish Sgts committed suicide by shooting himself with his own rifle. This has had a most depressing affect on the whole Coy & everybody & has made me very busy both with all the official business & nursing & watching the Coy. And to make matters a thousand times worse, the weather has reached untold depths of utter foulness & misery. The rain has come down in such a way that I would not have believed possible, & the cold has been ghastly. There has been snow in Jerusalem, which is said to be a miracle which happens once in 20 years. With feet like lumps of ice, & literally chilled to the marrow, today my stove broke down - I have found it just impossible to sit down to write or even to read.

Today - thank the Lord - the rain has stopped & it is a little warmer. But I must write my bread & butter letter. The Hopkins for

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Xmas - the Jewish Agency for their wine - Aunt Sarah for £2 - & so on.

So I ask you to forgive me & I will finish this now. I don't suspect it will make any earthly difference as it will probably arrive in a batch of 3 or more.

I will tell you all about the poor Sgt in my next letter.

It was in General Orders today that our letters posted between 11-23 Aug are lost by enemy action so my reply to your letter about the heath has gone down. What misfortune. I am over it now. Your 44, posted on Aug 4 received on Aug 11 - I sent a 10 pager on Aug 13 & an 8 pager on Aug 18 - & you have had my no 68 of Aug 23rd. What bad luck darling. I will try again but now Marie is 7 months old & it is all so long ago.

I am very well in spite of the cold and disgusting weather - no coughs or colds or anything at all, so I must be in health.

I am so sorry about this letter - I feel ashamed of it. And I promise not to do it again. All my love to you sweetest heart I have needed you so much the last week & have longed for you. A kiss to Ma & all my love& kisses to you. H.

BY AIR MAIL PAR AVION PASSED BY CENSOR 2464 Mrs. H. Massey Norton House Park Lane Beaconsfield Bucks