p.

Letter no. 31 / Tuesday - / Capt. J.H. Massey
/ 8 Apr 41 / 6 Palestinian Coy. The Buffs
/ Meddle East Forces.
'My own darling - I have not written to you
since last Wednesday. I started the other night,
and felt all bloody minded and dull again and could
not go on. And since then, the Company has
had to do another move, and so, of course, I have
been up to the eyes in work again. This
time, it was only a short move - out of
barracks and into billets, and in the same
town - but even so, it has made me
frantically busy again, and not a moment
to spare. Last night, I was so tired, I could
hardly climb into bed - but I managed it,
and it was at 10.0 o'clock, and so I feel a good
deal better today. I still have a bagfull
of work to do, but I want to send this
away now - and then I begin a decent
letter again. These moves are a damn
nuisance. Each time they happen, there
all the organisation of the move, and then
settling in - and then I have to make our
new fire orders, and new air defence orders,
and new standing orders, and new guard orders,
and arrange all the office, and fix up a laundry,
a tailor, and a barber, and a shoemaker,
a new canteen. And a hundred to
one different things. One of the big troubles
of course, is having a second in command
yet, to help me with all this work.
But, I think that will be put right
soon now - I will tell you more
in my next letter.
I got your very first letter on Friday.
posted by you on 11th Oct- so it had
taken one week short of 6 months
to reach me. A terribly long time,
but it was still good to have it.
Last Sunday was Apr 6th and so 6
months since I left you. What an age
it seems, my darling - and how long
is it going to be until I come
home to you? It is impossible to
say that I am becoming used to this
even becoming resigned to to it -
because I am doing neither. I just
miss you terribly, all the time, my
dearest one, and think of you and pine for
you and long for you. And I'm finding
it ever more difficult to remain
cheerful and take an interest in
things and even worse, people, or
even be naturally civil to them.
This German war on Jugo-slavia