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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Durban Diary: apartheid, mate-ship and a rifle as big as a daisy air gun
Tues 11th Planes from Durban fly over convoy – sun shines hot and early – sea more blue than ever – land sighted – binoculars focus on Durban. … Continue reading
Posted in Africa, leave, Uncategorized, unit and personal diaries
Tagged airmail plane, apartheid, Charlie Mene, Durban, home-sickness, leave
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A letter from an utter stranger: Flora the jeweller’s assistant
Randles Bro & Hudson Ltd. Jewellery Dept Gardiner Street Durban South Africa 13th Feb 1941 Dear Mrs Hickman No doubt you will be surprised to receive this letter from an utter stranger but I happened to serve your son … Continue reading
Posted in Letters to/ from others, organisation, The course of the war, Uncategorized
Tagged DIck Schultz, Durban, Germans, Italians, jeweller, Ken Jenkins
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Glasgow to Durban aboard the Nea Hellas
January 12 – February 10 1941 There are no letters from this period, although Dad mentions writing them many times in his diary. Diary entries for this period are as follows: 12th January Sailed with the tide at dawn. Land … Continue reading
Adventures in Glasgow January 1941
TX 1004 Pte M Hickman 2/33rd Battalion AIF Abroad Dear Mother Once again we are on the move whither only God and the powers that be know – but anyhow we’re moving. The last month has been one of the … Continue reading
I’m engaged: a letter to May
11th Dec 1940 Dear May I suppose Mother has told you that I’m engaged to a … Continue reading
Posted in Britain, organisation, The course of the war, Uncategorized
Tagged engagement, English character, merchant navy, Shirley Balfour
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Guard duty on pay day, chocolates in the mail, snooker on picket duty
TX 1004 Pte M Hickman 2/33rd Battalion AIF 8th Dec 1940 Dear Mother Once again Sunday comes round and so again I write you a resume of the week’s events. Though I still haven’t had any mail from home – … Continue reading
Visit to the dentist, then two days’ pay for one feed
TX 1004 Pte M Hickman 2/33rd Battalion AIF 24th Nov 1940 Dear Mother I have just come back from the Dentist – a cheerful subject to start a letter however such is the condition of news – decidedly light on. … Continue reading
The Blog that might have been - 70 years on 