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Makan – No. 23
Official Organ of 2/30th Bn. A.I.F. Assn. Dear Dig, Big Major Duffy will be quite hurt if you ever refer to him again as "Mum Duff" because he is now the father of a tremendous baby son, and prefers to be known as 'Daddy'. He is ascending the Army scale quite well and is now D.A.Q.M.G. at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, but his now parental status has changed him from a roaring, parade ground Tyrant to a shy flower picking reader of verse. Our best wishes to the Major and his wife. Johnny Walker is also pushing along, just a little more rapidly perhaps. He is now a Captain and is Q.M. of the 17/18th Bn. C.M.F. stationed at Chatswood. John Taylor is a very big shot now in Crown Street Women's Hospital and in his more sober moments lectures to the new students as part of his training to gain a very high class degree in England next year. What amuses me is that when he returns to Australia and sets up as a big shot maternity doctor we will immediately tell all you young family men to go along for completely free services. If John tries to extract money from any of the boys we will engage Arch Thorburn or John Meillon to defend you. John Taylor recently attended a Medical Congress at Perth and stopped with the wonderful fellow , Major Bruce Hunt. The hospitality is still as good as ever in Perth and it is possible to buy half a dozen of Swan or Emu at any Pub. Major John Phillips R.A.M.C., who will be remembered by the Nikke and Tanbayer boys for the good work he did up there is coming to Australia shortly to go into partnership with Major Hunt. Col Tuckfield writes down from Queensland telling us of his marriage last year to a Victorian girl, none of the girls in Queensland or N.S.W. would be in it with him. He and his wife are living in a room about the same size as a rice cup, but are very happy and hope for a house when all the youngsters go away to the next war. Col says that Slim Cranitch of Don Coy, is a Traffic Cop in Brisbane and waves his arms around like a Tamil selling an ounce of onions to a P.O.W. Jackie Fell is just emerging from his winter hibernation down Yass way and is enjoying the amenities of his local R.S.L. Club. Tommy Davis of Grafton has been in hospital again, this time with hook worms. He has just become engaged to Reg Napper's sister who is a nurse up that way, and they hope to marry as soon as Tommy finishes building his house. Bill Jones who is the local A.B.C. reporter has been in hospital again with dysentery, this making his fifth time since we arrived home. Bruce Ford is still in the Bank of N.S.W. at Grafton. Kevin Ward has been granted a brick Housing Commission home at Kingsgrove. His leg is now temporarily O.K. and if you read the evening paper you should have seen a few months ago that he is working on the switchboard of the Sydney Technical College. Darby Young of Wauchope has left the barbering business and is now a clerk in the Forestry Commission. He still celebrates as usual as often as possible. His last little effort was with Starver Jones who was passing that way and just after Darby's wife had presented him with a new baby son. We send our congratulations to Alex Dandie who was recently married. Alex and his wife travelled through the North Coast on their honeymoon and looked up quite a few of the lads on the way, including Clarry Lattimer and Arty Power at Kyogle and Carl Sinclair at Armidale. Harry Holden is still making big wads of money with his trucks and farm machinery in the Cooma district. He travels around a lot and last June saw one of your friends in Narrandera. His letter states "I spent a few days with that human dynamo which at one stage rejoiced in the tag “Hindu's Ghost" - known to the police and electoral officers as Don Garner. He was still managing S .R. Buttle's store at that time, but was on the verge of chucking that job and buying a mixed business at Fairfield, one of Sydney's outer suburbs - at least he inspected the show and seemed quite keen about it. The old brain still seethes as of yore and schemes are born and jettisoned with amazing rapidity. His speaking rate is something like 600 normal and 750 rapid, so you can see that he has not changed much". Norman (Sally) Allan is still working at a garage in Cooma. Here are six more addresses of the boys: D.C. Blanshard, E.H. Booth, L.H. Booth, J.A. Boss, L.H. Boys, R.G. Bradley. The response to the Unit History has been extremely good and you are urged to order your copy at once. All orders will be issued in the same priority as they are received although last month we circularised members only. We will now attempt to contact all next of kin of deceased members, so if you know of the address of any such folk please let us know; we would like to give them all a chance of purchase. The volume is ready for the printer and is now only waiting for him to start. The Christmas printing rush will hold us back a little, but we should have the book posted to you within a few months. It is very gratifying that many of the boys have ordered extra copies to be sent to the Mothers of their deceased cobbers, whilst others have sent along extra money to be used to send a book to any next of kin whom the Committee likes to choose. This is an excellent gesture and one which is indicative of the Unit spirit. The Association sends its congratulations to Ossie Jackson, Frank Purvis and Bert Carter on their recent marriages and expresses the wish that next year we may send further congratulations as we do now to Jack Maclay on the birth of a baby son and to Geoff Alcock and Ron Johnston for baby daughters. That old dairy farmer Stewart Blow is also to be congratulated for finding a new baby in one of his cow bails. He is very modest about baby Barbara and so far has only sent out a hundred telegrams telling the good news. Gogo Lloyd is in the Militia and trains one night per week. He is a captain in what is known as Movement Control. This is an interesting job and always results in battalions being ordered out of bed at 3 a.m. when they don't start until 11 a.m. I believe his brother was responsible for a similar job at Bathurst on 29th July, 1941. The 3rd Annual Reunion and Smoko will be hold at Sargent's, Market Street, on Friday night the 19th November. It will cost you 10/-. We are hoping for just as successful a night as last year and ask you to let nothing stop you from attending. There will be so much grog there that my friend Sammy Hall swooned away at the thought, but perhaps some of it may not be consumed. There will be plenty of makan and plenty of good cheer. Don't miss it! Cheerio, STAN ARNEIL. P. S. This will wipe the smile from your face. The Evening Sun stated on 22/9/48 that the Government would not re-consider its previous decision not to pay P.0.W's special money for the period of their imprisonment. Back to 1948 index or Main Index |