The letter that was written on August 23rd 1945 was the first letter that Dad had written following VJ Day. The image of the letter that Dad wrote is shown here. He was able to write without fear of censorship, disclosing his precise whereabouts to the family for the first time since he had left England eight months previously.
The transcribed text is included below the images.
The transcribed text is included below the images.
SECTION N
SECTION 301
CEYLON AIR FORCES
23 – 8 - 45
My dear Mum
For the first time since I left home, I am able to tell you just where I am. If you. Like most of the other people have been misled by the address, you’ll be surprised to learn that I’m not in Ceylon at all, nor have I ever been, except for a matter of a few days. Anyway, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer, since April I and my pals have been languishing on a group of small coral islands known as the Keeling Cocos group. I haven’t room in this letter to tell you much about these islands. They have a unique history which I shall attempt to outline in a later letter. As a matter of fact, I haven’t all the facts at my finger-tips. I’ve been collecting them by bits and pieces from the natives and when I’ve sorted them all I’ll put them in a letter.
By this time I expect you’ve got the Philip’s Atlas from the bookshelf. If you turn to a map of the Indian Ocean and follow a line joining Ceylon and Perth and you’ll find the Cocos Islands around about the midpoint of that line. Quite a nice isolated little spot, isn’t it? I think I’m right in saying that this is the most remote British station from England. If you study the map you’ll find that the nearest land is the Christmas Isles, occupied by the Japs. A long way away really but, on the other hand, quite near enough. It annoys me to think that Australia is only a few days journey by boat away and that I’ll possibly never get that far.
You may have noticed that any letters since April have been rather disjointed affairs. The reason for this has been the very strict censorship of mail since we’ve been here. I’ve often wondered if the hardships I’ve moaned about have sounded rather far-fetched, but now that I can tell you that the island which we were on until a month or so ago was totally uninhabited except for land crabs and rates and that until we arrived it was just a mass of virgin jungle, you’ll understand that we had to rough it for several weeks.
Recently we moved to the only inhabited island of the group; it’s a very small island, only about a mile long and ½ mile wide, which is more pleasant all round than the first island we were on. Still. I’ll tell you all about the Cocos at a future date.
I’ll have to tell you about the VJ celebrations too, so look out for a long letter in the near future.
Love to all Ken
SECTION 301
CEYLON AIR FORCES
23 – 8 - 45
My dear Mum
For the first time since I left home, I am able to tell you just where I am. If you. Like most of the other people have been misled by the address, you’ll be surprised to learn that I’m not in Ceylon at all, nor have I ever been, except for a matter of a few days. Anyway, I won’t keep you in suspense any longer, since April I and my pals have been languishing on a group of small coral islands known as the Keeling Cocos group. I haven’t room in this letter to tell you much about these islands. They have a unique history which I shall attempt to outline in a later letter. As a matter of fact, I haven’t all the facts at my finger-tips. I’ve been collecting them by bits and pieces from the natives and when I’ve sorted them all I’ll put them in a letter.
By this time I expect you’ve got the Philip’s Atlas from the bookshelf. If you turn to a map of the Indian Ocean and follow a line joining Ceylon and Perth and you’ll find the Cocos Islands around about the midpoint of that line. Quite a nice isolated little spot, isn’t it? I think I’m right in saying that this is the most remote British station from England. If you study the map you’ll find that the nearest land is the Christmas Isles, occupied by the Japs. A long way away really but, on the other hand, quite near enough. It annoys me to think that Australia is only a few days journey by boat away and that I’ll possibly never get that far.
You may have noticed that any letters since April have been rather disjointed affairs. The reason for this has been the very strict censorship of mail since we’ve been here. I’ve often wondered if the hardships I’ve moaned about have sounded rather far-fetched, but now that I can tell you that the island which we were on until a month or so ago was totally uninhabited except for land crabs and rates and that until we arrived it was just a mass of virgin jungle, you’ll understand that we had to rough it for several weeks.
Recently we moved to the only inhabited island of the group; it’s a very small island, only about a mile long and ½ mile wide, which is more pleasant all round than the first island we were on. Still. I’ll tell you all about the Cocos at a future date.
I’ll have to tell you about the VJ celebrations too, so look out for a long letter in the near future.
Love to all Ken