Letter from Pat Hogan to Eileen Hogan
Title
Letter from Pat Hogan to Eileen Hogan
Description
Apologises for not writing and makes excuses. Notes that she will shortly go to Bendigo and be able to catch up on all the news. Comments on his location and the weather. Mentions that he has done some flying and his aircraft is the safest of the heavies. Mentions receiving a hamper from her and catches up with news of friends. Comments on lack of fruit apart from for children and aircrew. Mentions having just returned from a crew P.T test of physical condition and he was finding it more difficult due to lack of exercise, but he managed 'good' category. Comments on doing dinghy and ditching drills and swimming qualifications.
Creator
Date
1944-11-22
Temporal Coverage
Language
Format
Four sided handwritten airmail letter
Publisher
Rights
This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.
Contributor
Identifier
EHoganPJHoganE441122
Transcription
[partially obscured] 6464 F/SGT HOGAN
RAAF [obscured letter] USPO
LONDON
22/11/44.
Dear Eileen,
I know I’m a heel & all that [obscured letter] art of thing for not writing more [obscured letter] ften. After I manage to get out a [obscured letters] weekly letter home all my good [obscured letters] solutions seem to break down & if I endeavour to tell the [deleted] old [/deleted] [inserted] same [/inserted] news again to anyone else, my concentration just goes “for a Burton” & after mucking around for a while in fits & starts before finally giving it up half finished. Its hard to explain I know but I don’t seem to be improving any either.
Still it soon won’t matter very much as far as you are concerned for you will no doubt be shortly taking up quarters in Bendigo again for 6 weeks & should then be able to catch up on all the latest.
This is a lousy dump but I’ll try & refrain from moaning too much so you can read about
[page break]
it on your return home. So instead of running down the weather I can say we are very fortunate indeed to be getting a few hours up every now & again & for once I don’t really mind it for our present aircraft are, in my humble opinion, the safest & by far the best of all the heavies at present flying. Of course, I may not be right but that’s how we all feel & it is at least very reassuring to us.
I received a hamper from you just before coming here. At the time I didn’t know who had sent it. In transit here I put it & a parcel from Daisy in Alan’s trunk (he had just received his commission). He left it unlocked & the parcels went off in transit but they were subsequently returned to me. The only damages enrolee were the loose steamrollers you packed in here & there - they were crushed almost to a powder.
The tinned fruit was super as the only fruit we get is an occasional orange. We are fortunate that for the ration seems to be limited to
[page break]
children & aircrew. But I’ve never been so hungry as I’ve been here. The rations are terribly light on & I think the miserable conditions & the long cold nights must also make a difference.
I’m almost done in tonight. Just before tea we had to go down as a crew to do our periodical P.T. test. This creeps up every few months as a check up on physical condition. At one time I used to manage an “above average” but as I never seem to have any physical recreation - we are not driven to it here - between tests it is pretty solid & the old legs & tummy muscles feel the strain for days after. Luckily I just manage to scramble into the req’d “good” category. Thank god they are satisfied with a certificate from another station to say I can swim 100 yds, although we do visit the baths fairly regularly for ditching & dinghy drills & usually have a bit of a swim. How did all your exams go? Please God you struggled through & that the others did the same thing.
This service closes on the 26th so it will be a while before you hear from me again - making excuses already. Have a good leave.
Lots of love Pat.
[page break]
AIR LETTER
[postmark] [postage stamp]
Miss Eileen Hogan
29 Heygarth St,
Echuca Vic,
Australia
[partially obscured postmark]
Sender’s name and address:-
A436464 F/SGT HOGAN P J
RAAF AUSPO
LONDON.
RAAF [obscured letter] USPO
LONDON
22/11/44.
Dear Eileen,
I know I’m a heel & all that [obscured letter] art of thing for not writing more [obscured letter] ften. After I manage to get out a [obscured letters] weekly letter home all my good [obscured letters] solutions seem to break down & if I endeavour to tell the [deleted] old [/deleted] [inserted] same [/inserted] news again to anyone else, my concentration just goes “for a Burton” & after mucking around for a while in fits & starts before finally giving it up half finished. Its hard to explain I know but I don’t seem to be improving any either.
Still it soon won’t matter very much as far as you are concerned for you will no doubt be shortly taking up quarters in Bendigo again for 6 weeks & should then be able to catch up on all the latest.
This is a lousy dump but I’ll try & refrain from moaning too much so you can read about
[page break]
it on your return home. So instead of running down the weather I can say we are very fortunate indeed to be getting a few hours up every now & again & for once I don’t really mind it for our present aircraft are, in my humble opinion, the safest & by far the best of all the heavies at present flying. Of course, I may not be right but that’s how we all feel & it is at least very reassuring to us.
I received a hamper from you just before coming here. At the time I didn’t know who had sent it. In transit here I put it & a parcel from Daisy in Alan’s trunk (he had just received his commission). He left it unlocked & the parcels went off in transit but they were subsequently returned to me. The only damages enrolee were the loose steamrollers you packed in here & there - they were crushed almost to a powder.
The tinned fruit was super as the only fruit we get is an occasional orange. We are fortunate that for the ration seems to be limited to
[page break]
children & aircrew. But I’ve never been so hungry as I’ve been here. The rations are terribly light on & I think the miserable conditions & the long cold nights must also make a difference.
I’m almost done in tonight. Just before tea we had to go down as a crew to do our periodical P.T. test. This creeps up every few months as a check up on physical condition. At one time I used to manage an “above average” but as I never seem to have any physical recreation - we are not driven to it here - between tests it is pretty solid & the old legs & tummy muscles feel the strain for days after. Luckily I just manage to scramble into the req’d “good” category. Thank god they are satisfied with a certificate from another station to say I can swim 100 yds, although we do visit the baths fairly regularly for ditching & dinghy drills & usually have a bit of a swim. How did all your exams go? Please God you struggled through & that the others did the same thing.
This service closes on the 26th so it will be a while before you hear from me again - making excuses already. Have a good leave.
Lots of love Pat.
[page break]
AIR LETTER
[postmark] [postage stamp]
Miss Eileen Hogan
29 Heygarth St,
Echuca Vic,
Australia
[partially obscured postmark]
Sender’s name and address:-
A436464 F/SGT HOGAN P J
RAAF AUSPO
LONDON.
Collection
Citation
P J Hogan, “Letter from Pat Hogan to Eileen Hogan,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed April 26, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/31920.
Item Relations
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