R208467
L.A.C.MOORE,J.L.
#436 SQDN. R.C.A.F.
INDIA COMMAND.
December 13, 1944

Dear Mom & Dad,

I received your swell Christmas card on the 8th Dec. Thanks a lot for sending those pictures too. Aunties already sent me one of me in front of the chapel. I'm sorry to say I neither have the card nor the pictures anymore. I'll tell you how it happened. As I received the mail on Friday along with a lovely card from Mary Anderson, I was boarding a ship with rest of my crew to fly north to another base to make some repairs to one of our ships. Not knowing the extent of our stay there we had take nearly all of our kit with us. We finished the job all right and prepared to fly back in her. We just got nicely loaded when an officer came to the A/C and asked for a fitter to do a pre-flight inspection on another ship. I was detailed, so, trusting my chums to look after my kit, I stayed behind, did the job and flew back to our base later. When I got here I found that the first ship had dumped men & bags of our crew and another crew had been sent in it to another base somewhere south and they had loaded my kit bag on again by mistake, with theirs. Since then I have been using my chum's mess tins when he has eaten, getting shaved by the Hindu barber, using a bedroll borrowed from stores and running around in my coveralls which was all I had on at the time of the job. My pen, address book, a few letters, my pay-book & credentials and everything necessary to daily life is God-knows-where now. Tomorrow is pay day too, and I don't think I can get paid without my pay-book. I am really worried about my belongings because I'll really be lucky to see them again. I felt a little bit better today however upon a receiving a lovely Christmas airgraph from Margaret. I received an old letter from Jim. (Oct. 20) yesterday and a Christmas card from Aunt Reta and Uncle Les on the 8th Dec. Would you please thank them for me? I'll write them when I get time.
If this gets home before Christmas wish all the neighbors, friends, and relatives a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year for me. How's the weather at home now? It's miserable cold between mid-night and mid-morning but often sickeningly hot in the remaining hours of the day. We have fireplaces in our huts but the wood is a problem. We often use a pail of sand saturated with gasoline which is quite satisfactory. Well, I guess I'll close, hoping this finds you both well.

Love, Joe.