R208467. L.A.C. MOORE, J. L.
#436 SQDN., R.C.A.F., INDIA
Nov. 3, 1944

Dear Mom & Dad,

At long last the mail has come through, and do I feel good?, for today I got nine letters, my first since I left home. I have two from you, written Sept. 17 and Oct. 6 respectively. They both reached Bombay on the 31st. I have two from a girl in Quatsino, posted Sept 27 and Oct 4th. Then there is one from Jim, posted Sept. 19th, one from Roy Howlett posted Oct. 5th, one from Mary Anderson, posted Sept. 21st, one from Mrs. Norm Uhrig (Maple Lake) posted Sept. 28th, and a very nice letter from St. Giles new reverend, R. Douglas Smith. Even with all this I was a little disappointed not to hear from Margaret in England. But now that the mail has started catching up with us, I may hear from her tomorrow, who knows? I hope you'll excuse the small writing. All we have for a light in here in the hut is a small oil lantern and I've got my face right down to the paper to see what I am writing. I was lucky to get a place at our table, too, because everyone is busy answering long-awaited mail. I'm glad to hear you got my card. You say you got my cable on Sept 7th That means it took two days. I couldn't put any address on it because of censorship, but I don't suppose you realize the meaning of that word. I know I didn't until I actually got close to the war. I did regret not being able to see Jim and Gwen. So you are looking for a long letter telling of my trip. I'd like to be able to write that letter, too, but censorship would cut it all to pieces. I will say I was seasick one day and that my hay fever has left me. I believe I mentioned meeting Alec Grainger in a letter before. I'm very glad to hear that Dad is better now. I sure would like to be bowling too. We played a little baseball in England and we can play soccer here if we like. I'm glad you are having nice weather. It's not too bad here right now, but we have to sleep under two blankets at night, and run around with very little on in the day-time. Yes, I found the English money confusing at first all right but I was doing all right when we left. The system here is comparatively simple. They use rupees ( 1=33cents) annas (1=2cents approx.) and pice (4 to 1 anna). Being at Bournemouth, except for being with the Air Force, was pretty nice. It wasn't too bad up around Liverpool, either. I would like to see that picture. Couldn't you possibly have one made, snapshot size, and send it to me? I'm glad to hear about a parcel, although it probably won't reach me for months yet. It just occurred to me that you could have written or sent parcels whether you had my address or not. Why didn't you just address it, R.C.A.F. Overseas, as you have addressed Jim's mail so often?

Yes, I know about Jim and Gwen. In one of Jim's letters, he wrote and asked me what I thought about it. I wished him the best of luck, etc. I'm afraid a wedding gift is out of the question. One cannot leave the station in this country because the native villages and bazaars are out of bounds on account of disease. From what I have heard, there isn't much worth buying anyway. This is just like isolation again. I almost wish I never had volunteered for India, but I was ready to grab at anything to get out after having to go back from that furlough in the states. I'm glad to hear you got my cheque, Although why you thought it should have been $25. is beyond me, unless you are still foolishly figuring that I should do as Jim does. I may increase it later on because there is nothing to spend it on here. I like to have a little money on me though, in case I do get near someplace and get a chance to get some souvenirs. I have coins from several countries where we stopped on the way out here. We had a lovely three-day trip from "blighty". So long for now.

Joe.