Oct 23 /42

Dear Mother:

On Sunday morning we are going to #6 E. F. T. S. in Prince Albert. We had our choice of that or Verdun and all of us from B. C. took P. A. One reason is that the chances are we will have Service Flying in Saskatoon.

We didn’t have any classes this week and some of us were on the jobs we had last week. However I haven’t done a drop of work all week and spent most of the time at the K. C. hut reading and writing. Yesterday we had a wireless test. It might have been bad since we had had no wireless since the exam but fortunately the test was the exam over again. I made one error.

Our Victory Loan parade was very successful. It was on a Sunday and we were all in it. It was a huge parade and there were crowds to see us all the way.

On Monday Q flight and the last graduating class took part in a sham battle. Teamed with the navy we dressed in black coveralls chalked with nazi insignias and armed with rifles and blanks we acted as paratroops to capture key points of the city. At the zero hour planes from #4 flew over in formation and a lot of thunder flashes were thrown around (not from the planes). One landed quite close to us and I assure you the noise was very realistic. After ten minutes we captured the bank (15 of us). Then the army came with their transports, Bren gun carriers etc and after a while, according to plan, we were all captured. In the heat of the battle Maddin met Bob Willis. He is a lieutenant at Dundurn. The army had quite a time holding us and several made breaks for freedom down nearby alleys and no doubt some were successful in getting away.

I had a letter from Peter this week. He has recently written some exams to qualify for an officer. He has also been having a marvellous time in London which made me kind of envious.

By the way ‘Miss Alberta’ would probably object to such a name. She’s from Canada—lives next door to the Hill’s.

We are all very broke, not having been paid yet since returning. As we go out every night we feel it particularly. I luckily got a R. C. tax refund which helped considerably.

Yesterday we got our flying kit. Some of the suits lined with kapok are awfully nice. Mine has an inner suit of teddy bear stuff—the one kind I did not want. Perhaps I can exchange it later with a washout—if I’m not one. 20 out of 60 were washed out of a recent flight. The flying boots are the warmest things I have ever seen lined with a thick coat of sheepskin.

Winter is really upon us now. It has been very cold the last few days and today it s snowing hard. And yet we are not supposed to wear our great coats off the station yet.

I saw a good show last night—Ginger Rogers in Major and Minor.

With love from
Tony

[Transcriptions provided by collection donor.]