Coal Harbour, B.C.
June 29, 1944

Hello Mom and Dad --

I am sorry I have neglected to write for a while, but it is hard to write without a letter to answer. I kept waiting a little longer & a little longer, thinking a letter might come, and I guess the days passed faster than I realized.

I was very glad today to receive your letter and that swell box. Thanks a lot for all those swell things. I will write Mrs. Jones soon and thank her for the chocolate bars.

Yes, Charley Fleishman is stationed at Cape Scott which is the name for the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. I don't know what there is there but when Charley is down here, he was getting a medical examination. He was down once since then with the Cape Scott baseball team playing our station team. He was injured in the game and went into the hospital for a few days. I heard about this but didn't see him because visiting hrs. are from 7 - 8 P.M. and I am at work then.

I'm glad to hear you received my last bond. Will you please let me know just how much I am worth now, --- cash, bonds, etc. I have saved quite a bit for my leave so I won't be needing any but I'd just like to know.

By the way, I got all my rank & groupings straightened out now and I got a lot of back pay for my "C" (group, AC. 1, and my L.A.C. and best of all, I go out on leave Saturday night for twenty-one days, so at last I am happy-in-the-service, after a fashion.

I plan to spend a few days in Vancouver with the Fearnleys and then do down to S.F.

In Beatrice Fearnleys last letter she said she had her holidays from the 3rd to the 17th so I will get there just in time for her to show me around Vancouver.

I got a suitcase from flight stores on a loan card. Every aircraft is equipped with a bunch of them but they are seldom used. It will be handier than a kit-bag.

I went to the clothing stores the other day and exchanged my running shoes, fatigue shoes and got a new pair of oxfords instead of boots. I sewed my trade badges and my new props on my tunic, too.

You said you missed me around, well don't think I wouldn't like to be around doing things I used to do. We often have discussion in the hut here and we all wonder just where we'll be and what we'll be doing after this is over. The majority of us just cannot see ourselves back into civilian life the way we were before enlistment.

I'm glad to hear you are having lovely weather. Tonight is the first rainy one since we came down here. We have been here over three months now and it has certainly gone by fast.
I had a letter from Jim last week, that was written on May 30.

You say you are glad I am not at Cape Scott. It is more isolated and for that reason I would rather be there. I have learned that the further away you can get from command headquarters, the better off you are. We got a new C.O. last week and he is trying to turn a bush station into a show station and soon it won't be permissible to go a couple of days without shaving.

Where is Mrs. Heath going when she sells her house? The Shipmans must have a swell house if they got one nicer than the one than they already had.

Am surprised to hear that Betty Clark is in Tucketts. It is an awfully tough place. Did I tell you Mary works in the Hydro now? I have to go & eat now. Hope you are all well, so long for now --

Joe.