Horsham Times (Vic. : 1882 - 1954), Friday 16 January 1942, page 3


:CHRISTMAS 'DINNER> ENJOYED; An Appeising' Menu Writing to .his parents, Mr. aid Mrs. A. E. Watts, of Bowden street, Horisham, Lieut. Jack Watts, in Malaya, says :-"Well, Christmas has been and gone and I can't say' that it. felt anything like the other Christmases of :previous years:?- . 'o is here it was just another day, and apart from a Christmas dinneir: I did not know .it was the time of '"peace on earth, goodwill to all men." Believe me, it's hard to reconcile: our ?religious teachings with; the, present world Upheaval, and rm' inclined, to think that there will be a few atheists after this war has finished. Anyhow,, we at least hadI Christmas dinner -and it consisted; of soup, fish, chicken, v=egetables: aaid fruit .salad. Many of the troops haidtheir Christmas dinneir a day or' two0 earlier in: order to be prepared _for any eventuality. But: we-hadl a peaceful " day" aind. the only planes we ??saw were our own. We had been invited out to an A.IF. hospital for a cocktail piarty. and 'made a night of iit. The nurses certainly turned on a, great show. " The majority of the nurses:.are :verygood s*couts aind'are much; younger; than those in another of 'the, hospitidsI've? been to. -, . :' Nrew Year's ;Day. We all wonder what, the 'coming': months will 'bring. The A.I.F. menin are. just waiting to1 get a smack 'at the Japs. 'All of our chaps: are in the best'..of health and don't care a damn about the Japanese bombers, which are generally becomdiing less of a novelty. The reassuring ,bark .of the guns and the flash of. the searchlights let us-know that our chaps are constantly on the job. My first New Year's Eve in a strange land will never be forgotten as we saw a number of planes fly directly on the camp, and, needless to say,' we didn't waste time in getting into the trenches. They fly very high. The wish of most of the chaps was that New Year 1943 may be spent at home, and I hope these wishes come true.":