Horace Coleman to Annie Coleman

My father Horace Coleman was in Paiforce (Persia & Iraq Command) in the Intelligence Corps.

He didn’t throw anything away! We have a great deal of memorabilia, which we have donated to the Military Intelligence Museum at Chicksands.

We have several letters and have attached one of these, to his mother Annie. Horace was in Persia (as it was then) and Annie was in Coventry.

Transcript:

13071466 C.S.M. COLEMAN H.J.
279 F.S. Section,
PAIFORCE

Saturday 21 Oct.

Dear Mother & All,

Well, at least I have managed to be on time with your letter this week, though since I wrote to you last week, I haven’t had time to write another letter to anyone else. I really have been very busy again, but fortunately, for the time being, the old man is back again, and this has helped a little. However, he hopes to go off on leave for the greater part of next month.

Yesterday I received your letter of 10 Oct. I do hope you are all feeling well, and that Bob is back in health. I’m quite well myself, but at the end of my working day, usually feel too tired to do any more than a little reading. When I got back here from leave, there was an enormous difference in the weather. The days are still pretty good; autumn weather, often cloudy, but not warm or cold.

So far we haven’t had any rain, but it is to be expected any day now. Nights are quite cold however, and during the week I had a little job to do which involved getting up at three in the morning and doing a fifty-mile journey; and that after travelling 150 miles the previous day. Although I had put on extra clothing, I was really cold. What we shall do when the snow lies three feet deep I really don’t know. One thing is certain, we shall have plenty of clothing to put on, but it’s going to be a little chilly getting up in the mornings. On the way back from our trip, we stopped and had a wash and brush up in a hot sulphur spring that gushed from a rock at the roadside. Quite an experience – it was quite hot, but did not taste very pleasant.

When I do get a little spare time, I hope to send off to you the stockings I bought on leave. I believe I told you that until I get the label required I couldn’t send them without making you liable for customs duty and purchase tax. However, I have at last got the necessary labels, have sent off Muriel’s stuff and will send off yours this week. I hope they get to you in time for Christmas. Have you received any more of the food parcels recently? There will be a gap of one month – the month when I was on leave and was unable to send one off.

In a few days’ time my four years in the Army will be up, and in about six weeks’ time my three years overseas. However, perhaps by this time next year they will have reduced the period of overseas service, so if I can’t spend Christmas at home this year, I’m hoping for next. I’ve got literally piles of letters to reply to. I’ve had one from Ath., who also told me that he had collected an M.C. and one from Pete, and other folk. I’ve also a huge stack of newspapers to get through sometime, but goodness knows when that will be. They come in faster than I can get through them.

I’ve a few photos to send you – the ones I have been promising to send for months past, but I’ll get them off some day. I had a number of photos from Bert and Muriel, taken while they were down in Minehead. They are really good ones – the ‘portrait’ ones so informal and the views a real breath of England. I’m expecting to receive the wedding photos any day now.

With the recent increase in pay, I shall be getting another 2/– a day, but I fear that my income tax deductions will go up too as much as that. However, I don’t do so badly, can save a little, and get what I want if it’s there and the price is not unreasonable.

Tomorrow I hope to get the afternoon off, and to make sure that I shall not get involved in any work, I hope to spend the afternoon pig shooting. There is quite a number of wild boar around here, and we have had a number of feeds from them. There is gazelle too, and we get an occasional meal from them. Up in the mountains are bear, mountain sheep and mountain goats, but so far, I haven’t been able to get that far.

Well, I shall have to dry up for this time, but hope to be able to keep regularly to my letter-writing schedule, and also hope to be hearing from you too. Please give my best wishes to all friends and family.

Love to all,

Horace

Tagged:
Christmas, Middle East & North Africa

Contributed by:
Jan Harris & Gill Mountford (daughter of Horace Coleman)

Back to list