Photos from Australia (17)

Capt. Pfile knew Beth loved flowers, so he took lots of photos of nature.  Here are a few:

White frangipani bush in Brisbane

Sausage tree in the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens

Rockhampton Botanic Gardens (I think)

Pink frangipani in Rockhampton

Coral trees in Rockhampton

Gene also took lots of photos of everyday things:

Grosvenor Hotel in Rockhampton (C.C. Adair, proprietor); note car and Dewar's Whisky advertisement.

American soldiers walking down the street in down town Rockhampton;
note the open-sided bus, and Stewarts, where Gene bought three lace handkerchiefs, (made in England) for 2/6 each and 2 ration coupons for the lot.

An Australian soldier in front of the Public Curator's Office in Rockhampton;
note the old car in the background

Residential area in rockhampton; "Tidewater" is written over the door of the white building.

Since the Fitzroy River was prone to flooding, and cyclones were not uncommon in Rockhampton, many of the houses, like this one, were built on stilts.

Note the old tramway tracks in front of this lovely home in residential Rockhampton; the tramway had been closed down a few years earlier.

Looking for beauty in the ordinary was a way for Gene to find a brief refuge from the ugliness of war that confronted him every day in the wards..

Soldiers' Stories (16)

The soldiers get pretty lonesome when they are away from their loved ones.  They react in different ways.

August 8, 1943 (Sunday)
     Last night it suddenly struck me - the sun and moon are messengers for Beth and I.  When they set for me, they rise for Beth! ...

August 10, 1943 (Tuesday)
     ...  This afternoon I was in the Kodak shop when 2 1st Lt's from the 163rd Reg. came in to see for the first time 2 rolls of movies they had taken in N. Guinea.  They showed some of the scenery, part of the Santa Anandu Trail (?) - a stretch of beach with some wrecked Jap invasion barges, and a lot of the natives, chiefly of the women and their bare breasts, including a line up at close range (!) and of the bouncing as they walked along!  Also a soldier turning over a skull with his foot.  I asked about that.  They said there were about a dozen Jap skeletons there and that it only takes about a week for a skull to be fairly clean.  He said one of their boys was shot and they couldn't recognize him in two days time!  ...  Another thing in the movie was a sign on their "club house" - they called it the "Lacka-Nookie Club"!

11 Aug. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  I forgot when I wrote last, so maybe this is repeat.  Sunday afternoon I went down to the beach.  This summer (or beginning next month) they are going to try to rent a house near the beach and we will take turns spending weekends there.  The fishing and swimming should be fine.
     ...  We see an interesting variety of things in our work, and really have to study a lot on the tropical things.  Some of the stories these boys tell (be they true or otherwise) make your hair curl!  But we'll see some of it ourselves eventually.  ...
     Love, Eugene

August 12, 1943
     Rain yesterday afternoon and last night!  The officers and nurses of the 5th Station Hospt. and nurses of the 33rd Surg. Hosp. gave a dance for us at the Officers Club down on the riverband (Fitzroy River) in town.  Armstrong, Tipple and I went together.  First we went to the Red Cross where they ate.  I learned things about Pueblo! [Most of the doctors in the 92nd Evac were from Pueblo, Colorado.]  Then at the club I had 2 drinks of brandy and soda and got enough courage to barge in and dance with 3 nurses.  There were no unattached nurses, as I expected there would be.  Omer had purchased a gunny sack 1/2 full of prawns (shrimp) freshly caught and cooked.  These we shelled and ate at intervals.  ...
     Some of the 24th Division is arriving from Hawaii.  They came on the Lurline.  Reports varied from it dodging subs all day and towing a crippled destroyer to that of a man who was on it told me that no such things happened!  800 replacements for the 163rd Regiment have come in from the states in the last week or so.  Some have only been in the army 6 months!  We have some of them already - 1 with real bronchial asthma for 9 years, another with a questionable backache for 15 years.  Why they don't comb them out over in the states, I can't understand!  Of course, our own exam at Stoneman was a farce.  Certainly it isn't an efficient way to do things.
     Some of the tents have floors put in them.  Maybe we'll get them, too.
     These evenings are plenty chilly, but are beautiful.  I wear cotton pants and shirt, pullover sleeveless sweater, field jacket, trench coat, and gloves and a cap!

Beth: 12 August 1943
My dears,
     ... Had another letter from Gene yesterday.  I am being beautifully spoiled.  This was #13 and I got #17 the day before.  He writes the nicest letters!  Think I'll try to type all his remarks about the country and the people and keep it separate from the personal items.  ...
     So much love, Elisabeth

14 Aug. '43
Dear Folks,
     ...  I bought a sheepskin (plain tanned hide) for 4/ (64¢)!  I don't know what I'll do with it, but I'll make something!  I'm much happier when I have something to putter at!  I get tired going down town.  There's nothing there but shopping or shows or eating.  I ordered a wooden chest at a local carpenter-furniture shop.  It is quite substantial.  I can use it to store extra things.  When outfits move forward they take very little with them, storing all extras in their foot lockers and chests.  And I hate to throw away anything.  [Gene was known to be a pack rat!]  And if I stay here any length of time I'll be certain to collect things.  And if I ever get any souvenirs, I'd hate to have them stolen like yours were, Vernon!  [Gene's stepdad was in WWI]
     ...One captain was telling me that he liked New Guinea in spite of its drawbacks.  He said it rained every night, but a nice, gentle rain.  And there were lots of bananas and oranges growing wild that were just delicious.  Most men didn't like it there at all.
     Just a year ago we were on the desert, sweltering in the heat - frying I should say.  ...  I read a clipping that 3 had died from thirst and heat [in the DTC] when a platoon became lost, somewhere on the desert.
     ...  Butchers over here advertise "meat and small goods", the small goods being wieners, sausage, etc.!  A "mercers" is a dry goods store, as nearly as I can make out.  "Solicitors" are agents of various sorts.  Darn!  A mosquito just bit me, and it's cool enough to see your breath!  So I'll say good night and crawl into my sleeping bag and pull the net over my head.  ...
     Love, Eugene

August 16, 1943
     We now have a floor in our tent.  Such luxury!  I've rigged a drop cord and reading light to add to comfort!  Of course the floor isn't quite level, but it is a lot better than the dust and uneven, rocky condition we had.  ...  We are getting a lot of recurrent malaria cases.

TELEGRAM COMMONWEALTH FO AUSTRALIA Postmaster General's Office
VIA BEAM QSB 2210 X 270 WARRENSBURG MO               16 AU 43

EFM CAPT EUGENE FREDERICK PFILE
0-445677 AMBYDA (RTON)

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY I WISH WE WERE TOGETHER ON THIS SPECIAL OCCASION ALL MY BEST WISHES FOR A SPEEDY REUNION LOVE AND KISSES
... BETH ANN PFILE

Beth: 19 August 1943
Dear Mary X [their folks are back in Warrensburg, Missouri, where Beth is]
     ...  Gene writes me such good letters and I just live for them.  ...
     Six years ago now we were both with you [when they got married in Freeport, Illinois].  I'm calmer now than then!  And the atmosphere is quite different.  This will be out 2nd anniversary apart.  I wonder where we will be next year.
     It is time to fly to the P.O.  Do hope all is well.  ...Send love to you.  Elisabeth

August 20, 1943 (Friday)
     ...  Last evening Griffiths, Hansen, Fenton and I attended a combined meeting of the Rockhampton [Masonic] lodges, at which was the official visit of "Most Worshipful, the Grand Master, the Right Honourable, His Excellency Sir Leslie Orme Wisdom" - Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Queensland which has 320 lodges.  He is also governor of Queensland, former governor of Bombay.  I never saw such a meeting - everyone in tuxedo or tail coat. ... To prepare for a toast, the toastmaster says, "Charge your glasses and be upstanding while we drink a toast to -"
     Some vernacular: In greeting a person in the evening, they may say "Good night" and in saying goodbye it may be "Good-o".  Instead of saying "No dumping" it will be "Persons will not deposit rubbish here".  At the mine, a sign said "Warning will be 2 blasts on the big hooter", a hooter being the whistle.  Steak and eggs is a dinner dish - I had some for 2/6 and tea.  They have a habit of putting a big white post in the middle of the road in a sharp curve, to keep you from cutting corners.
     Hansen, Fenton, Hagmann, Armstrong, Christie and I went in a weapons carrier (and 2 drivers) about 23 miles S.W. to Mt. Morgan, to go thru the workings of the gold and copper mine.  It started as a gold mine, but its most important article is copper now.  They had a lot of tunnels years ago, but have opened a hole down to the lowest and are taking out all the rock.  We followed the ore thru various crushers, ball mills, belt conveyors, bins, flotation mills, concentrators, solutions, roaster, blast furnace, converter, to the final pigs of 250# of Cu, each containing about 1 oz. of gold.  The balls (which they cast themselves) are certainly worn to a shadow.  Their coal to make the electricity comes from about 100 miles inland.  The mine caught fire in 1925 (the sulphide of the iron pyrites is burning), was sealed off, but still burns and the sulphur odor is strong in one place.  The Bessemer converter was a beautiful sight, spouting sparks.  They are adding to the blast furnace.

Admissions tent in Rockhampton

August 25, 1943 (Wednesday)
     2 months today that we left Stoneman, and here we've been working a month - we've admitted 569 patients with a census of 334!
     Tonight's show was "Human Comedy".  I had read it on the boat.  I understood the picture and liked it a lot better than the book.  Just before the show started I overheard 2 patients talking.  One was telling of an attack.  The order had been given to retreat and this one fellow had been left, badly wounded.  So this soldier telling it, and another, stayed until they were able to get the wounded fellow out, even though they knew he was going to die.  Apparently it was a fellow whom this soldier had sworn that if he ever got a chance, he'd shoot him, but he said at a time like that, you help anyone who needs it, regardless.  The same way, they hated to leave anyone's body.  Once they were carrying 2 bodies back to be buried in the regimental cemetery (the fellow said "You know, you think of how their folks would appreciate it!") and in the process 2 more men were killed.  Another fight, 9 of their men were killed, including a 1st Lt., and they had to withdraw and leave their bodies, and they felt so badly about it.  Another remark I overheard - a fellow was talking - said it would soon be Christmas and when it was, he'd wonder if he'd ever see another.  It's funny, I've never thought of it that way.  I wonder, will I?  I think so!
     Some of the officers who had been there, said our losses in men and planes haven't been told in the papers.  He said we had plenty of our planes destroyed on the ground, just like we did to the Japs at Weewac [Wewak] recently, several times!

August 27, 1943 (Friday)
     Everything went as usual until afternoon.  Then they told us we would admit patients tomorrow as well as today, to even the load with the 5th Sta.  I came back from supper and began to put more raw linseed oil on my footlocker box.  ...  Holt came to the tent to ask me what to do with the patients.  Ireland had just told Decker not to admit any more patients.  So I went over to see Ireland, to ask him what to do, thinking that since we were talking that we didn't have enough blankets to open new wards.  We have about 360 patients.  I saw Rice, who said we were closing up!  That we had to pack up in about a week and leave!  We might get rid of patients by train and to the 5th!  No word of where we are going!  When Adams was in Brisbane, some officer said, "We are going to keep you busy next week!!"  He must have known!  Dykstra said somebody asked him today, if we were the outfit going to Milne Bay!  Maybe we are!  Sparky guesses Darwin.  No body knows!  We still may not leave, so I won't even hint it to Beth until we are ready to roll.
     Overheard at the show tonight: "Naw, you never want to try to use the sling (on a Garand [rifle], or they'll be patting you on the face with a shovel!"  "One time I wished I didn't weigh but 10 pounds.  Their bullets was clipping to tops off the grass!  That's when they creased me across the leg."
     One patient came in to get a pass today.  He was going back for a ceremony at which he, among others, was to get decorated with a silver star for unusual bravery.  He was just a tall, thin kid!  I asked him what he did.  He said I'd better read the citation, it could explain it better than he could, and handed me the slip.  It said that he had been given a mission to inspect some signal equipment.  The native alonside him was shot in the back and killed, so he went into a dugout and killed the 3 Japs!  Then the kid said, "But I got 6 in all that day!  We were just cleaning up and it was just like shooting ducks."  I asked what kind of a gun he had - an '03 rifle [a rifle first used in 1905] and a .45 caliber [a semi-automatic pistol first used by the army in 1911]!  That is the stuff heroes are made of!

August 28, 1943
     Discharging and transferring patients.

August 29 (Sunday)
     Yesterday and today I've had a workout.  We discharged, transferred, or transferred for evacuation, 361 patients.  In less than a month (1 day) we admitted 624 patients.  Just fair!  Rumor has us anywhere form Port Moresby, Oro Bay, etc.
     It's difficult to write letters, especially to Beth, and not tell her.  It takes me 3 times as long to write and I feel I have to chatter about this or that.  I wonder if she senses it.  I will try to give her a hint the last day.

Here's an example of one such letter, this one to his parents:

29 Aug. '43
Dear Folks,
     I'm a little late on the letter but for a change I've been working a little!  While I write this I have my feet soaking in a mixture that smells worse than Pagosa Springs [a hot springs in Colorado], if you can imagine that.  I've been fighting athlete's foot and am trying something different.  I've put on a vigorous campaign to clear it before the wet season starts.  So far the weather has been marvelous.
     No letter from you for some time now.  In the last few days I've had air mails that Beth mailed July 23 and 28th.  Her V-mail usually does it in 12 to 14 days, although there is some that I never have received.
     It seems such a long time that we've been here, but we haven't fallen into any rut.  It is interesting to talk to the fellows.  Vernon, you remember that .25 caliber rifle?  I had opportunity to examine a Jap rifle and bullets.  They use a .25 caliber but it is a long rifle - the shell case looks just like the ones for yours, but the bullet is longer.  I weighed a bullet - 132 1/2 grains as against 117 grains for yours.  It must pack plenty of power!
     How is the well on the place holding up during the summer?  Which reminds me of past fishing trips and mosquitoes.  Remember the time you and I went, Vernon?  A little netting to cover the bed would have been such a simple relief!  I still havn't done any fishing here, but expect to sometime.
     Hope I'll hear from you soon.  I'm sure you're writing.  I'm doing just fine!
     Love, Eugene

August 30, 1943 (Monday)
     This is a Tulane deal all over again!  At 4:15 P.M. this afternoon our Hq called and told us to stay and open up again Wednesday morning!  Half our tents were already down!  We got off our 75 patients on the train this afternoon (who had stayed with the 5th Station Hosp. over night).  ...

September 4, 1943
     ...Golly but I miss Beth!  Words can't describe it.  A lump just about chokes me sometimes when I think of her!  She is without doubt the most wonderful person in the world!

On to Rockhampton (15)

After a mere nine days in Brisbane, the 92nd Evacuation Hospital is moved north, closer to the action of the war in the South Pacific.

July 22, 1943 (Thursday)
     We leave this noon!  We had to pay 10/ extra on our mess bill - certainly a gyp for what we had to eat!
     [Later] We left the area by truck at 12:30 and went to the Roma St. Station, and left there about 1:30.  What a train!  We had a "2nd class sleeper" of very early vintage.  The Aussies with us said they hadn't seen one like it for years!  It was in 5 compartments, narrow aisle to the side, 6 to a compartment.  The back of each seat raised up to give 6 bunks (2 permanent as shelves).  The covering was that slick straw.  The engine was a tiny thing.  The cars all wooden.  ...  The wheels are not solid but iron spokes!  The whole thing is light in weight.  The "guard" or conductor-brakeman rides in a special little cubicle in the last car.  Some cars have side doors to their compartments.  ...  We ran thru gentle hills and wooded country - a few skinny and tall palms, ferns, few pineapple fields and sugar cane fields.  We stopped about 6:30 (after dark) for supper at "Gimpie" [Gympie, Queensland] and went thru the mess line at the station - steak, watery mashed potatoes, gravy poured from a pitcher, sliced tomatoes, tea already "treated" with milk and sugar, bread, butter and jam.  But were we hungry!  We went to bed early.  The roadbed was too rough for much reading.  It was cold!  I had on long underwear tops, wool shirt, jacket, and covered with my trench coat.  I awakened at 1:30 and went right back to sleep.  At 3:30 I awoke again and shivered until 4 when I got up and put on the long drawers, a wool sweater and slept until 6 when we stopped and everyone woke up.  At 4 I put my head out the door (open platforms at the ends of the cars and no passing between cars!) and it was very cold.  It was said that we got up into 4000 ft. mountains during the night.  We reached Rockhampton about 9:45 A.M. about 400 miles from Brisbane.  Averaged just about 20 miles an hour!

July 23, 1943
     We ate breakfast, going thru the line at the station again and had practically the same food!  Trucks were waiting for us.  The town appears to be very much spread out, and quite similar to Brisbane.  We headed for some low hills east of town to our area.  We found the 5th Station Hospital very well set up in some buildings, tent frames - very fine in fact.  They've been here 6 or 7 months.  We are to be just back of them and up on a knoll for part of our camp.  It has been occupied before, so we can set up more easily.  It is quite full of trees from saplings to 8" [diameter] ones.  It is now dry and brown and a little dusty, but so very pleasant.  We can see part of the town, which is about 3 miles away.  There is running water (cold) and electricity.  This should be fine!  We ate at their mess - very good!  We slept in some of their wards, under mosquito netting as is required here.  There are very few skeeters due to the dryness and cold (what ones there are must use a low SAE oil in their engines to be able to fly these chilly nights!)  There is no native malaria, but some Dengue fever - very mild - from these mosquitoes.

Camp at Rockhampton

     I mailed a letter to Beth that I hope the censor doesn't see.  I'm afraid I inadvertently said the wrong thing about moving!
     Our new APO is #926.

July 24, 1943 (Saturday)
     What a cold night!  I missed my sleeping bag!  Nothing to do today but walk around.  Our fellows are setting up.  This is certainly a pleasant grove - more like a camp meeting grounds.  We are not accustomed to such surroundings!  What long evenings - worse than Freda.  ...

July 25, 1943 (Sunday)
     ...  No blackout here!  However, there are bomb shelters, slit trenches and all that!  All the windows of the stores are crossed # with tape or boarded up or covered with wire netting.
     3 of us took about a 6 mile hike up between some hills and saw some very nice country.  We came upon an open park with a shack in it and evidence of farming and a few orange trees.  We saw a large wild wallaby.

July 26, 1943 (Monday)
     ...  Tonight we moved to the area to assigned tents.  I drew Powers and Terstegge!  We had slept for 2 nights in one of our ward tents.  2 letters from Beth dated July 10 and 12.  The July 11 didn't arrive yet!
     On our way back from town Christie stopped to talk to an elderly man about fishing.  He [Christie] pulled some tackle out of his pocket and out fell a rubber.  Padre [an army chaplain is usually called "Padre", regardless of denomination] and I practically rolled on the ground laughing!  It was one Christie had been given as a joke, for censoring mail while at Ascot.  Even the [old] man laughed!

Old man and his fishing boat on the Fitzroy River

July 27, 1943 (Tuesday)
     Today we really began to set up the place!  Sgt. Decker (I have 6 clerks and 4 orderlies and 1 ass't - Lt. Vinicor) can be trusted to get things rolling.  I received 2 V-mails from Beth, the 14th and 15th of July, and a regular June 28th and an air mail from Mother of June 28.  Fine weather!  I'm Receiving Officer.

Form filled out for each outpatient at the
92nd Evac Hospital in Rockhampton

July 28, 1943 (Wednesday)
     Fairly quiet day!  The admitting tent is functioning.  We got our liquor ration.  I drew a 26 oz brandy for 16/ or about $2.56.  It is good, aged brandy.  We are allowed 3 bottles of beer a week at 1/8 a bottle.  I sold my share to the men, for it seems a shame that they are left out of any army arrangements.

July 31, 1943 (Saturday)
     ...  2nd Lt. Gray arrived late last night with [six] 2 1/2 ton trucks, 2 weapons carriers, 1 command car, 1 staff car, 2 jeeps.  It took them 3 1/2 days to drive the 300 miles from Brisbane!  They were allowed 4 days, but decided to come right thru.  Their roads were scarcely ever surfaced!  Sometimes it was just a single track dirt road thru the woods!  They said the "backwoods" people regarded them as such a curiousity and were so hospitable!
     Some of the birds can sing very well with beautiful liquid notes.  And others, especially morning and evening, sound like someone trying to rob the henhouse!
     One officer [a patient in the ward] told about his outfit capturing a Japanese hospital that they tried to defend.  Our men went thru it, killing every patient and the few doctors that were left.  They have learned not to trust the Japs any time.  The Japs are always pulling stunts such as pulling out a grenade and setting it off when a Yank gets close to him, killing himself as well.  The officer said you sleep anywhere, and with a knife in your hand.  ...  In the dense jungle, a man could be firing at you from 5 feet away and you couldn't see him!
     Men carrying supplies thru mud, sometimes made 2 round trips a day over an 800 yard distance.  The Japs sank the Australian hospital ship, in retaliation for one of theirs we sank (and which was not told in the papers!)  Since we killed off a few of their hospital units in retaliation, they've left our hospitals alone.  In one place our men captured, they found ample evidence of Geisha girls - including rubbers!  They [the Americans] used [captured]Jap drugs and other supplies freely.  Some Japs were very much malnourished.  In some places they found vitamin tablets!

August 1, 1943 (Sunday)
     Lansing-Hatfield, Metropolitan baritone who sang in Trinidad several years ago, sang [The Lord's Prayer] at our church service this morning.  He is in the USO.
     Hagmann and I climbed a hill NE of our area.  A grand view of the city and valley.  We saw a wallaby.  The Fitzroy River is quite a river.

Beth: 1 August 1943
My dears [Mary X and their parents, who are visiting Freeport],
     ...  Knowing that Gene went to church yesterday since he is a day ahead of me makes me feel as tho [sic] he is a 7 day Adventist!  ...
     Can't wait for tomorrow for I should have the missing letter from Gene.  A year ago today we spent at Fort Ord and on Monday he left for the desert.  ...
     Love, Elisabeth

August 2, 1943 (Monday)
     My Honey's birthday and I'm not able to hold her in my arms and hug her.  Last year we were confined to the Fort of Ord because of leaving for the desert, and today I'm too far away to even see her!
    
Beth: 2 August 1943 (Monday)
My dears,
     I'm favored by the Gods!  Such a lot of good mail I got at noon and now at 3:30 pm I get a birthday cable from my sweetheart in Australia.  I must tell first the good news that is in his letter.  He has been writing that they would move and intimated New Guinea and I've been so upset about it.  Col. Ireland went out on "an expedition" and rumor had it he called on MacArthur.  Anyway their orders were changed and they had to set up a base hospital which is an entirely different thing from an Evacuation Hospital.  The base hospital is supposed to be about 3X the size of the EV and be stationary in a safe spot.  An EV Hospital follows the battle and is the first behind the line.  He said they would be in a lovely spot near a nice Australian town and all were so happy about it.  I am overjoyed.  Once set up they can't move them for quite a spell.  And I won't have to worry about Malaria.  When his other cable took 6 days to come, I wonder how he knew when to send this one.  And in his letter he said he was afraid it (the letter) would arrive after the birthday but he wanted to send greetings.  That letter, #10, came today and I have not had #9 yet!  ...
     Love, Elisabeth


A reprieve from the battlefront, but for how long?

Getting to Know Brisbane (14)

July 14, 1943 (Wednesday)
     We have to have ration cards for clothes and tobacco.
     It rained a little during the night, and was foggy this morning.  They gave us 4 blankets last night, and straw (stuff-'em-yourself) ticks.  It was rather chilly, too.
     4 of us started down town about 10 A.M.  We took the "train" for 2d, getting off at Queen and Edward Streets.  Lady conductor, partly open train.  It reminded me of the cable cars in Frisco.  We wandered around sight seeing.  Chemists = drug store (and only drugs and supplies).  Timber merchant = lumber yard.  Ironmonger = hardware store.  We went to a bank to have our money changed.  For $46.25 I received £14 3/ 11d, the £ being $3.26.  We looked in at several shops and bought a 1/ lottery ticket.  The lottery seems to be the universal vice.  Everywhere you see "casket shops" and all sorts of people buying.  A ticket sells for 5/6d or 6 to a ticket of 1/ each.  The drawings are weekly and are a Queensland affair, the profit going to the hospital.  We bought booklets and carefully went thru a book store.  3/6, 2/6 and 1/6 for the things.  There seem to be plenty of flashlight batteries at the hardware stores.  We ate in an ordinary place on purpose.  We could hardly understand the waitress!  ...  We had steak, with 2 kinds of potatoes for vegetables besides a leaf of lettuce and small slice of tomato!  And the dessert was a "sweet" - "sundī" (the "milk bars" are the malted milk places) - 6d or 9¢ for one!  We looked at butcher shop windows.  There is a great profusion of meat and at ridiculously low prices.  Fine steaks at 6d (or 10¢) a pound!  Long 3' bars of soap for 1/1 (or about 17¢)!  Clothing is rationed.  I stopped at lots of "Tobacconist and Hairdressers" - combination cigar stores and barber shops - but no tobacco.  There are lots of U.S. brands and stores.  I saw Woolworth's, Macy's, Penney's, Sherwin Williams Paint, Dunlop Rubber Co., etc.  Finally I found some tobacco at Finney's Dept. Store, 1/2 = 19¢ an ounce which is high.  It was bulk mixture.  No pipes!  I bought a razor strop for 13/8 ($2.19), which is about a $3.50 value.  Later I bought more tobacco - Capstan Navy Cut Flake 2 oz. for 2/6 1/2d (?) and "Champion" which is quite dark and heavy.  It is all cut plug type.  Too expensive!

A residential street in Brisbane

     Padre [Griffiths] and I found a Masonic Temple and went in and signed the register and looked about.  One member invited us to a 3rd [a third degree Mason is allowed to attend meetings at other Lodges] at Acacia Lodge next Monday.  They have a bar, to which I shall return later!  Nice, solid-looking men.  Then we hunted up the main Masonic building on Anne Street.  It is a grand building, but we were at the wrong time for the caretaker.  I stopped in a saddlery store.  Their stock saddles are English type, but a bigger leg flap and seat and a sort of projection in front and behind the leg comparable in use to a "bulge" on the breaking saddles.  No horn!  For they don't use ropes.  These sold for some £16 and didn't look to be very good leather.  None of the stores appeared to have as cosmopolitan appearance as ours.  In fact they all seem to be "dinky" and with a mneager supply of goods.
     Last night at our officers' club I bought a 10/ chit book, divided into 6d chits, for the bar.  Small glasses of beer are 6d, wine 12d or 1/.  The beer was cold for us.  It was sweetish and I like it better than ours.  It is stronger in alcohol.
     Our bed rolls and footlockers arrived.

Horse-drawn cart

     Oh happy day!  The first mail!  I had 3 V mail letters [V- or Victory-mail letters were written on specifically-designed paper that was then microfilmed and sent overseas where it was enlarged and printed close to its destination; 2575 pounds of letters could be reduced to 45 pounds] from Beth!  Words fail me!
     I was astonished at the number of horse drawn vehicles - large 4-wheeled wagons, 2-wheelers, etc.  There are a lot of small cars and a few wood-burners of some type.  "Tyres" = tires.

Wood-burning automobile

     At lunch the smallest spoon even for ice cream, was a small tablespoon.  I saw one "Digger" eating with a fork in each hand, but conveying the food to his mouth with the right.  Another ate with his hat on.
     The sugar is very grandular - grains about 3 times that of ours.  But it is cane sugar.
     I weighed myself downtown for 1d - 11-5 1/2, which is 11 stone 5 1/2 pounds of 159 1/2 pounds, a stone being 14 pounds.
     The toilet paper her is a marvel.  It is puncture proof!  It is about the strength and smoothness of our brown wrapping paper, and gray in color.  The plumbing is old style - overhead tank type of toilet, faucets close to the side of the bowl, even in modern buildings.
     Everyone has bomb shelters or slit trenches in all vacant lots and parks.
     Street car stop is "Hail train here" post.

July 16, 1943 (Friday)
     Having recouped my strength, I set forth (having had a hot shower and shave - lovely) about 10:30 A.M.  4 of us took a cab to town for 2 bob each.  On the way down, I asked the driver about fishing.  He said to see Jack Grī-him and spelled Graham, G, R, HI, HAICH, HI, HEM!  I went in and out stores, looking for a gift for Beth.  They have scarcely any purses, and the few good leather ones have very poor workmanship and cost £2 17/.  The special dealer at Allen and ? had 3 gems, too.  I looked at jewelry shops - they have lots of unset gems but are not allowed to set them.  Best one is apt to be badly strung.  I heard one man ask what a 48 point perfect blue white diamond woulod cost and knowing the cost in our country (a la Beth's ring), I'd say things are no cheaper.
     Christie just told me to put down in my diaryt that he shot an 84 on the golf course yesterday.  I ran into Omer and we had lunch together.  Then I went to the Masonic Club bar and had a glass of been and a lot of talk with a fire insurance salesman.  The to another quar and took the Lone Pine launch for 2/ up the river 1 3/4 hours (~ 12 miles) to the koala bear farm.  Adams, Vinicor, and Farquar went along - among others 2 nurses who were mildly on the make for Sparky and I, and 2 Australian nurses, one of whom got out ot Tabruk just 5 hours before it fell.  There were over a dozen koala bears, including small ones.  They are very hard to raise and eat only gum (eucalyptus) tree leaves.  They also have kangaroos, wallabies, birds, emus, etc.  then we came back to town by bus for 9d (the zoo was 6d).  We ate at Lennor's - food wa good for 5/ but not exceptional.  Beer was 6/ a pitcher.  Then back home to bed about 8 P.M.

July 17, 1943 (Saturday)
     6 letters waiting for me, mailed all the way from June 21 to July 5, both regular and air mail.  the one from Sam Tyson in Fla. about 10,000 miles in 10 days.
     This morning I had my first spell of censoring.  It was for the 17th Repl. Bn [Replacement Battalion], Co. K.  Most of the men had been sick or wounded and were waiting to return to their outfit.  What those fellows don't all write.  I learned that "dog faces" are soldiers!
     In the afternoon Armstrong, christie and I went to the races at Albion Park, where the Doomben Cup is to be run next week.  There are 3 grades: Paddock (13/), St. Leger (3/) and Flat (1/).  We went in the Flat end accidentally (they let us in free), but got a very big kick out of it.  Everybody was betting!  There were dozens of rivate bookies, and also the pari-mutual (?) betting.  It is easy to see why the poor stay poor - betting!  I bet 2 bob on Crafty Clare and she came in about 10th.  Chrisite (of course) won, lucky as he is.  So the next race I gave him 2 bob to bet for me and I also be on another.  Christie's horse won me 6 bob so I wa just even.  He came out £1 1/2 ahead!  Then Armstrong and I went downtown and saw the zoological gardens - Krape Park in Freeport had more at one time!  We came bakc out for supper.  Everything in town was closed.  We saw a show in the area based on "The Devil and Daniel Webster".

July 18, 1943 (Sunday)
     There is a bird around here that looks like a sort of magpie, but tamer [peewee?].
     Venetian panels = Venetian blinds.
     4 of us went to St. Andrews Presbyterian Church downtown.  It is quite a large church and quite Scotch.  We ate at the American Club - nothing else open!  Saw a raft of full Col's and 1 Brig. General.  MacAurthur is supposed to be in town, as well as Admiral Halsey.
     Rumor has it we are going to Rockhampton, 300 miles north of here, to set up a 1000 bed hospital for the 42nd Division which is just coming out of the islands - be with them3 to 6 months while they res up and then go back into action with them!  Scuttlebutt?
     Torch refills = flashlight batteries.
     It sounds funny to hear the men shooting craps saying 2 shillings, etc.
     Our nurses are at "Indooroopilly" [a suburd of Brisbane where Camp Columbia is located].
     Cigarettes are 40¢ a carton, being tax free outside the U.S.A.
     My left traverse arch has been paining me for several days.  I taped it this morning.
     The paper says there was a heavy frost with temperature of 45° and 61 degrees of humidity this morning.  How can it be?
     "Fanny" is Australian slang, does not refer to buttocks but to the front!

July 19, 1943 (Monday)
     I went with Christie to play golf at the Royal Queensland Golf Club.  The Prince of Wales played here 20 years ago!  It cost us each (servicemen) 1 shilling.  To rent clubs 2/.  We had tea and scones before we started - 1/.  After the first 9 we had lunch 1/6d for tea and sandwiches.  We had a shower and shaved and played the last 9 and had beer for 1/.  About $1 for all of it!  The grass is dry, but it is a good course.  I did the last 9 in 58 - George in 47!
     Still no mail!  Rumor has it that our orders are in, and that we'll move to Rockhampton soon!
     In the evening Padre Griffiths and I went to Acacia Lodge #330 in S. Brisbane, to a 3rd degree.  It was a Queensland Charter.  Things are very much different!  I hope I can remember the differences to tell in our lodge when I return!  When we got as far as downtown (about 11:30 P.M.) the power went off.  We had a hot dog, Australian-style - very tough skin!  We got rooked on a fancy ice cream deal - 2/ for a dish!

July 20, 1943 (Tuesday)
     Boy - cnesoring for 6 hour today.  It really plucks at the heartstrings to read some of the loneliness and love.  One fellow wrote, "I be the officer that has censored my mail will think I'm a lovesick fool.  I hope he is married or in love, so he can understand how i feel." So I wrote at the end of the letter, "You're right.  I am married and I am in love with my wife!" and signed it "Censor".
     A V from Oliver Waite [a friend from Trinidad].  No mail from Beth for a week.  Some of the letters of the men indicate that they haven't had letters for so long, and apparently write nasty remarks about the other person not writing, and then receive 6 or more letters at once, and are promptly sorry.
     2 letters this afternoon from my Honey!  Marvelous!  Everything is rosy again!

July 21, 1943 (Wednesday)
     10 officers and 100 men leave tonight on an advance party to Rockhampton!  We are to act as a station hospital, with 1000 beds, for the 42nd Division returning from combat.  It is practically 100% malarious.  They are on suppressive treatment, from which they will be gradually withdrawn and sent to the hospital as they relapse.  Withdrawal will be staggered in groups so we aren't swamped.  Then after about 5 months we are to return to combat with them!
     This evening we drank up our remaining chits - beer, apricot liquer, cherry brandy, Soleol [?] wine, etc.

Setting the Scene: Australia and Japan (13)

Australia at 2.97 million square miles, is about the area of the United States minus the state of Alaska.  It is considered the world's smallest and driest continent.  Most of the interior is flat and desert or semi-arid.  Brisbane is located in the middle of the east coast, and at the southern edge of Queensland, a state that is about the same size as Alaska.  The temperature is moderate, and the average annual rainfall is about 42 inches which falls mainly in the summer months of November through March.  The population of Brisbane in 1942 was about 750,000

According to A Pocket Guide to Australia published by the War and Navy Departments in 1943 (which I mentioned in yesterday's blog), annual per capita consumption of wheat and flour in the U.S. was 160 lbs, while in Australia it was 203 lbs.  In the U.S., 1/2 lb of tea and 13 lbs of coffee were consumed; in Australia, 7 lbs of tea and 1/2 lb of coffee.  Meat consumption was as follows: beef (U.S.) 63 lbs, (Australia) 112 lbs; lamb or mutton (U.S.) 7 lbs, (Australia) 81 lbs; pork (U.S.) 55 lbs, (Australia) 19 lbs.  Americans made up the calories by eating lots more fruit and leafy vegetables. Both countries probably had a similar sweet tooth.

In January 1942 the American British Dutch Australian Command (ABDACOM) was formed to oversee the Southwest Pacific Area and was placed under British control.  At the time the goal was purely defensive since "Europe First" had been decided upon by the British and Americans.  President Roosevelt felt that even though the U.S. had been attacked by Japan, American commitment should be first against Germany.  He had concerns about the ability of Russia to hold up against Germany and he wanted to keep Great Britain free. He also thought Germany would continue the war with or without Japan.

In early 1942 Japan seized various small islands in the south Pacific, as well as Borneo, Singapore, and ports of New Guinea (including Finschhafen on March 11, 1942, which will be important to the 92nd Evac later).  The ABDACOM was dissolved only a few months after it was formed when most of the area to be overseen was conquered by the Japanese.  At this point the Australian politicians discussed establishing a defensive line at Brisbane,  thus effectively  conceding half of the continent to Japan if they were attacked.  They were in a difficult position because most of their ground troops had been committed by Great Britain to fighting in the Middle East.

General Douglas MacArthur was evacuated from Corregidor Island in the Philippines in March, and the Philippines were surrendered to Japan in May 1942.  After arriving in Australia, MacArthur was not willing to participate in passive defense.  His strategy was to take control of the area, starting with New Guinea, and eventually to take back the Philippines.

Gene describes sailing up the estuary to Brisbane,  and finding their spot in Camp Ascot in his diary:

July 13, 1943 (Tuesday)
     We came part way up the estuary, inside the submarine nets and anchored last night.  I was up by 6 (the men made so much noise) and we were moving up the channel then, and it is a narrow channel between low islands, but quiet as a mill pond.  In fact, as soon as we came inside the bay it was quiet.  It was quite a ways up the river to the docks - 10 miles or so.  We were all excited to see land.  Last night everyone rushed to one side and darn near capsized the boat.  They warned everyone to stay on his own side.  I was relly alarmed, because it took a terrific list when they had to make sharp turns.  We tied up to the dock about 7.
     I had to get the detail for the baggage and unloaded it last, so I didn't get off the boat until 11.  We had a right-handed truck and our education to Australia began.  We drove to section H, Camp Ascot, about 1 1/2 miles from the dock.  The rest of the men and officers had to walk, so I had a ride for my trouble [according to nurse Edith Anderson, the nurses rode by government bus to Camp Columbia] We drove all over camp looking for our outfit and finally [after] about 3/4 of an hour located us.  We went to eat at once.

The area outside the turf track at Eagle Farm Race Track,
the interior of which was called Camp Ascot in WWII

     This camp is in a race track which is quite elaborate and new.  It was finished just before the war in '39.  We have only the inside area.  The beautiful turf tracks are left undisturbed.  Of course it is all dead-looking now, it being winter.  On the way up we passed some perfectly huge poinsettias in bloom - actually trees with big trunks!  The large grandstands house officers.  The mess is not too hot!  We pay a ration plus 1 bob (1/) (shilling, = 16¢) extra a day.
     We had an orientation lecture from 1:30 to 4:15 which was a series, and very instructive.  "I'm knocked up.  Go jazz my sister." means "I'm tired out.  Go dance with my sister."  The lady who says she gets a good screw each week means she has a good wage each week!
     We signed in and I had a $10 bill converted - £3, 1/ and 11d.
     I sent Beth a canned cablegram for 44¢.  I couldn't tell in it where we were (that can only be put in letters), and mailed letters.

In a cable to Mary X sent on 16 July 1943 (Friday), Beth writes: CARD FROM MERCY INDICATES SHE RECEIVED ALL WELL CABLE FROM DICK WEDNESDAY.  NO DETAILS JUDGE IT WAS FROM AUSTRALIA.  AT LEAST BOAT IS SAFE AND IM SURE GENE IS TOO.  CANT UNDERSTAND WHY NO CABLE FOR ME.  AM WIRING MOM.  THANKS FOR KANSASCITY CARD LOVE TO ALL= ELIZABETH.

We have tents, wooden floors and some have cots.  Open air cold showers and wash stands (we can use the officers' showers at times with hot water - Christie and I did.  Was it nice!)  There was a movie last night but I was too tired.