AN AUSTRALIAN SOLDIER'S LETTERS TO HIS FAMILY AT HOME IN SYDNEY IN WWII.
IF ANY MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MADE OR DATA ENTERED INCORRECTLY, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AND I WILL TAKE STEPS TO AMEND IT.
N.B. The most recent letters are shown last. Earliest Letters i.e.1941 are published first.
My father who was a man of loyalty and strong family ties throughout his life wrote home to Sydney for the 5 years of World War 2. He enlisted on his 20th birthday in 1940 and did not return till the War ended in 1945 during which time many things changed and many things changed him. These are the letters of a young Sydney boy written as he faces war and life in the Middle East , North Queensland and New Guinea and Borneo. The attitudes and thoughts of the time are reflected in them and I shall leave the story behind them for the reader to interpret.
Bruce also kept a diary which he carried from 1940-45 ( and in fact he kept journalling till a series of strokes and the loss of his wife,Joyce, finally defeated him ) . I shall endeavour to incorporate the diary in this blog as I am able.
Dad had wanted his story told and he and I had looked for a way to publish it but while he was alive and on limited funds we were unable to do so and he passed on in 2005. Now that the internet is available for me to put his story online, I do so. All his work was handwritten and detailed so bear with me as I transcribe.
R.I.P. Bruce and Joyce Sanders. LEST WE FORGET.
Yrs. Lynne Sanders.
Carmen Hall said
I was doing some research about the 2/3 Pioneers, my father’s battalion, and I noticed Bruce Saunder’s name. My Dad, and then I, had corresponded with him over a book of Pioneers he was trying to make up. I was sad to see he had passed, as has my Dad, Warren Harris. Then I came across your video tribute. What a wonderful achievement and tribute. I have a lot of photos of the 2/3 in Palestine. so yours looked so familiar.
Thank you sso much for sharing. How those proud and straight men would have loved to have seen it, quietly, of course.
Best regards, Carmen.