Wallet 1 of 1 - Papers relating to Lieutenant Albert James McDonald, 1939-1942

McDonald, Albert James (Lieutenant, b.1920 - d.1943)

Places	Africa: Egypt Africa: Egypt, Alexandria Africa: Egypt, Cairo Africa: Egypt, North Egypt, Nile Delta Africa: Libya, Tobruk Africa: North Africa, Libya, Cyrenaica, Barce Africa: North Africa, Libya, Cyrenaica, Bardia Area, Bardia Europe: Greece Middle East: British Mandate of Palestine, Haifa Middle East: British Mandate of Palestine, Palestine Middle East: French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, Beirut Middle East: French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, Damascus Middle East: French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon, Syria Oceania: Australia, Victoria, Melbourne, Box Hill
Accession Number	AWM2020.22.303
Collection number	PR04741
Collection type	Digitised Collection
Record type	Wallet
Item count	1
Object type	Letter, Photograph
Physical description	134 Image/s captured
Maker	McDonald, Albert James
Place made	Australia
Date made	1939-1942
Conflict	Second World War, 1939-1945
Source credit to	This item has been digitised with funding provided by Commonwealth Government.

Description

Collection relating to the Second World War service of VX5554 Lieutenant Albert James 'Meggsie' McDonald, 2/7 Australian Infantry Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force, Middle East and Australia, 1939-1942.

Wallet 1 of 1 – Consists of seventeen letters [including envelopes], two Christmas cards, one photograph, one telegram, and seven envelopes from Lieutenant McDonald to his friend, Mrs Marjorie Anderson, and one letter from Lieutenant McDonald to Miss Padgeham. McDonald’s correspondence is dated between late 1939 and 7 September 1942, and covers the period of his service in Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Greece and Syria. In his letters, McDonald writes about his impressions of the local environments and people, hearing news regarding mutual friends, participating in training manoeuvres, receiving mail, the amount of destruction caused by bombs, limited water supplies, his first experience of being in action at Bardia, his eagerness to go home, making a journey for supplies, difficulties of serving in the desert, being targeted by dive bombers, serving in Tobruk and Greece, and his evacuation from Greece. He then goes on to write about being frustrated with inaction, having leave at a Jewish settlement, receiving his commission, attending a school for officers, hearing news of the war on other fronts, having his appendix removed, recovering in hospital, spending time on a house-boat for convalescents on the Nile River, sightseeing, being on garrison duty in Syria, looking forward to being a father, having leave in Beirut, playing sports, being looked after by his batman, missing his wife, Christmas dinner, tobogganing in the snow, and being selected as an instructor for a training school. One of McDonald’s later letters, dated c August 1942, contains a detailed autobiographical account of his enlistment and service in the Middle East. McDonald also responds to news from his hometown and sends his regards to loved ones.