"ملف 28/57 II متطوّعون للخدمة الوطنية" [و‎‎٢‎٠‎٠] (٧١٩/٤٠٥)

Dear Carl,
Officers* Training School
Belgaum, India.
July 27th/41. C, G,
^ell, it was a good idea while it lastprl * c-ni ruy r
Unfortunately for me, I didn't quite make it ~ So uni pc*- n fv home 1 m J an *
jrllht 4 uick like, it looks as if yours truly will h^cne a'hit i of e t t ^° Ver
in the gears of the Indian.army. Just call me lootenant aM
I am writing this so that you fellows 'har.ir ?hG- t, ■
know what you are up against if you get any ideas wl11
skip home through India. iThen the plane got' into Karachi Ind i went^tr.
the customs house to get ay luggage examined they were waitinetor me*
It seems that the political agent had wired to the military anthnh??Go
at Karachi, telling them what time I would arrive at the ai/port^ aG ^
recommended my conscription. As nice a piece of underhand wo^k as I
tovg ever had the misfortune to witness. If that cable had not hlen sent
there is no doubt but that I should have been allowed to proceed ,r
I am feeling bitter about the whole affair so I am hoping that none nr 7
you Will attempt what Idid. " oplng l ' nat none of
All the righ'/S which a Canadian citizen has at home are nTmamr+i
forfeited when he gets to India and the fact that'there is no conlcrirtioS
at home or the fact that you are in transit means nothing to the millta™
ithorities here. The law reads "Any British subject is liable to con?
scnption no matter from what part of the Empire he comes" and believe
me, you have to have a mighty good story to get around it. Obviously
mine was not good enough. ' J ’
I had a te/iihle time in Karachi. T had to "be interviewed "by
„ . . , t t t ox d iC . J - 11 ^iracni. i naa to be interviewed by
l ?~ army officials and it was four days before 1 knew definitely
H|t I was not going to be allowed to go. After that I was conscribted
and sent here for a four months' course.
EEI here took me four d.ays. Bel gaum is about two hundred
miles south of Bombay. There is no coastal railroad from Karachi so that
upd to cover half of Ind ia to get there - I went by way of Lahore, Delhi
and believe it or not, good old Poona. In fact I slept in the station at
Poona one night after missing a connection. It's a great life sometimes.
The life at this training school is not too bad although the
strenuous routine of physical training and rifle drill etc, is just about
ailing me after the comparatively lazy life of Bahrein. On the other
land, it should do me a lot of good physically.
All this has been a great blow to my marriage mans. There is
i possibility though that I will get a commission in the ordinance Corps
id be put in a munitions plant. If this materializes I will try to get
lelen out here.
The unfortunate part of it is that those things that I sent home
\ my box for some of the fellows there at Bahrein will not be delivered
rnless there is some means by which I can have my father claim the box.
)therwise it will just lie there in bond until I get home to claim it
lyself. Tell Harvey Clare that I am sorry that I will not be able to
trrange for those flowers for his girl friend and that I will return his
loney to him at Bahrein.
I would be very glad if you fellows would write to me here and
.et me know how everything is going at Bahrein. I sure would appreciate it
f you would do this and I promise to answer everybody. Perhaps you would
>e interested in what life in the Indian army is like.
If you are writing, the new handle is Officer-Cadet P.L. Johnson
.nd the address is on the letter head.
Say hello for me to Homo, Bene, Jim, George, Harvey, Pap, Keith
.nd all the rest,
Sincerely,
(sgnd ) Lloyd..