Letter from Roy Bruce to Helen Bruce

It seems a long time since I
wrote, and I am afraid it is two
or three weeks. I have been very busy
lately, and have also daily been
expecting to hear from the W.O. War Office regarding
my transfer, but so far no news.

The command here is being
reorganised and I have been posted
to the Staff of the 75' Division with
H.Q. Headquarters at Ismailia , I have however
not gone yet, as the G.O.C. General Officer Commanding here
has asked that I may be retained

here for the present anyway, and also
because he wants me to act as
Secretary to the Peace Celebrations
Committee for Egypt of which he
is President. (I enclose cutting from
the Egyptian Mail which may
amuse you). This last is rather
a tall order, and it means a
great deal of work, and incidentally
tact when you consider that all
the Diplomatic Agencies fo the Allied
Powers are represented on the
Committee and also that Egypt is
not a British possession. I feel
that the little hair that still
remains on my head will shortly disappear.

Really I have had a varied
career during the war, and if only
I were ten years younger and could
mould my ideas easily to what
they should have been, I could
look forward with great confidence
to the future. As it is, I am
just too old now, I have had to
readjust so much from those awful
early New Zealand years and some
things are very hard to eradicate.

Last night I went to a
most delightful moonlight sailing

party on the Nile . It was given
by the Devonshires . I don't know
whether I told you I knew the
Devonshires in France over 20 years
ago and didn't find it out till
quite recently. There were six
of us M r & M rs D. Devonshire , Sir Alex d Alexander Baird 's
daughter, a man named Cresswell
from the Air Force, General Bulfin
( G.O.C. General Officer Commanding Egypt) and myself . It was
a gorgeous evening, full moon &
a gentle breeze. We had a
picnic dinner on the felucca, and
sailed to Ma'adi in a little over
two hours. The General 's car met us there and brought me back to
Cairo . The the Devonshires live at Ma'adi .

I get quite a lot of golf here
these days at Gezira Gezirah . The course is
quite flat with practically all
artificial pot bunkers, if one keeps
straight it is very simple. My
game is just as futile as ever.

You know when the time comes
for me to leave Egypt , I shall do
so with very many regrets, I think
it is a delightful country with
its startling contrasts. I shall
never be able to live properly again
without lots of sunshine. Think

360 out of 365 days in the year,
without a cloud in the sky!

N.Z. New Zealand have just indicated that
I must return to N.Z New Zealand , on a ship
leaving the end of this month.
GHQ General Headquarters are asking for my retention
and have also cabled the W.O. War Office about
my transfer, so something ought
to be settled fairly soon. Perhaps
I shall be back before long, qui sait!

Bye bye old thing , I am not
worrying over anything, I don't think
these last five years have been all
in vain.

Much love to you both
Roy.