Leonards Last Letter

Leonards last letter home was written on the 13th July 2000 and it arrived home 3 days after he had was killed , his mother, Linda, read the letter out at his funeral and as a result NZ Soldiers may be getting a pay rise earlier than they thought. New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke said she had been unaware of the pay gap with between New Zealand and Australian Soldiers until she had attended Leonard Mannings Funeral and heard his mother read his last letter.

13/7/00
Dear Mum & Dad

A big hi from E.T. Hope this letter finds you both well and not missing me too much. We've been here two months yesterday, so the time's passing quite quickly at the moment. I hope it stays like this. Sorry about you getting cut off on the phone the other day, I guess the satellite wasn't playing the game, still it was good just to hear you both, even if it was only for a short time. The past two weeks has been very busy for me as our 2 IC. is on leave back in N.Z. so I've had to step into his shoe's. Which means I'm responsible for the Admin. and well being of my Section, much the same as the Plt. Sgt is responsible for the Plt. As well as this I'm also responsible for being the understudy Sec. Commander and running my own patrols with my half of the section which is a huge responsibility considering we are on an operation.

The people are still very friendly which is a big plus. There are two UN observers here called UN.M.O.S. One of them is Dan O'Connor so that is quite a hard case.

The weather is improving all the time and its begining to get quite hot. Only two more months and Ill be on leave for ten days, I think I'll probably sleep most of them!

I still plan on diving the worlds largest reef, also I'll be going to the local Army recruiting office. Im looking at the Commandos or Paratroopers, both in Sydney, or maybe I'll try out for the Aussie SAS based out of Perth. They say the grass is always greener on the other side, but in this case it's well above the top wire of the fence.

I dont know if I told you but I was talking to an Aussie Major and he said that the ADF is bracing itself for experienced Soldiers and Airmen. They just got seven Skyhawk pilots who left the RNZAF on sixty thousand and went to $120,000 Aussie. If I go my $27,000 will go to $41,000, and all money earned over here is tax free!

We are having all our food and water as well as fuel lifted in by helo. So that is quite interesting. Everything from Jetrangers, which as you know are very small, to a Russian MI 26 which is the largest chopper in the world, it can take 100 men and a truck! As well as the 2IC role I have taken over the section medic's job and Im carrying 2 Lt saline and 1 of Haemacell plus the giving sets and other kit. Will be doing some IV's this afternoon. Well I must go. Miss you all.

Love Len XXX

Sergeant Major Phil Burgess
Letter to the Family

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