31 Dec: Mon (12.00 pm)

    Well here we are at the end of 1956. This evening there has been the usual spirits and beer to celebrate the new year. But apart from this there has been no shindigs as at Xmas. Tomorrow is a holiday for the whole camp except signals personnel. Good oh. 

   All the time we were on watch, greetings for a Happy New Year were coming through from all the different stations. Tent D20 where we had our own celebrations was jammed tight with bods and bottles, and instead of retiring afterwards to our own tents, we all kipped down in there, lying on the sand or the table or sleeping about four on a bed. 

    It’s been a very eventful year, and I never dreamed that when I came into the R.A.F. on Jan 23rd that I should be on a desert island in the Pacific within a year. Here’s hoping 1957 holds good prospects too.