Even though there was a war to be fought the vital need of entertainment for the troops was always recognised. There were shows. There were the very best of singers and musicians flown in over vast distances sometimes.
There were books catering for every taste. The Australian military magazine SALT went out fortnightly in a circulation approaching 200,000 copies.
Many a wartime song or poetic piece of some import was composed by talents inspired by an education that included Shakespeare, the great poets, and a study of the classics. (Had not Richard Hilary enjoyed that exposure at Oxford he could never have written the supreme example of true literature he did recounting the horrors of war, but also its camaraderie .'The Last Enemy'.)