ELEVEN
I AM LEAVING FOR FRANCE
TOMORROW …
ENGLAND, APRIL
Throughout April, as George battled at Lagnicourt, Percy and Charlie held the front line at Armentieres and Allan recovered from his wounds, Albert was to remain at Larkhill where his training continued. The youngest brother knew how to shoot, he could drive a bayonet into a hapless dummy, survive a simulated gas attack and he could throw live bombs. He considered himself ready and anxiously awaited the news of his inclusion in the draft for the Western Front.
Lark Hill Camp
Sunday April 7th 17
My Dear Mother & Father,
… I have just come back from Church Parade, it is a lovely day today, we have had some awful weather, over a foot of snow Monday night. We went for a route march next morning and coming home got wet up to the knees. We went down to Figledean and saw the Spreading Chestnut tree, and the Village Blacksmiths Shop. It is a very pretty place around the village, and the river runs through it. We were out on a Review again yesterday, took our dinner out and were inspected by Brig Gen Sir Newton Moore. There was 20,000 of us, it looked tip-top. All the “heads” were there, and all the people from the villages around. It is rumoured that the King is coming tomorrow. I hope he does as I‘d like to have a quiz at him. Harry Street left in a draft a few nights ago, and poor devil was crying when he left here. I nearly got isolated again. The corporal in our hut got mumps, so we thought we would shift out of the hut, so about 2 hours after we shifted the hut got isolated. All of us that had the mumps expect to be warned for draft this week. I met Sgt Jameison here a few days ago, he used to be school teacher at Bald Rock. He knows Al well. Jim would remember him, he used to play football with Pyramid. Jimmie O’Hare is still here, he has been in the “clink” a good part of the time. I got a letter from Charlie this week, he has not been too well on it. Allan is a Lance-Corporal now. If the King comes tomorrow we may get 4 days Kings leave. I’d like to get leave to go up and see Auntie at Water Farm [Devon]. There was a concert here last night, any amount of amusements here. I got 5 letters from Australia this mail one from Auntie Etta. It’s a wonder I got it as she put the wrong number. The Composite Batt that I told you I was in, has been knocked in the head. We heard here that the Port Lincoln was sunk a few weeks after we left her. No damn wonder. Well, Mum, I am beat for news, so I will close hoping you are well as it leaves me at present.
I am
Your Loving Son
Albert
Lark Hill Camp
April 9th 1917
Dear Jim,
… I stayed home to do some washing, and write letters. I used to take my washing to the laundry. They wash them lovely there & very cheap at that, but they take a week or ten days to do them so I did not take mine there, as a fellow don’t know where he will be in 10 days time. There is a draft going tomorrow week, and I may be warned to go on it. I have done my shooting, and today went through the gas-chamber, which is a small air-proof hut, and into which about 30 men go in at once, and they turn on the gas, which is almost harmless, but not smellless. I forgot to say we put the gas-helmets on before we go in. We stop in there about 2 minutes, come out, and keep the helmet on for an hour, and double for 5 minutes. We have to be able to put the gas-helmet on in 20 seconds; when we get to France, we get a box respirator, besides the helmet. Well Jim, it was a buggar of a day today, the cold wind nearly cut my face away, it is burning like blazes yet. I think there will be more snow tonight, we get more snow now than when we first came here, but it isn’t half as cold, I suppose I am used to it, and don’t notice it. We are not allowed to have fires in the huts now. I don’t miss them much, except for making toast. I think we have to throw live bombs tomorrow, supposed to [throw] 3 live bombs before we leave here. Each bomb weighs 22 ounces, and you have to throw a dummy bomb 30 yards before they let you throw a live one …
The following week, Albert wrote home:
Lark Hill Camp
Sunday April 15th 1917
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim,
… I have not been warned for draft yet, so I think I will be here for another fortnight, at least. All the 4th/38 have gone except the war-babies, and the ones who have been in hospital. I have not heard from the boys since I wrote to you, last Sunday. There has been some awful weather this week, rain, hail & snow, but it is a grand day today. We went to Church parade this morning and they put us on fatigue work as soon as we got back from church. My mate & I were eating an orange each the other day, and we threw a bit of peel in the gutter. Collins the O.C. (I told you about him before) saw us and gave us 7 days C.B. That shows you what sort of a buggar he is. Another chap got 5 days C.B. for not having his chin-strap on his chin. He’s a cold-footed buggar, if I see him in Australia I’ll break every bone he’s got. He crimes a fellow for a thing like that, and then asks you to (play the game). All the other officers call him “Lizzie’. There was a bad accident near here this morning. An aeroplane came down from a hell of a height and fell in Durington village, just missing a house. He was badly hurt, and they said he was dying at dinner time. We have not been getting too much tucker lately, and last night there was a bit of a row in the mess-room. We got two slices of bread and dripping for tea. Food seems to be getting short all over England, and I think the food shortage will end the war, if it ever ends. The British are capturing a lot of villages now, and by today’s paper they are closing on Lens and St Quentin. I am sending a paper by this mail you may see some interesting articles in it about peace …
Lark Hill
April 18th
Dear Jim,
Just a few lines to say I am well. I am sending you a few photos of my mates. The hut group are the chaps in my hut, but a lot of them are out of the 5th Rfets. Well Jim, there was another review here yesterday, this time the King was there. It was a grand affair about 30, 000 Australians taking part. When he first arrived we presented arms to him, while the massed bands played the National Anthem, then he inspected us, followed by about 30 “heads”. Then there was the “March Past” the saluting point, when we got to where the King was, we got “Eyes right”, so we all had a good look at him. When he was leaving all the men gave him 3 cheers. By hell it was a grand sight, I wouldn’t have missed it for a fiver. I got a letter each from Al & Charlie last night, they were all well. Well Jim. I am going in the next draft, I think it leaves on the 24th. I should have been in the last one, but the coy clerk is out of the 4th refts. and he wouldn’t put me in it, because Tom Dickinson & Alex Duncan had to stop till this one goes. The clerk is a cobber of mine & he used to be in camp with the Stone boys.
Well Jim, I will say goodbye
From
Albert
Lark Hill Camp
Sunday April 22nd
My dear Mother & Father
…We are having some decent weather at present, and things look as if it may last. It is supposed to be spring at present, the trees are just coming in bud and the bulbs in the garden are in flower, so things look much better. We went into Salisbury yesterday. It is rather a nice place & has a lovely Cathedral in it. We were shown through the Cathedral, and I can tell you it is worth seeing. It is an enormous size and the Cathedral at Leicester is like Mologa Church in comparison to it … I put in for leave this week to go up to Leicester again, but could not get it. I could have got two days, but that was not worth the train-fare. I told Jim that I was on draft, and expected to go on Tuesday, well I hear that the draft is not going till Tuesday next week, so I will be here another Sunday. The King was out to see us on Tuesday. It was a grand affair, 30, 000 Australians being in the march past, and about 9 bands there. Then there was a host of Australian nurses. I got a good look at the King, as he rode past on horseback. There were about 20 Colonels etc. following him. I did not get to Church parade this morning as I have a lot of letters to write. Well Mum, I am putting the weight on here. I weighed 12 stone 4 yesterday, just a stone heavier than when I left Australia. This place seems to be agreeing with me, although it has been cold at times. I have not got any letters from Australia for some time, as they go to France. Charlie said a paper came there for me some time ago. I hope to get a heap of letters when I join up the battalion. I don’t know if the Stone boys are here & could never find them if they were here unless I knew what coy they were in …
Albert visited a photographer while in Salisbury. On April 29 he sent his parents and George a copy of the photograph.
Monday – April 23rd
Dear Jim,
… I put in for leave to go to Leicester again but couldn’t get it, because I am draft. I would liked to have got leave because I couldn’t see Flo Wilson when I was there before, on account of the rotten weather, also I wanted to see Auntie Lee at Water Farm. Anyway I hope some day to see them, if the war doesn’t last too long. Well Jim, I have not done much drill lately except digging trenches & putting up wire entanglements. We had some new style of bayonet fighting this afternoon, it was damn hard work. We had to run about 100 yds and jump over 5 trenches and bayonet dummies, as we went, it was the hardest work I’ve done for a long time. The 7/38th are coming in tomorrow, I might happen to strike someone I know…
Salisbury Plains
April 30th
Dear Jim,
… It is glorious weather here now, it is quite warm here at present. The grass and crops are starting to grow & the hedges are beginning to look green, the place looks so different, to what it did a few weeks ago. My word the grass does grow here when it starts. I am leaving for France tomorrow, so have been busy all day getting ready to go. I nearly got kept back today on account of my teeth, we have to be medically examined tomorrow. We all got a clean change of clothing, plenty of socks and anything we liked. I met Neil Haw a few days ago, he is in this camp. His boat was torpedoed when a few hours sail of Plymouth. They all got off safe on to destroyers only one chap getting injured. The huns fired two torpedoes at her, the second one missing. The boat, the Ballarat, sank a few hours after. A destroyer was with her & I hear that it sank the submarine. The poor devils on the boat lost everything, some of them came here in blueys, some without boots & hardly any clothing, but they got plenty when they got here. I havent had any letters “except the one you sent to Paynes” since God knows when. I hope to get a pile when I get to France, well Jim it is very nearly “Lights out” so I will have to close hoping this finds you all well I am
Your Aff Brother
Albert
After four months of training on the windswept fields of Salisbury Plain, Albert was finally on notice that he was to leave for France. As Albert wrote with news of his neighbour Neil Haw, he appeared unaware that Joe Stone, the brother of his girlfriend, Myrtle Stone, had also been aboard the Ballarat, a troopship torpedoed in the English Channel on 25 April 1917. Albert had been keen to catch up with both Joe and Jim Stone but had been unable to trace their whereabouts. Joe wrote a lengthy description of his experiences aboard the Ballarat to his mate Jim Marlow.
Codford England
April 8/1917
Dear Jim,
Just a line in haste hoping it finds all in the Best of Health as it leaves us at present. Well Jim we arrived safely but under difficulties on (Anzac Day) & I don’t think I will ever forget it as we were the first Australians to be torpedoed coming from Australia. The Voyage. After leaving Port Melbourne on the 19th Feb we had a pretty rough trip across the bight some of us were not half sick either I think I had my share of it. We called at Albany and we were the first lot to get leave there though it was only one night. We had a good time there as we got a few Tabs and had a dance in the YMCA till it was time to go back to our old lugger, next we called at Fremantle and spent our four days leave in Perth. After leaving there it took us three weeks to get to Cape Town (the dirty hole). We stayed there another four days, after leaving there we called at Sierra lieone in the North West of Africa, here we stayed another four days but we did not get off the boat, as, I suppose they thought we would interfere with the blacks as there is 50,000 blacks and 150 whites there. After leaving there things went all right till the 25 of April that was the day we had been longing for as we were to reach Plymouth about 10 that evening all was excitement on the old Boat, and our Quarter Master Sergeant was issuing us with our waterproof sheets and I was forming the Company up out side when all of a sudden the submarine Guard yelled run aft. I did not bother any more about the men but went to where they were running from and I could see the torpedo about 100 yards away of course we were on the move and the torpedo struck right aft where all of them had run too. Well I stood and watched it explode about 30 yds away. There was a loud report and the old ship gave a big lurch and a shiver then began to settle down. We all fell in at our tables and waited for the advance, then made for our boat stations. Well I had to report our boat all correct to the Heads, then go back and get down a rope ladder into the boat, it is rather an awkward job I can tell you although of 1700 men there was not one fell off the ladder. Our boat being full we pulled away, meanwhile the operator had been sending out S.O.S. signals. We had only been in the boat about an hour when on the horizon we could see little black specks of smoke. It was the Navy coming to our rescue, they turned out to be destroyers and after sighting them it was no time before they were there as they came at the rate of 40 miles an hour, after they got there they cruised around in hopes of finding the submarine also to prevent it from firing us another torpedo. Then one pulled in along side the ship and got off all the remaining men while some of the rest came around and picked up the little boats full of men, what a relief to be on board again after being in the little tubs for over 2 1/2 hours and though it was a calm day you had to look out as you might be capsized any minute. All the men picked up, the first boat left for Plymouth after 6 oclock it being 90 miles away it arrived there the same time as my boat the HMS Hardy at 10.30 that night it was terrible cold as on the destroyers we had to stand on top and travelling at 25 miles an hour on a cold night with hardly any clothes on it is no picnic. After arriving we were marched to the Big Naval Barracks at Devonport where we slept that night they gave some of them tea but I was too cold to wait for it and went to bed among about 100 Naval Guns I got in bed about 1 oclock. We got up next morning about 7 oclock and went around the place to have a look around it. Then we had a good breakfast my first meal on old Blighty, afterwards falling in and calling the roll to see who was missing, at noon every one was accounted for. Rumours were afloat about whether the ship sunk, But at 10.30 our feelings were relieved when it was officially announced that it had sunk at 4.30 that morning. After we strolled about awaiting our departure to our different training camps there to settle down and learn to uphold the traditions that the Anzacs had made for Australia. At 4 oclock we entrained and made our way to what is to be our homes for a few weeks. On the way the people of Exeter gave us a cup of coffee and a good big bun and I can tell you it was very acceptable as we felt the cold after being so long in the tropics. At 10 oclock we reached Codford and our Coy got out the others going on to Salisbury there was a band to meet us and bring us to our camp 2 miles away, a good lot of the lads turned out to see us as we came along, as, it is small camps all along the road. They gave us a good tea and we got to bed about 1 oclock and got up at 8 the next morning. Too much cannot be said about our gallant C.O. of troops Lt. Col. McVea V.D. he remained on the bridge till the last. He was as cool as a cucumber all the time. The troops on board the Ballarat found him a true soldier and a man and that is a good bit. They say the Australian troops have no discipline, but not that day the 25 April shows whether they have it or not and it was perfect all the time there was not a slightest bit of panic anywhere. Getting over 1700 troops off a sinking boat with out one getting wet through falling in is one of the things that will live in the history of discipline and it speaks well for the Australian soldiers. This is the first time that Australian soldiers have landed over the sea in a new land bootless and hatless. Here ends one of the biggest Dramas that has ever been played and came out without a scratch. The sinking of His Majestys Australian Troopship The Ballarat A70. May it rest in Peace. All on board at the time will have something in years to come to look back upon and think of the watery grave they would have had it not been for the efficiency of the British Navy, every man on board that ship is able to say The British Navy has saved my life. May it continue to do so, here the story ends. Well Jim you will notice a X on page 5 I got up to go out and see the 23rd Reinforcements leave. We are next. Before you get this I may be there, no one knows. I wrote to Albert and Percy about a week ago I expect to hear from them any day. Lark Hill is only about 11 miles from here if Albert is there I will go and see him Sunday. Well Jim I have a beastly cold and it is getting late I think I will close.
With Best Wishes
I Remain
Yours Sincerely
Joe
Remember me to Father and Mother also tell them a Little that used to stay at the Stiffs Retreat that used to teach your Father to play patience is in our coy he came in the 23 refs but is on home service on account of bad eyesight. Remember me to all Mologa friends don’t forget the nice girls as well. Joe
FRANCE AND BELGIUM, MAY
As the arrival of spring brightened the Western Front, Allan, Percy and Charlie made the most of their opportunities to enjoy its pleasures. The 38th had been withdrawn as a reserve battalion to a farm west of Ploegsteert Wood, to the north of Armentieres, once the picturesque hunting ground of the King of Belgium. For two weeks, despite remaining within artillery range, they enjoyed the relative safety of the area while preparing gun pits and cable trenches.1 To the south on the Somme, Nivelle’s attack in the Aisne region had achieved limited success while further British attempts to push through at Arras had fared little better. At Bullecourt, George was once again to engage in bitter fighting as the Spring Offensive forged on in the face of fierce resistance and the fortified defences of the Hindenburg Line.
On 3 May, 17 weeks after arriving in England, Albert sailed for the battlefields of France. On the same day, the 2nd Division was ordered to attack in the same sector of the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt that the 4th Division had breached, but had been unable to hold some two weeks prior. They were again to be asked to attack into a re-entrant. The battle raged for two weeks and involved the 2nd, 1st and later the weary 5th Division. Troops of the 1st Division were sent in on 4 May to relieve the 6th Brigade (2nd Division) which had successfully breached the line and was steadfastly holding a sector that bulged precariously into enemy lines. The dead lay all around them. The 5th Division arrived on 12 May. George, as a member of the 2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery of the 1st Division, would be witness to the bloody and brutal hand-to-hand combat and raging artillery duels that savaged the Australian forces as they fought off seven major counter-attacks and waves of minor assaults, until the German withdrawal from Bullecourt a fortnight later.
By 20 May, only two sectors had been captured along the 25-kilometre front between Arras and Bullecourt where 14 Allied divisions had advanced during the Battle of Arras. To the far north, Canadian forces had captured their objective, but were to hold it only briefly. To the south the Australians had played a major role in the capture of Bullecourt which would remain part of the Allied front until March 1918. Breaching the Hindenburg Line had drawn accolades for the Australian forces. Through sheer tenacity they had achieved an unlikely success despite appalling casualties; in addition to the enormous toll from First Bullecourt, the Australians had lost 7000 men in the Second Battle of Bullecourt. The combined Bullecourt battles had cost the four Australian divisions 10,000 casualties, with over 1000 soldiers now prisoners of war.2
In between stints in the Bullecourt line, George took time to write to his family. His friend Amos Haw who, as George often wrote, was always just 100 yards further up the trench, had been wounded. Amos was a 24-year-old farmer from Mologa who had suffered a serious gunshot wound to his leg. He slowly recovered to rejoin the 5th Battalion on the front nine months later. In the last months of the war he returned to England to train others in the techniques of gas warfare.3 George was unsure of the extent of Amos’s wound and typically provided little detail of his own experiences other than describing the debacle as ‘lively’. He focused on snippets of news he had received, including the loss of his potential love interest. George had been gone from Mologa for over 18 months, a considerable time for a young heart to wait.
France
May 8th 1917
Dear Jim
… I came out of the line a few nights ago but are still well in the range of shells, while I was in Amos’s battalion was along with us so I enquired after him and found out that he had been wounded in the leg I don’t know how the others got on it has been lively in this part of the line lately I will enquire after young Twigg. I had a letter from Allan saying he had been slightly wounded but is alright again and has joined his battalion up again so don’t worry about him. I had a letter from Albert saying that N. Haw had arrived and that he met him his boat was torpedoed but all were saved … You are always asking about the conscription, we are not allowed to say anything about it, well I voted the same way as you, the answer to the other question is yes. You say Dick and the one that was promised to me the night of my sendoff have made a start, I don’t think there will be any girls left when we all get back. I think I will bring one back from England there are plenty there and what about one for you. Dad said in his letter that Mrs Gamble had sent us cigarettes etc. well I have never received any of them. Well Jim we have had our voting day and I voted for the same ones as you would …
France
May 11th 1917
Dear Mother & father
… I wrote to you a few days ago, we had just come out of the line but went back again it was lively too, both Amos and Ewin were wounded I havent heard how any of the other local lads got on, I got out of it safely. I will inquire about young Twigg and will let you know in next letter as this mail closes in 10 minutes so have to cut it short I had a letter from Charlie yesterday Allan has joined them up again and all are well I will now close hoping all are well.
I remain
Your Loving Son
George
My Dear Mother
Just a card to let you know I am well all well hoping all are the same. I had a couple of letters from you and Jim a few days ago. That dream you had wasn’t true I have been splendid. I haven’t heard how Ewin & Amos are getting on. I told you in my last letter that I heard Jack Price was killed well it is true. I saw his name and number in the Anzac bulletin. Allan’s was in the wounded list. I will write again soon. George
PS Am sending a small parcel today
The beautifully embroidered card that George sent to Sarah.
Ewin, often referred to as Hughie, was Alexander Ewen Johnson, a 25-year-old farmer from Mologa who served in the 6th Battalion. He was seriously wounded on three separate occasions, the first in May 1917. He recovered and returned to France on 20 September 1917, but was wounded again five weeks later on 28 October. He was once again sent to England to recover where, in March 1918, he married Christina Cameron of Ballachulish, Scotland. He rejoined his unit in France on 23 May 1918. Twenty days later he was shot in the chest and arm, sent to England and listed as dangerously ill for months. Ewen miraculously survived and returned to Australia in January 1919.4
Further north in France and across the border in Belgium, George’s brothers were preparing for an attack in the Flanders region. Haig now had his opportunity to prove that his projected attack east of Ypres to capture the heights around Passchendaele and then assault the German flank was superior to Nivelle’s failed attempt to the south in France.
Charlie wrote:
3rd May 1917
My dear Mother,
Just a few lines to say that I am quite well also Allan and Percy, Al is none the worse for his experience, he was only away about 12 days … Al got your parcel a few days ago and was pleased to get it. I got a lot of mail in the trenches last time also a parcel and papers from Pearl, we are out of the trenches at present, it is lovely weather here now the days are quite hot, it is such a change from the awful winter, they say that it was the severest winter that they have had in Europe for over 35 years and Flo Wilson says that she saw in the paper that it was the coldest April for 60 years. I got a letter from Geordie a few days ago and Al got one last night he is getting on fine we have not met him yet as we are a long way away from where he is. Albert is still in England but expects to be over here very soon. Percy had a letter from Joe Stone the other day, they had an exciting time coming over. I hope you have got my letters for I have written to you often. I get all your letters now since I have joined the battalion. The trees are beginning to look green over here now and the grass and crops are growing very fast, but they look as though they want rain …
As Charlie wrote his letter home, he was unaware that Albert had arrived in France the same day. It would be several weeks before they were reunited:
5th May
1917
Dear Jim,
… we are out of the trenches and the weather is grand, this week has been weather like we have in October in Australia, the last time in the trenches it was not too bad at all. I got a letter from Geordie a few days ago he is getting on fine, Albert is still in Lark Hill and expects to be over here very soon, all his company are over here …
Albert wrote to his family at the first opportunity:
France
Sunday May 6th 1917
Dear Jim,
Just a line to say I got here without being hit by any tin fish, we got here on Thursday and had to march [censored] miles with our full packs up from where we landed to this camp. The roads were rough as blazes and dusty & as the country is very hilly, it was a stiff march. We are camped near a town right on the sea-shore, have to do a few days training before we go up to join the batt. We are treated very well here & get well fed. We passed through a lot of towns on the road here & got a great welcome. The town is quite close here, but we are not allowed to go into it …
France
May 7th
My Dear Mother & Father,
Just a line to say I am quite well & hope you all are the same. I got here last Thursday to this camp. We were the first lot of troops that marched from where we landed to here, a distance of [censored] miles over hard dusty roads & hot as hell, just my luck as usual. But we got a great welcome coming through the towns, kids following us asking for pennies & selling chocolates & fruit. We expect to be here a few days before we go up to join the battalion, I haven’t heard how the boys are getting on, but 5 of our company have been wounded. I hope to get some letters when I get over with the battalion. This place is on the coast & is all sandhills. We have a holiday this afternoon because we are going out tonight all night for manoeuvres. I got leave to go into town yesterday afternoon, but it is a very tame place. We get well treated here in the tucker line. Our parade ground is a 3 mile march from the camp, we drill in our steel helmets & carry our gas masks. I like here tip-top, we get treated far better and the O.C. doesn’t come round to see if we are clean shaven etc …
On 13 May the 38th Battalion relieved the 40th and moved up the line to support the 37th in trenches in front of Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium. On 22 May, as Albert arrived to take his place with his brothers, the battalion entered the front line. Six days later, on 28 May, members of the 38th were involved in a raid on the enemy line. It was on this night that Light Horseman Bert Wishart was to lose his brother Rex. Of the 221 men involved, 60 were killed or listed as missing, another 65 were wounded. Many of the casualties had been caught in their own artillery barrage.5
AUSTRALIA, MAY
A local friend, Myrtle Forsyth, wrote to George while she holidayed at Corryong. Her familiarity hints that perhaps George had more than one love interest prior to his departure. Nonetheless, Myrtle provides a glimpse into life at home as they waited for news from their loved ones at the front. George would not have received this letter until July or later. Myrtle would later pen a rather bemusing letter to Allan.
Willow Bank
Towong P.O.
Near Corryong
May 23rd 1917
Dear Tenny
I received your most interesting letter last mail and was very pleased indeed to hear from you, I had been looking for a letter and was beginning to think that my letters hadn’t interested you enough to answer them but of course your letter has reassured me in that respect. You have indeed seen numerous countries in your travels and I am glad to know that you think Australia equal to any of them. Yes Tenny there are many changes over here and things are not just what they used to be, but still compared to what the other countries are going through we are not so badly off, but oh the suspense of waiting for news of “one never knows what” is very depressing. You will see by the above address that I am still on holidays, I think I wrote you a short letter after I arrived here. I have been away for two months and intend returning home on 30th. I have enjoyed the change amongst the mountains very much and my friends have been most kind to me so that it would have been impossible for me to do anything else than enjoy my trip especially in such a pretty place. There are not many entertainments now to go to Tenny, in fact only patriotic ones, anyhow we don’t feel inclined for frivolities. I went to hear the “blind soldier poet” lecturing in Corryong I don’t remember if I wrote you since the lecture, or before, but the lecture was very interesting and it seemed such a pity for one so young and handsome as Signaller Tom Skeyhill to be blind for the rest of his life. He is touring the world lecturing and it is unusual for him to visit such a small township as Corryong but did so on account of it being such a splendid recruiting district. Fancy your three brothers being together in the trenches. Percy writes at times but he never said they were all together, the last letter I had from him he had just come out of isolation from the mumps, they are raging around here now, but I am hoping to escape them if for no other reason, because I have enough jaw of my own. So you see I am coming on since you seen me last, I see you still remember That Precious Dinner but you didn’t say how you come to remember it I daresay it was as I said “enough to make me feel hungry for ever” By the way how do you fare over there for meals one hears ever so many tales of the Menu some seem to fare far from well to say nothing of the mud and “company” in the trenches. Did I tell you in my last letter that I was taking lessons in riding since coming up here and I’m sure Tenny you missed a “sight” worth seeing by not being present to see me having my lessons, but I had hard work to convince them here that I had never been on horseback before so I couldn’t have been such an Awful Sight after all and I think I shall be risking my neck on some of our own horses, when I return home. I have been doing some hill climbing on horseback and waded through the creek a few times so I consider myself quite professional now. I had a letter from May last week, she is having a treat by way of driving the kiddies to Sth Calivil School and by all accounts they are not going to be successful in having the North Cal, one opened in a hurry. Wonder if you have any mice over in France they are working great havoc amongst the wheat stacks, when I left home they were something dreadful and one used to be afraid to go to sleep at night for fear of being eaten Do you believe that. They are not so plentiful here as this is a dairying district, but one plague at a time is enough and the fleas here are most annoying though until this year the folk here never knew what it was to be worried by them. I myself had never seen the creatures before and I am in no hurry to see them again either. I am looking forward very much to my return journey by car, I am leaving at 6 a.m. and am hoping it will be fine so as I can have the full benefit of the drive. It has been raining here this last fortnight and I am thinking that I may have a wet trip back. But until this last fortnight the weather has been ideal. Now Tenny I am sure I have tried your patience to its utmost so I will draw this to a close hoping this finds you still going strong, with plenty of luck.
With kind remembrances from Yours very sincerely
Myrtle Forsyth