France; July 13, 1917

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quite well & doing alright.

Our Division was reviewed by the King the other day and we had a splendid display. The ground was just like a busy show-ground. Our Company represented the Brigade to present arms to the King. After we left the ring the A.S.C., Artillery, Red Cross, Physical Exercise & a lot of other teams gave an exhibition of their smartness. The King did not stay very long as I guess he has a busy time looking at his troops. It was a lovely day, nice & warm.

I went & had a swim this afternoon & I think the Battalion is going for a route march & a swim to-morrow. Some Fritz prisoners are cutting some of the big Beech trees around our camp. They have put up a little saw mill & saw the timber up. It will be used for making roads etc. in the wet-weather. Most of the prisoners seem fairly handy with timber. They are well treated & I suppose have never been better fed in their lives. I do not think our prisoners are so well treated in Germany.

German POWs with Australian troops

They tell us that our last mail from Australia has been sunk, so we have not heard any news since the 1st of May.

Saturday 14th.

We had our route march & swim this morning. The water was very pleasant, just a trifle cold going in. I hear it was the mail that left Adelaide 30th May that was lost at sea, so if you sent any important news from 1st to 30th May please repeat.

We expect to leave this camp shortly & will very likely shift a fair distance & probably see a fair
bit of the line, as our spell is just about over now. We hope to get in a good push shortly, which if the Russians keep worrying on the Eastern front may end the war. But somehow I think it will go another twelve months easy, although the Yanks might help a bit directly.

Well I must close now hoping you are all well & doing alright.

I remain

Your Loving Son & Brother

Tom.

Hurdcott; February 18, 1917

My Dear People,

Just a few lines to let you know I am quiet well, & doing alright. Things are getting quite pleasant here, now the weather is not nearly so cold & we see a bit more of the sun. It is quite daylight now when we get up at about a quarter to seven & does not get dark till about six at night.

Anyhow this camp will do me alright, but I am anxious to get to France. The Officers tell me I will have to wait & go with our own men. All the 10/32 are here & they will have to go before we do. So it will be a few weeks before the 11/32 go over, but they have promised to let me go with the first draft. Although I am having quite a nice time here & know well enough that France is absolute H***. I cannot feel satisfied here.

The 12/32 arrived here last night, they had a long trip over 9 weeks the same as us. I expect they will be about the last reinforcement we will get according to the figures of enlistment that I see in Australian papers. I saw in the Record a great account of the Honour Roll at Mt. Bryan & also one for Mt. Bryan East. Quite nice to see our names showing. Frank Richards has arrived here from Hospital, he looks jolly well but his knee is a bit stiff. He is working in the cook-house. He tells me that Matt Griffen is in France. Wally Arnolds wrote back & said he had met him over there.

By the way, they caught our old troopship the Afric & torpedoed her as she was going back to Australia. It was just as well there were no troops on her or things would have been a bit mixed. It is a pity for such fine boats to be sunk as the Afric was a fine cargo boat.

I did not go to Church this morning but went to a Lewis gun demonstration instead. This gun can get rid of bulletts at a wonderful rate & it is very easy to handle & fire. It rained a little here the night before last so I suppose the rainy season will soon start.

Lewis gun

We had quite an eventful day last Tuesday as the King reviewed us at a little camp called Fovant about three miles away. You see the King was reviewing a division of Tommies before they left for France so he came & had a look at us. It was the first time I had seen the King. He is only a small man & looks rather worried with his responsibilities. Of course he was accompanied by a swag of big bugs but they did not stop with us very long. Of course we all "presented arms" to him.

On Wednesday I went up to London on escort duty. I had 4 soldiers with me & brought back 3 birds for the clinks. I should have had 4 but one had to be charged in London so I could not bring him. We had a very nice trip but we were only in London 2 or 3 hours. I saw a few flying machines that day they just look like big dragon-flies spinning along in the air. There is an Australian mail to come in within the next day or so. We have heard over here that since the new Submarine orders they do not publish the dates of mails leaving Australia. There is one to leave here for Australia within a day or two.

Well, I must close now, hoping you are all well & that things are going alright at home. I have got rid of my cold now & feel very well.

I remain,

Your Loving Son & Brother,

Tom