No 3 Battalion
Overseas Training Brigade,
Sandhill Camp. Warminster
My Dear People,
Just a few lines to let You know I am quite well. I came down here Thursday & have been fitted out with a full set of fighting equipment, rifle, steel helmets, & gas mask etc. & things are beginning to look very like France again. I am supposed to stop here for 3 weeks training, but if they will let me go I will get put on the first draft for France.
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We have had very cold winds here the last day or two. I went to Warminster yesterday. It is a nice little town, but crowded with Australians as there are a lot of camps about here. We are about 20 miles from Salisbury. One of the Earles boys is in the same hut as I am here. He was in the 32nd Transport. It was his brother you had working for you last year.
I sent you 2 parcels from Hurdcott. One books of views & the other a little box of souvenirs. I hope you get them alright as I sent something for each one of you - all little trinkets of Ireland. I have got four parcels, one with the leather waistcoat from M.B.C., one from home with a tin of pudding which I like very much, one from Siss & George with some very nice preserved fruit & a parcel of woollens from Mt. B. Red cross circle. I was very pleased to get all these parcels and of course am writing to thank the societies for theirs, but the mail route is a bit risky now.
I am enclosing a photo of myself taken at Hurdcott just before I went on leave. You will notice that I am wearing two stripes. I was a Lance Cpl in the Battalion for a good while and about a fortnight before I was hit was promoted Temporary Cpl and of course was being paid for it, but as soon as I was hit my pay stopped, though I still wore my stripes. When I go back to the Battalion I may be paid again but if I am not then I will hand in my stripes altogether as I do not believe in having charge of a section and get no pay for it. I do not care very much about my position in the photo and prefer my stand on the donkey cart at Killarney. They are cutting down the rations a bit for home service men here, but men under training for France still get plenty & I am in pretty good condition. I do not think my leg will give me any trouble.
I see by the papers that they are sending soldiers to the part of Ireland I was floating about in, to enforce law and order a bit. I thought that would happen.
Well, I will close now, hoping you are all well.
I remain
Your Loving Son & Brother
Tom
Showing posts with label uniform. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uniform. Show all posts
Hurdcott; January 19, 1918
No. 3 Command Depot
No. 5 Camp
My Dear People,
Just a few lines to let you know I am doing alright.
I have been here nearly a fortnight now and according to my own opinion, I am nearly fit for active service again. This camp is only a few hundred yards from where I was living here last year.
I noticed it as a bit cold here in the huts after the steam-heated ones at Dartford, but it is not nearly so cold as it was last winter. We had a little bit of frost and some heavy falls of snow & a lot of rain. Last year it was very cold & dry at this time. We have practically nothing to do here in this camp. Every few days we are classified by the M.O. & as you improve you are sent along to other camps & have to do fatigues, drills & guards. I will stay here as long as I have nothing to do. But as soon as I am sent drilling etc. I will put in to go to the overseas depot & then to France. Our boys are having an easy time in France now & I guess they deserve it.
We wear our uniforms here so I have finished with "blues" for this trip, in Milton & Dartford you were not allowed out in uniform & if you wore your overcoat, you had to have a blue band on the arm. This is so you cannot get the good and joyful liquor which makes the boys sing. There are a lot of "pubs" in England and a lot of drinking is done here. The women drink a lot too & come into the bar to drink it. Of course I know there are plenty of "hussies" who drink in Australia, but they do not generally go into the bar to drink it. I have got a very nice uniform & will look fairly decent on leave.
I wrote to the Australian Hospitality Bureau & got a very nice letter from the Secretary. She tells me she has plenty of invitations for men on furlough to spend a few days at private houses, & as I think it would be very nice to stay a few days at a private house. I will go & see her when I go to London.
I intend to go to Ireland & it will not be my fault if I do not get some fun out of my fourteen days. I hope the Sinn Fieners do not hang me when I get over there.
It is not much of a game stopping in London, as the place is fairly swarming with Australians. I want to get away where we are not so well known.
We have a fairly decent time here - concert parties at the Y.M.C.A.s and the old Picture show is still going. I am enclosing a card of some of the badges on the hills here they are made of white
stone. There are a lot of them on the hills here of different Regiments. There is a big map of Australia & I will send it to you. I saw a pack of hounds out the other day & a considerable number of ladies and gentlemen after them, but they did not stir up any fox while I was watching them.
Well I will close now, hoping that you are all quite well.
I remain
Lour Loving Son & Brother
Tom.
P.S. We got another parcel from the Red Cross the other day, more tobacco & Sweets. I swapped my tobacco for chocolate.
No. 5 Camp
My Dear People,
Just a few lines to let you know I am doing alright.
I have been here nearly a fortnight now and according to my own opinion, I am nearly fit for active service again. This camp is only a few hundred yards from where I was living here last year.
I noticed it as a bit cold here in the huts after the steam-heated ones at Dartford, but it is not nearly so cold as it was last winter. We had a little bit of frost and some heavy falls of snow & a lot of rain. Last year it was very cold & dry at this time. We have practically nothing to do here in this camp. Every few days we are classified by the M.O. & as you improve you are sent along to other camps & have to do fatigues, drills & guards. I will stay here as long as I have nothing to do. But as soon as I am sent drilling etc. I will put in to go to the overseas depot & then to France. Our boys are having an easy time in France now & I guess they deserve it.
We wear our uniforms here so I have finished with "blues" for this trip, in Milton & Dartford you were not allowed out in uniform & if you wore your overcoat, you had to have a blue band on the arm. This is so you cannot get the good and joyful liquor which makes the boys sing. There are a lot of "pubs" in England and a lot of drinking is done here. The women drink a lot too & come into the bar to drink it. Of course I know there are plenty of "hussies" who drink in Australia, but they do not generally go into the bar to drink it. I have got a very nice uniform & will look fairly decent on leave.
I wrote to the Australian Hospitality Bureau & got a very nice letter from the Secretary. She tells me she has plenty of invitations for men on furlough to spend a few days at private houses, & as I think it would be very nice to stay a few days at a private house. I will go & see her when I go to London.
I intend to go to Ireland & it will not be my fault if I do not get some fun out of my fourteen days. I hope the Sinn Fieners do not hang me when I get over there.
It is not much of a game stopping in London, as the place is fairly swarming with Australians. I want to get away where we are not so well known.
We have a fairly decent time here - concert parties at the Y.M.C.A.s and the old Picture show is still going. I am enclosing a card of some of the badges on the hills here they are made of white
stone. There are a lot of them on the hills here of different Regiments. There is a big map of Australia & I will send it to you. I saw a pack of hounds out the other day & a considerable number of ladies and gentlemen after them, but they did not stir up any fox while I was watching them.
Well I will close now, hoping that you are all quite well.
I remain
Lour Loving Son & Brother
Tom.
P.S. We got another parcel from the Red Cross the other day, more tobacco & Sweets. I swapped my tobacco for chocolate.
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