Diary of Cyril Strahan Parry - Part 7

106
is said to be 600 killed & 2600 wounded. 
Many of the wounded have been
in the office to be paid & I am sure I

have never seen a more cheerful lot
in my life. They are all dead pleased

with themselves for what they have 

done & are eager to get back

again & have another go. All the
Reinforcements ( Except those who have

just arrived ) have left & also the East

Lancashiers & Manchesters. The first
Light Horse Brigade are to go on Saturday 
as Infantry. Great numbers of 
British Yeomanry have arrived to

replace the Lancashire & Manchester
& a Light Horse Brigade & Two 

Infantry Brigades are expected

from Australia daily.
107
The Turks have come down to the Canal

again but of course sent back quicker

than they came, although they cut a
few of the Gurkhas up before they
went. Have now heard that Col. Clarke
is killed. Major Hawley wounded.
Capt. Northcott Killed. Capt. Whitham
wounded. Major Elliot . wounded. Sergt
Leo Chambers wounded. (all of 12^th  Battalion)
Army Medical Corps were also cut up,
apparently the Red Cross was not
considered at all. Some Battalions
were also cut up very badly, it is
reported that the 9^th have only 3 officers
& 27 men who answered the roll call.
The Third Brigade seemed to fare
worst as they were the landing
Party. The "Boys" are still being

 108
cut up in Gallipoli but not doing
too badly at all. Wounded are
constantly arriving & by this time
there are 16000 wounded here in

Egypt. Every available building
has been commandered for hospitals.
The 1^st, 2^nd, & 3^rd  Light Horse Brigades
have been dismounted & are now
training as Infantry & are to leave
almost at once.  Provisional
Regiments have been made up
from Reinforcement & hurried off to
the front.
Tuesday 11^th May 1915
This afternoon at 3pm S. Sergt Tricks
died at the No 1 General Hospital
at Heliopolis from Pneumonia
after only a fortnights illness. 

109
Thursday 143th May 1915
Funeral of S.S. Tricks at the British
Cemetery at Old Cairo. The funeral party
 left Heliopolis by Train to Port Limoun
Station, thence by road to Old Cairo.
The Corps met the party at the Cemetry

gates & following in full kit. The

Service was performed by Capt. Hore

of C of E. Chaplin to 2^nd L.H. Bde at 

Maaidi.
Friday 14^th May 1915.
About 3 pm I went out to Palais de

Koubla Station to meet the 2^nd Reinforcements 
of the Corps who had arrived

at Suez per "Argyllshire'' from Australia

yesterday. There were 16 of them all

told & all were very glad to get here.

We transferred the Kits to the Train 

for Cairo & arrived back at the Office 
 

110
about 6 pm. The new members after being
having been introduced to the Major
were taken to their New Quarters at
the Anglo-American Pension in
Chareh Soliman Pacha.
Saturday 15^th  May 1915
Spent the afternoon in showing some
of the new Corps round the City &
Mosques near the Citadelle. During
the evening went down to the Cairo
Main Station to see the 2^nd  Light Horse
Brigade entrain for Alexandria
enroute for the front. They were
very glad to be going but did not like
leaving their horses behind.
"Bill" Alderson went with them as
Field Cashier & "Bill" Collins left this
evening with the 3^rd L.H.Bde who 

111
entrained at Palais de Koubber.
Have just arrived home & about to turn
in 11.30pm.
Friday. 21^st May. 1915

Auction sale of late. S.S. Tricks' Kit:
Monday 24^th May
Received two Post cards from Athol
this morning, both written from the
Dardanelles, He says he is still
alright & in action against the Turks
at Gallipoli.
Great excitement regins in Cairo
tonight on account of the Italian
Declaration of War against Austria.
All the Italians have put out flags
& processions are passing
 through the streets.

112
Tuesday 25^th  May 1915
Reinforcements have been arriving from
Australia right up to the present, but 
now they are hurried off to the front almost
as soon as they arrive here, In fact some
afre only here a day or so. Transports
with Remounts have even passed
right on without stopping & have gone to

Marseilles. No more wounded are being

brought here as the climate is too hot

for them, It enables them to recover of

their wounds but not to regain their
 strength. The numbers of wounded that

arrive has also had a Normal effect

on the Natives as there is a Certain

amount of Turkish symapthy here & 

trouble may arrive if they think we

are getting a ''stick'' in Turkey. All 

113

the wounded are now going to the Base

Hospital at Malta, & men who have
been partially recovered are being

sent to England in hundreds in order
to ''Pick up'' Some have even been

(or about to be) sent back to Australia

for this purpose.

Wednesday 26^th - Friday 28^th 1915.
Strong 'Khamin'' winds have been

blowing from the Sahara Desert,

making Cairo almost unbearable

day & night. During the day the

temperature reaches 111^o in the shade

& is a very opressive heat into the

bargain & at night (9p.m) the

temperature on Friday registered 92^o.

Sunday  Saturday 29^th May 1915.

The Khamins are over & although it

114
is still very hot it is a heat we can

easily stand as it is a dry heat & cool

evenings. This morning two drivers

from the 9^th Battery were in the office

& were friends of Athol (Driver Knight)

They told me he is wounded & believe

he is at Alexandria & have promised

to look him up as they are going back

to day & will let me know. As soon as I

get to know where he is I will go down 

to see him.
I have since learnt that Athol was
Killed at Gaba Tepe on the 11^th May. He
was sitting in the place of No ³ (Gunlayer)
when a Turkish Sniper got him in the
chest & he died almost immediately
I cabled to Deloraine when I heard
he was hit & a week later cabled the 

115
Confirmation, & returned all his letters
(13) that had been kept by Capt. Gee
at Alexandria. The sniper also wounded
three others but was finally shot himself.
 All the Field Cashiers are back in Egypt 

& Bill Collins & Alderson are working in
the office. While up at Gallipoli they
lived in Trenches & Dug-outs & were
under fire the whole time. By this
time all the Sergeants of the Original
Corps have been made Staff Sergeants
Except 2 & all the Second Corps except
1. Our total strength is now 63. &
there are 20 more in the Water &
should be here in a fortnight to 3
weeks from now. A number of
Temporary have also been taken on 
lately, -1915  Our 20 Reinforcements have

116
now arrived making our total strength
83 but of this total about 15 are in
Hospital, or at the Coast convalescent.
Sgt. Reid has been invalid back to 
Australia medically unfit, & Bryan
Rush has gone to England to  work in
the High Commissioners office.
Fred Wickham & I have been promoted
to Lieutenants as from 1-7-1915. SS Ew
Evans Lieutenant from 16-8-1915. &
S S. Johnston Warrant Officer from
16-8-1915.  The 26^th Battalion
(Tasmanians.) have arrived in 
Egypt & last Saturday managed to
find Len Briggs in Heliopolis. Stan
Stephens was out of Camp but left
word with Len to Bring him into
Cairo as soon as he could get leave 

117
Have now learnt that Guy Briggs
was killed in April last, Charlie Lee
I have heard nothing of  & I have seen
no list about him yet.
15/8/15  Jack Parsons is here in
Cairo again, he is looking for work in the
Post Office at the Base. I have
 written to the Hospital he is in,
offering a job in this office for a while
16/8./15 . Bill Collins, Bill Wickham
& I are now living in the Savoy
Chambers & having our meals at the
Villa National near the office
The General Health of the Corps is very
bad. 10% to 15% are always in Hospital
& in two months 54% of the Boys were
in Hospital. One member has died, 2
invalided home & there are 3 or 4 more who

118
won't work for many a long day to
come, & will probably be invalided
home. There is hardly a member
who is in very poor health & most
of us have lost weight terribly.
There are still very  heavy casualities
at the Dardanelles & a big movement
is now going on, apparently with
the object of ending the affair before
the winter comes on. There are now
a few Canadian Troops in this
country, they have come across
from Marseilles for Red Cross work 
here                                                           
The summer is still very hot &
oppressive & likely to be so for about
six or seven weeks yet.
28/8/1915  Stan Stephens & his
friend Campbell came to see me 

119
today, had lunch & dinner with them
& a trip to the Citadelle with them,
left them at 10 p.m. Expect them to 
leave on Tuesday for Gallipoli.
12^th September 1915
Dick Lloyd and I went to the Citadelle
& went through the Armoury of the
Egyptian Army. They have there a very
fine collection of guns, rifles, swords,
spears etc. etc. & also old armour.
The majority of these stores have been
found in the Citadelle while many
 have been found on Battlefields, or
Confiscated in Arab villages or Else
Bought from Foreign powers. A few
of the articles were for sale.
(duplicates) two British Officers so we
Bought a suit of Armour & some

120
swords & old Pistols as Souveniers
The next difficulty is to get them home
as they are so bulky.
23^rd September 1915
Colonel Laing & 3 Sgts arrived per Morea.
24^th Sept. 1915
4^th Reinforcements of Army Pay Corps.
arrived from Melbourne.
28^th Sept 
Have now learnt that Charlie Lee
died of the effects of a gun shot
wound in the Right thigh on 12/8/1915.
29^th  + 30^th Sept
Ceremonies of the "Sacred Carpet"
being held througout Egypt & Sudan
1^st  October 1915
Now learn that Charlie Lee died on the
Hospital ship "Sicilian" just after 

121
leaving Gallipoli & was burried at Sea.
He must therefore have been shot on the
night of the 9^th or the morning of the
10^th August.
Received letters from Edward Parry &
his wife, -also a Letter & parcel from
Wales & some photographs etc.
Athol's pay book arrived in the Office
showing Bullet hole through the corner. 
In the afternoon I went out to Base Details
& got his Personal Effects, consisting of
Dice, Bible, Dairy (up to about a month
before leaving Egypt) letters & photographs &
also a letter from Sergt M^cKenzie on
behalf of the Gun sub-section, explaining
the Circumstances in full.
  October 3^rd  1915.

122
Wrote to Sergt. M^cKenzie thanking him
& sent his letter on to Deloraine.
October 10^th 1915
Went by train at 8pm to Barage of the Nile.
This is a large dam by the French at the
point where the Nile delta starts.  Its object
is to irrigate the delta during the season
when the Nile is low, from the Railway
we travelled on small trollies pushed
by Natives, for about 3 or 4 miles & left
again for Cairo at 12.5 pm. There are
large native prisons there & also some
very fine gardens & a Museum
containing Models of all the Principal
Canals, Dams & Bridges in Upper &
Lower Egypt. Bulgaria has now
"declared" against us, so am
waiting to see how thing will turn 

123
out, Everything looks very gloomy this
End as it makes a vast difference to
  the Dardanelles Question.
Oct 22^nd  1915
Moved from Savoy Chambers, back
to York House. Much improved
Oct 28^th     ___________
Oct 29^th  Received 7 letters from Home.
Reported that the "Canada" has been
torpedoed. Lt. Alderson of this Corps  was
on Board (Just outside Alexandria)
Tonight a concert was held at the
A. P. C. Sergts. Mess in Karr-El-Nil Street
("Australia") to Colonel Laing & officers
of the Army Pay Corps. During the
proceedings a presentation was made
to Staff. Sergt. Fishes (a suit case) who is
to be married in a few days. His

124
Young lady is coming from Australia.
A present of an inkstand was also
made for his wife to be (Bill Collins came
down from Alex)
Oct 30^th  1915  To day Birthday
Celebrations are the order of the day. By
a strange coincidence Mde Celine
Bannereau's Birthday was on the same
date (28/10/15) She is the Proprietress of
York House so we had a little evening
& invited several of the Boys in & had
a concert. This morning we paraded
at Ghizireh to have our photos
taken in "Column" then we went to
"Australia" & were photographed in
a group & later officers  went to a
Studio & were again photographed.
Made quite a day of it in fact.
Received quite a number of papers 

125
today & letters on the (29^th)
Oct.31^st Sunday The Three "Bills"
(Bill Collins, Bill Wickham & myself).
went to spend the day at Mrs Lambs
had dinner there that night  & left at
12.30 pm. During the time we made good
use of the gramophone, & also went over to
Ghizereh & had some snapshots taken
(all failures).
November 1^st 1915
The Anniversary of the day we left
Albany & saw Australia for the last time.
Today I received a parcel of Cake and
Chocolate from Home. Sent for my
Birthday but arrived a bit too late
(Better late than never though)
Nov 4^th  1915.  Took cake down to Mrs
Lambs & invited a few of the boys down there
& had a little musical evening etc.