Letters from William Rawson Leach to his family, 1917 - Part 6

(2)

other parcel which Father & Sallie

are sending on I suppose you will

wonder at me not cabling you when

I left for France but I didnt think it

necessary & you would have had

a certain amount of uneasiness to

contend with anyway you will

know by this time as you will have

received my letters from the front

by this time. The push that you mentioned

in your letters I was well in that right

in the thick of it. I went to a YMCA

service the other - night & it was I think

one of the most impressive I have ever

been too. You could hear the roll & 

thunder of the guns right through

the service & they were asking for the

deliverance of a place which is of vital

importance to us & We could picture

the boys battling away in the trenches

others manning the guns which are the

shield of our infantry while our heavies

were hammering away at his road railway 

Batteries etc. We are getting plenty of football

now & play pretty well every afternoon it

is a great relaxation & take ones mind

away from his business for a while.

Now Mother & Father I will have to close

so good bye with love to all at

home please.

Your affSon

Rawson.

3

On Active Service

Mrs S Leach

Victoria St

Parks

New South Wales.

Australia

[*FIELD POST OFFICE

4

DE 5

17
T.X. *]

[* CENSOR 

No

1397
DFerrier*]

France

Dec 2nd 17

Dear Ruth

I am in receipt of your

two welcome letters dated 7^th & 14^th

of October & glad to get all the

news. I can imagine Charlie

Job dolled up in all his

regalia & thinking himself

OK. I just received goa letter

from the Methodist Church &

no doubt you will have

seen the wording of them as

Fathers signature was on it.

& he would tell you all. Glad

that you appreciated the Snaps

I took I got some good ones while

I was on my leave & had to leave

them with Annie Walmsley

to get them printed & she sent

me over a few the other day

they are OK. I left all my

films & camera etc with Annie

so I can get it again when

I get some more leave. It

is Sunday night tonight

& its cold & wintry. I just missed

(2)

a trip up to the Battery with

ammunition & I bet they're having it

nice & cold we have got a good

fire going for when they return

We can expect snow any mind time

now All my wollen togs are

coming in useful now. Sox etc

& we have been issued with

big jack Boots which come

right up to your knees. The worst

of them is that they take a

long time to lace up & cause

some bad language sometimes

Wish Mary many happy returns

of the day (tomorrow) for me

tell her the strike was a good

thing for her no school to

go to. We are to vote here on

the referendum by the 10^th of

this month. I suppose things

are getting lively out in Alec.

now with another referendum

Had Billy Hughes up to see you

now Ruth & will have to close

so goodbye with love to all

at home Your affBro 

Rawson
MGHaylock

4

On Active Service

Miss Ruth Leach

Public School

Alectown

NSWales

Australia
[*FIELD POST OFFICE

A 

DE 8

17
T.X.*]
[*PASSED

BY CENSOR

No.

1397
MGHaylock*]

France

Dec 15^th 17.

Dear Mother.

Since writing you last

I have not received any letters

from Australia but we are expecting

a mail any day now & hope we

get one by Xmas which isnt very

far off now only ten days. We

are having a little bit of a blow

out & each man in the battery is

putting 5 Frances (4/2) each & we

are looking forward to having

geese & ham so we shouldn't

fare too badly. We are still in

action but expect to pull out

any day & hope we are out for

Xmas as all the battery will be able

to dine together then. So you can

see we aren't doing too badly. I

guess you didn't expect we would

get such luxuries so close to

the firing line. I got a shock

yesterday morning when who

should come along but Frank Berry

We had quite a long chat together

& he looks so well. He has

almost grown out of recognition

(8)

for it must be ten years since

I saw him. He is in the same

Division as I am so I expect to

see a good deal of him knocking

around. We had a game of football

against the D.A.C. & they beat us

by nine points to eight so we

had a pretty close run.

We voted two days ago on the

Referendum business & were just

in the midst of it when. Fritz

came over bombing but fortunately

he missed us & our antics brought

down two of his planes. We

have not had any snow here

yet but the days are getting colder

& the frosts oh dont mention them.

We have been issued with sheep

skin jackets so they should help

to keep the cold out. Now mother

I will have to close with best

love to all at home

Your affSon

Rawson
K.Harrison

PS I am enclosing YMCA AXmas card

& the picture is a {[*?*]]one of their huts

on the Western Front.

Rawsons Leach letter

see original document
Card with blue ribbon attached

Somewhereon the Western Front

Christmas. 1917

Greetings 

From Rawson

Y.M.C.A. with his Britannic Majesty's

Forces in France and Flanders

see original document
Front of card with illustration

CHRISTMAS STARS 1917 

Sketch by W. Cecil Dunford.

Copyright Reserved.