Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1917 - Part 9

Well it was Bob Haydon from Mt
Clear. I got a real surprise
when I seen him I did not know
he was over here. He has been
sent down to Weymouth from
here. He was over with trench
fever from France, & is right
again now so I suppose before
long he will be on his way
back to France.
I was pleased to meet
someone that I knew, he
is the only one that I've met
over here yet.
I think I have run out of 
news now so Au revoir for the
present ever very truly
Bert.
 

Oct  9  22^nd 1917
Mrs Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol
Ballarat
Victoria
Australia
 

No I Aust Aux Hospital
Harefield Park
Middlesex Eng
Oct 29 ^th 1917

Dear Flo
I received a bundle of 7 letters from Australia
today & was very pleased to get a few lines from you
I have received 17 letters now this week, or rather within
a week, most of them have been from home, very few
write to me lately. I think they must be frightened
of me or something else must be wrong.
I'm very pleased to hear that you are back
at work again I hope you have better luck than you
had at your last place.
Well Flo I'm much better than I've
been since I was knocked. They were thinking of operating
on the wound, but they are leaving it now it is looking
so well, to see if it will heal without anything being
done to it, you see the bone behind the ear has
been damaged & it may have to be attended to, anyhow
there is nothing worth worying about wrong with 
it, there is just the chance of me being returned home,
but at any rate I will spend this winter in Blighty.

 

at any rate & I dont think I will see France again

& I can tell you I'm not at all sorry, up to the

present there is no signs of the hearing coming

back to my left ear, though they say now, there

is a chance of it getting right again though it will

be a very long time doing so, you see nothing went

into the ear that is into the drum, though it has 

been badly damaged.

There is very little news, & I don't feel

like writing at all, so I hope you will

excuse me  I cannot write to anyone lately

Wishing you a pleasant Xmas

Yours very truly

Bert

 

Miss F Reynolds

Albert St

Sebastopol

Ballarat

Victoria

Australia

29.10.1917

 

No I Aust Aux Hospital
Harefield Park
Middlesex
Eng
Oct 29^th 1917
Dear Stan

Was very pleased to get a few

lines from you today & to hear that you

were well.  I would give a great deal to be

back with you for a while just to have a

couple of days out in the bush, like we

used to have, well it seems years & 
years ago to me now.
I hope you are doing well at

school, its up to you to make a bit of

a hit in the next exams, well I expect
they will be over now, because its over 
a month now since you mentioned about

them, so I hope you have done well.

Well I was a bit unlucky in

a way, getting wounded just when my
 

birthday parcels were due, I did not get

any of them & I can tell you I was looking

forward to getting them.  I think fritz must

have kept this lot for me on my birthday

but he made a slight mistake.

I have been better this last

couple of days, than I've been since getting

hit, all the wheels, etc, in my head have

stopped now, they have had a long run so

its about time they run down, the

doctor seems to think the wound is getting

along _^well & better than they thought it would,

there may be, no need now for an operation
now I hope there is not.

I must thank you for the birthday

card, it was a real decent one, I don't
remember wether I sent you one for yours

_^birthday or not, if I did'nt I hope you will

excuse my forgetfullness, its something

awfull lately.

Well I hope you have a pleasant 
time at Xmas, & see that Mother has

one also, I hope you are looking after her, its

up to you to do your level best for her benefit.

Yours truly

Bert
 

Stanley Reynolds

Albert St

Sebastopol

Ballarat

Victoria

Australia

Oct 29 1917

 

No 1 Aust Aux Hospital
Harefield Park
Middlesex  Eng

Oct 30^th 1917
Dear Mother

I received a packet of letters yesterday, also one
a few days ago, containing in all 17 letters, most of them were from

you, & I was very pleased to get them, though I received a great

shock when I read about Pete having been killed in France

When I was wounded I was looking forward to

meeting Pete over here, as I had not heard about him going

back to France, it is over twelve months since we met, that was

in Belgium at Reninghlest not very far from Ypres on Sept 17^th last
year, little did we think that it was the last time we would see each

other, when we _^said good-bye & promised to look each other up whenever our

units were near one another, unfortunately we never had the chance of meeting

each other after that.  I hope his people are not worrying too much, it

must have been an awfull shock to them, I wrote a few lines to his

father, but I hardly knew what to write, it was a very poor letter,
I would be very pleased if you would convey to them my deepest

sympathy as I'm an awfull hand at writing.

I will do my best to try & find out how Pete came

 

 

to receive his wounds, but I'm afraid I will not be able to
find out very much, as I have not much chance of seeing France

again, there is a slight chance of me being returned home, but

what is most likely I will be kept in England.

Well, Mother, things are going fairly well with

me, I'm feeling much better these last few days, they have not decided

to do any-thing with the wound here, yet, it is healing slightly

& they are giving it a good chance to heal up on its own, 
my case has been an exceptional one, all the doctors reckon I'm

unnaturally lucky.  I was rather surprised at getting through

with the wound myself, I hardly expected to see England
with it, It has been a very lucky escape no doubt, but of

course an inch is as good as a mile so long as no damage is done

& it has not damaged my old box of tricks very much, they

reckon now that I may get the hearing back in the left ear but

it will be a very long time before it comes back.

I was pleased to see that someone thought of

me in the tree planting affair, as you mentioned, it is a very

absurd place to put the avenue, there could have been no better

place in my opinion than in Albert St from the library down
or up north from Rubicon St down. I will write & thank

Mr Jenkins for thinking of putting in a tree for me. 
Well Mother news is scarce & whats more I'm

not feeling like writing letters so please excuse these few lines

wishing you a very Merry Xmas

I remain ever truly

Bert.