Correspondence between Herbert Vincent Reynolds and his family, 1916 - Part 6

to have pushed my way in for a trip home on one
of the hospital boats, of in fact I was never
before a board after being ill, but I had
the 3 mths spell, given in every case of
enteric before leaving for duty again.
I am just as well pleased now that I did not
get back, mind you I even now want to get
back home, but now I have come over here with
the old lot I feel pleased that I was not out of
it, as probably would have been the case had
I gone to Aust on a homeward bound hospital
boat.
There is very little to write so I suppose we I
must say Au-revoir, trusting you are all very
well yours very truly.
Bert
PS I hope you receive the post cards allright 

May 11^th 1916
Dear Mother
Pleased to say that I received 6
letters tonight, two from you dated Jan 17^th & March 12^th 
one from Flo & Stan dated Jan 18^th two from Siss H &
one from Vi dated Sept 9^th 15, just fancy getting
letters 8 months old, that is our postal system
for you. Well there is a lot of fresh news in the
letters although most of them are so old, the best
news of all is saying that Stan was is going to
the High school, & that he successfully gained
his merit at school. I only wish that I was
home to give him a pat on the back, perhaps you
can do that for me as it's the next best thing.
I am patiently waiting for the photos you are
sending along, also ^for a few local papers, none
of us Ballarat chaps have been getting our papers,
by the f way there are two or three other chaps from
the golden city in this lot ↓(now) I dont think I mentioned
that before. Did I?

Well Vi said that she was sending along a
parcel with her letter but I have seen
nothing of it, suppose its helped to make
some one rich. I wish I knew what
Batt Herb is in. Vi did not mention it.
I must write Vi a few lines when I get a
chance suppose she has been thinking
that I have forgotten them altogether.
I have often been wondering how Ellis is getting
on now, it seems strange that I have not
heard from them for such a time, when
writing remember me to them all, especially
Ellis.
Well Mum we are much better off over here
than we were on the peninsula, this place is
a picnic to it, but fitz is a nasty cantankerous
sod, when he is nasty, he trys to stink
us out, blind us, choke us, & God only knows
what he don't try to do but we've got him in
a strangle hold, you bet. Well au-revoir
yours ever very truly
Bert 

ON ACTIVE SERVICE.
9^TH MAY  11 May 1916
Mrs Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol  Ballarat
Victoria  Australia
Signature}
H V Reynolds

France
May 25^th 1916
Dear Mother
I received a decent bundle of letters
yesterday, mostly all from you, your letter dated
Apr 3^rd with the photo enclosed was amongst them,
& I was extremely pleased with it, it is a very good
picture of you all, especially Flo.
Well your letters are all coming to hand, the
papers also have started to find me, so after
this I think anything you send, is pretty likely
to find me allright, so far 5 of your numbered
letters have come to hand.
Well since last I wrote I have had a spell in
our hospital with a bad rash, thought it was measels
but it was not, I am pleased to say, It was caused
by the water so the doctor reckons.
We have made another move & are now running a
rest camp a few miles from our other place. I was
on one of the cars as orderlie before we left our last place 

but am now putting in my time boiling water
& making it fit for drinking purposes. You
never seen such a country there is water everywhere &
yet drinking water is as scarce as if we were in the
middle of a desert. there is a ditch near our billet
which contains water (or rather a fluid of some
sort) that is green as grass, that is what all
the water is like around here, you see there is
absolutely no drainage system here whatever &
the country is flat as a billiard table, and
therefore the water is as stagnant as it
possibly could be.
I am extremely pleased to hear that Eve & Ade got things
satisfactorily settled up & that the place belongs to
them. I think the last diary letter I sent was up to
about the first week in June, very likely I will
be able to send you some more soon.
We are not near as comfortable here as we were at
the last place. Well Mum there is no news to tell
you other than what I have written so I will close these
few lines. Yours ever very truly
Bert 

ON ACTIVE SERVICE.
23 May 1916
Mrs Reynolds
Albert St
Sebastopol  Ballt
Victoria
Australia
Signature}
H V Reynolds 

France
June 8^th 1916
Dear Mother
We have been patiently awaiting
a mail now for over a fortnight, and all that has
come along so far is a few odd letters & papers, there
were none for me amongst them.
I don't know wether you are getting many rumors
as to the end of the war over there, we are getting some
beauties over here, old fitz put up a notice to say
that the war would be over very shortly, but not before
the trenches ran with Australian blood, perhaps he
thinks he will frighten us back home, or very likely
he is afraid that we are intending to make a
move forward, as he wrote on another notice
"stay where you are as we are signing peace in
10 days time", of course we do not take much
notice of such things, as, as far as we can see
there is nothing to prevent the war going to the
end of this year at the least, unless anything 

(2)
unforseen happens, which I hope does, as
we are all dying to get back home to Sunny
Australia again.
Well Mother as far as I can see we were just
as well off in Egypt amongst the niggers
as we are here, these people are just as mean
& grasping as any niggers of Egypt, we can
not trust any one here & as for obliging anyone
well you might as well ask old nick
as to ask any of these people, mind I do not
refer to the French people down south they
treated us exceedingly well on our way through
the country, you see where we are the population
is mixed & you do not know who's who.
I think it would be a good thing if it were known
at home, how after the splendid way the Australian
& English population both subscribed & assisted
in the raising of the magnificent fund for
the help of Belgium, how a great portion of that
nationality turned traitor, any that are in this 

 (3)
vicinity are watched & never trusted. there is
another thing, there are thousands of young
fellows in England now or a short time ago
anyhow, who are simply living on our governments
money instead of assisting to regain their
country from the hands of the huns.
We have had some terribly bad news this last
couple of days that is the loss of Kitchener while
on his way to Russia.
The news of the naval action as we got it at first
pointed to a defeat, but I am pleased to say that
the defeat we suffered turned out to be more
of a victory for us than anything else when
the correct reports came through. The navy
is ready for any move that the enemy may
make at any time, in fact they welcome the
chance of a scrap with the enemys boats, even
if the odds are all against them like they
were against Beaty the other day, we have
something to be proud of when a squadron of