Letters from Mervyn Ernest Hazen to his family, 1916-1917 - Part 5

four other girls I know in Melbourne. (off to parade)

By Jove,

What rains you must be having in

Australia. I dont know why it is

but this has been the wettest season

here for 19 years.

Glad you got the

Capetown letter & cards allright. You

should have got the little Souviener

I bought I on the boat. It was to

be sent with the same mail as

the one you got cards by. Glad you

are going to write to Little Girls she

seemed quite pleased when I got her

address. She was only a Kiddie about

10 years old.

Yes. I did allright at the

sports. I sent my trophies up to

Scarborough for Mrs. Yuvdall to look

after. I got such a nice letter from

her the other day. I'll enclose it in this

letter

Sorry the show was a failure

 

but I suppose all the money was 

spent on "Australia Day" Why didnt

you go to the show or Races? You

jolly old stay at home. have a 

go around.

Yes, what a terrible blow

to the Chappells, when they heard

about poor old Chas.

I was looking 

through some photos today, &

came across all the Last Xmas

snaps that Vera took. What a different

Xmas this Year, Mater. Isn't it.

So Bruce

has made it up with his girl again

how did he get an RC Enlisting

Fancy

 

Uncle Will Hazen coming to

light again. I thought he must have

floated off the face of the earth.

So Frank is going up to work for

Luie Eh. Wish I was.

Old Anthony

will be sorry he started on

the Switch Back Railway as

it is costing so much

The letter I got

From Laura F; She gave me

Bert Farrands, also Jacks address but

it is their Unit address; no mention

of the hospital he is in.

Fancy Bob Lister

going out to it. His people won't cut

up will they

Yes, I have a few Yarra

boys handy here. It is allright too

Gary Roff is at present sitting near

me, waiting while I finish this letter

he came over to say goodbye, but I've

 

tricked him as we were told today

we were not going to France till

Thursday at the earliest & perhaps

we should be humbugging for a week

or more, yet

Glad to hear that

Chas Stew is recovering again. What

a time he must have had with it all.

Well Mater, I think I will close

this scrawl now as the mail

closes tomorrow.

Goodnight Dear Mater. Give

my love to all at home & accept share

yourself. I remain

Your Loving Son

Mervyn xxx

[*Best Respects from Tom Roff*]

 

Somewhere in France

18^th/11/16

Dearest Mater, 

As you will see by the

above address, that I have at last

reached France. I have taken a lot

of getting here, haven't I mater?

We left

England on Thursday morning at xxxAM

XX^th inst. & arrived "here" at 2 PM

XX^th inst.

We are at present in a rest

camp, but expect to join the Battalion

in a few days time. I suppose it will

be 10 to 12 days yet, before we do

anything.

We were issued with our gas

helmets & goggles this morning. "Something

Doing" Eh what

It has been very cold

here since we landed, but I'll do allright

I think: I have plenty of good clothes, &

wraps of all kinds. We have been well

looked after as regards clothing & food.

 

 

I believe the food  is splendid up in

the line

By the time we get up to our

Battalion, they shall be "coming out" of

the trenches for a spell. as they only

"went in" day before yesterday.

I received

a P.C. from Aunt Annie, the other day

& it was sopping wet, it was on

the "Arabia" but had been saved. I

am going to keep it as a souveiner.

She was

telling me that Lill was to be soon

married  she is a Mug, because I

suppose Herb shall have to enlist.

Well Mater, I will ring off now.

but shall write again before I "go up"

Good night Dear old Mater.

Best love to

all at Home. I remain

Your loving Son.

Mervyn. xxx.

[*Don't worry over me. I'll be

A.1. At Lloyds.*]

over

 

 

5341.

Pte M. E. H.

21^st Batt

2^nd A.D.B.D.

C/o A. P. O. of S 17

A.I.F. 

B. E. F. France

 

 

Somewhere in France

27^th/11/16

Dear Dad.

No doubt you are thinking

it is up to me to drop you a

few lines, so do I, well here they

are.

You will see by the above

address where I am, I was sent

over on the 16^th inst. & landed here

on the 17^th inst., so you see it

doesn't take them long to get you

up near "The Line".

I expected to be

well "at it" before now, but, they dont

seem to want men, just yet, in

our Battalion, as we are likely

to be "here" for a fairly long while

yet. When I say "here" - I mean

well behind the firing line, about

80 miles. It is very monotonous here

 

 

our days work, is one thing, over, & over

again.

Up at ½ past 5. march off to

the "Bull Ring" 3 miles away at 8 o/c.

Start work at 9.30. "Smoke.O",

from 11.30 till 12., & then work again.

from 12 to 2. We land home at 3 P.M.

& then have dinner. Tea at 5 OC

We get fairly good food here, & plenty

of it. We sleep in tents (12 to a tent)

so you see we are fairly crowded for

sleeping room. We have nothing to do

in our spare hours, but mope about

the camp & institutes. it get monotonous

day after day.

There are no Yarra

heads here at all. Tom Cross is here,

but isolated again, on account of

one of his tent mates getting the

Mumps. Unlucky isn't he

I had

rather a good job yesterday ^(Sunday) 20 of us

 

 

were detailed for fatigue duties.

& sent out on Motor Lorries to a

French forest, (16 Kilometers from

here.) to gather, small saplings

for use, in making trench walls

more secure, & prevent them falling

in on the men. We had the lorries

loaded by 1 o'clock. & then we came

back to a Village & had dinner

& spent a couple of hours there

looking around.

England is a

pretty place, but it is not in

the picture, beside France.

Although it is winter & all the

trees bare, it is simply lovely.

out of the 20 of us. about 30 of us

landed home sober. (they did

have a picnic)

I heard that Geo Brown

(Soapy) is to be sent over here in a