Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, June - December 1915 - Part 9

3 4 -
sent out at the risk of his life & shelled
the top off it & then they laid for Abdul
He popped up sure enough & never
noticed the difference so while he watched
the man in front ready to duck the other
man further along shot him right through
the head - we saw him carried away
after but didn’t fire on those that came for
him. So it goes on from day to day. I am
enclosing with this a photo of Violets
wee laddie. I don’t know if you have
received one. Mother sent it on to 
me. The  photo was taken when the
wee mite was only two days old.Very I am
^very sad today one Katie I had your photo with me
all through although I lost almost
everything else carried it all through
the fighting up till a couple of days ago
& now it has disappeared mysteriously
Big heap sad one as I used to look nearly
every day at your dear old smiling face.
& the wee pets to cheer me I still have
Baaby's Bible with me.
God Bless & keep you  all my
dear ones. Heaps of love & kisses from
Dida Donny

Gallipoli Peninsula
26/8/15
My dearest Kit,
I found a few old Egyptian stamps
among my belongings which I apparently was
apparently keeping to send send the wee laddie
in Egypt but forgot. I hap have put them in
your envelope. In it also I have put the original
message we got from General Birdwood just
as it was taken down by the Telephonist
while the fighting still continued
I know you will preserve it carefully. As
you will see I got your letter which you completed
on the 12^th June also a p.card dated the 16^th June
telling me you had got a letter & p.card from
me. There were also a pair of bootlaces enclosed
& a pair of socks reached me in a separate
parcel by the same mail but I didnt look
at the postmark. A little while back a 
lighter sunk which had amongst other
[*things*] 5 bags of mail for the 7^th Battn. I think
the hankies & the pair of socks you &
Baaby sent before must have gone down in
her. Anyhow they are not here. But
I am well off for socks  A Capt
Jacobs who is a ^4th year medical student & has

just left to complete his course received

2
a big bundle from his mother just as he was 

leaving & he gave me two fine pairs. You say

that Violet - ^ (Wicker) was better than when you last wrote

This must have been in the letter that got drowned.
I hear that there is a big mail in now so
perhaps it will turn up after all. I am sorry

for poor Henry. One would have thought that his 

Ma would have let him have the use of the house

for his life. But you never know, perhaps her
brother needed it most. Well darling We 

are having another little spell from the trenches -

- we go back again tomorrow - our last spell

was very quiet. One man had his head taken off with

a shell & another lost his ear by the same means

& a couple of others got slight wounds but there 

was no fighting. We gave Abdul a pretty bad 

time, we had a bit of a joke with him. I was

looking through a telescope & discovered one of their 
Mr Jones ∧latrines hidden away in a little hollow you could 
just see them. There was a sort of a rail with four 

sitting on it. I got a man to fire a couple of shots

at them but he missed badly - They stayed not
on the order of their going but went - however
& they will have to make a new one.

3

Lyn’s box of Shortbread has not yet arrived
Perhaps it was drowned too. Never mind
tell her I thank her just the same
Jack's Battalion has not arrived
here yet. Tell Mrs McCrae Geoff just
arrived here this morning & looks as
fresh as paint. I am naturally delighted
to see him. He is such a cheerful bright
chap that it is a pleasure to have him
on hand. Tell her I will try to take
better care of him this time as he is
too valuable to me ^to lose. I have now three
of the old men McCrae, Layh & Swift
so things are a little more homelike
I am afraid there is very little hope that
Ray Wasley is still alive Indeed I heard
his body had been found during an advance
I will try & make certain that whether
this is the case or not but in any case
all who went with him appear to have
been cut off & killed. They pushed
on far too far on the very first day
& have not been seen or heard of since
Capt Lutton was with him & his body I
know was found some time ago 

-4- -3-
Of course only a skeleton remained but
its identity was established by the Identity
disk & papers. All the day before yesterday &
all last night a furious battle was going on
in the neighbourhood of Achi Baba what its
result was I have no heard but today seems
peaceful right along the whole front - You
cannot hear a single rifle shot & only very
occasionally the dull boom of a Cannon
but our left stretches miles away to the
northwards now & "Suvla Bay" is crowded
with War ships & merchant shipping. You
are a dear old brave lady to try to give me
all that "cheek" about ringlets & whiskers etc
As a matter of fact my hair is kept cropped
every week a regular No 1. I look like an
escaped convict - especially when I come out of
the Trenches. It is a very long way to carry
the water there so we do without wash & shave
while there but as soon as we are out we have a
lovely swim in that most beautiful sea water there
ever was. It is so clear that you can stand up to your
neck in the water yet count your toes on the firm
sandy bottom of the Sea.
True Abdul has a rotten habit of shelling
the beach just at the best time of day for a swim
but we have all sorts of ways of beating him. We have
lots of piers now & they are piled with lots of forage 

-5-
down the centre leaving a space on each side
If he shells from one side you duck round on the
other & vice versa & it is only very rarely - I suppose
when he gets a new shipment of ammunition
or a new gun or something ^that he fires from both sides at once. Moreover our advance
on the left two busted the guns that used 
to annoy us from over that way.
It was grand to see in the papers the wonderful

response in Victoria to the Recruiting Campaign.

It cheered us all to see it. I have great 

hopes of getting a good lot of men out of it. It

is smacking will be splendid to get a whole

Regiment together again & not a fragment.

About the Lone Pine fight Katie ∧you musn’t be disappointed 

if ∧I dont this old man didn’t get anything. No one really
promised me anything but everyone spoke highly

of ∧our the defence. I would value it solely as

a recognition of the Bravery of the Regiment

for I never shot a Turk of the many whose

bones still lie in front of the lines. All I had
to do was to try & keep everybody cool & steady & to send
reinforcements where needed only just sufficient & no
more so as to spin them out as long as possible &
when men ∧officers or NCOs came to me to implore me for Bombs
or they could not hold out
which I hadn't got & for reinforcements I could
not spare ^(or they could not hold out) to tell them to go back & fight with
Bayonet & Rifle until they were dead. & they
did it You will be glad to hear that
probably Lt Tubb & Lt Symons & two other

-6
men (Corporals) one of whom was killed & the 
other badly wounded have been recommended
for the V.C. But as regards myself there
are so many who deserve recognition that I
would be glad to give place to them & it wont worry
me a bit to ∧and if Katie ∧you know that I know it wont
trouble her ∧you either.! Well darling own Kit
when is this war coming to an end. I hear
some Italians are to come & help us & that
Greek & perhaps Bulgaria will soon declare
war on Abdul. That will be the end of the
poor old chap I guess. We have all got a pretty
healthy respect for the old chaps fighting ability
& he has been mighty near getting us licked
but has never quite succeeded & it must break
his heart to find us gaining & gaining very
very slowly but always going forward & never
back even in the teeth of his most furious
attacks. In the big attack on us one of the
Turks either because he was afraid or wounded
or something turned to go back. An officer (of
course our men said at once a German officer)
snatched the rifle from his hands & struck
him over the head with it & while the fellow
staggered under the Blow stuck the
Bayonet through him. I forget if
I ever mentioned to you that "Dick" Courtney

-7.
has a very bad name here. Some say he never
once went into the trenches while here & has
gone off to England on the plea of illness. I see
by the way that he is reported in the home
papers as wounded - everyone here is
laughing over it & wondering how he
managed to square to Doctor over it. Some
more Holy Frosts were Old Colonel Bolton
& his two sons - They all went off home on
the ground of illness & they were no more
ill than I am & they will pose as
heroes before the Admiring Public no
doubt. Another was Lt Col [[?]] who
went home wounded. His wound was
a bruise on the knee got by falling over
when he was running like mad to get into
a Dug out where
It disgusts me! You need not mention this
to anyone but you will know & I suppose
that now all these new Regiments are
coming out they will apply for & get
jobs as Brigadiers. It will be a scandalous
shame if they do while those who stuck
to their jobs can get no advancement.
Colonel Forsyth is well & is the same great
fellow as ever.
Well dearie  The mail is in but I dont
know yet if there is a letter from you. I will keep
this open for & let you know later
No letters no paper no parcel. xxxxxx never
mind dearie pet your love always comes to me
[*Omit*]
& the love of the wee pets to Dida Donny
The wee laddie is a good laddie - He know Dida
will be always Dida to him & not the Surly old Colonel
who sorts everybody something scandalous. But
is a great effort now ^& [[?]] yet by doing it I am
keeping up the spirit & pride of the 7th in themselves
I dont think they'd scrap me for any other Colonel
about. Bye darling pet your xxxxx xxxxx old man
Dida Donny 

Military Hospital
Devonport
England
15/9/15
My darling Kit,
I did not
think when I last x
wrote to you sitting in my dugout
in Gallipoli on the 27^th of last
month that my la next letter would
be written from here. But so it
happens. On the very next day I felt
off color and the Dr finding I had a
temperature of 102° told me I would
have to go on the Hospital Ship I objected
& got him to give me another 24 hours. At
the end of that time I was rather worse &
so I handed over the Regiment to Major
McCrae who had just got back the day I
wrote to you. It was splendid wasn't it him
getting back so opportunely. I hear Major
Jackson has also gone back, Well dearie 
they brought me away to Mudros & the Hospitals
there were full to the doors so I was sent to Malta
& landed there. Then the Dr said I would do no
good there it was too hot & sent me off in the next
Boat. By this time I was feeling dreadful ∧very bad
pains all over me & one night I thought it was
the end of things for I couldn't breathe lying down
but had to sit up in Bed all night - The Bed
clothes were wringing wet with perspiration. After
this I commenced to get better & ^am still going on - On the
ship I had nothing but Bovril & milk (condensed)
& got dreadfully thin. Here we are fed very well
I have just finished dinner. Soup, fish, boiled fowl &
vegetables Stewed Raspberry & cream & finished
up with a big William Pear & two glasses of lovely
delightful fresh milk - I had a sort of fever & after Malta
Pleurisy set in. There is still a sore spot in
my right lung & I am very weak I will be
allowed up in about a fortnight from now

[*I wired to Uncle Robert but have not
heard from him. I have not cabled you
from here as I have no money
We were not paid in Gallipoli & I
cannot find out how to get any Well
bye dear millions of love from Dida*] 

DEVONPORT
SEP 16 15A
11.15 AM
Mrs H. E. Elliott
29 Mitchell Street
Northcote
Victoria
Australia
(HE Elliott)
Devonport
Sept 15th. 1915