Correspondence from Keith McKeddie Doig to Lewis Maffra Grant, 1917, Part 19

[*KMcK Doig*]

OAS

18/6/17

Recd 9/8/17

Miss Louie Grant

413. Park Street

North Carlton

Melbourne

Australia

 

France.

19.6.17.

My dear Louie,

I got a letter

from you to day - dated 15^th April

but in it you said you'd given

me all the news in a letter you'd

written the night before. So perhaps

I'll get a longer letter to-morrow

I'm still down at the summer

rest camp away from my battalion

and really we are having a 

very good time.

The other morning Lieut Muntz

of the 57^th Batt & I went in to the

village of St Valery-sur-Somme and

spent the morning shopping. First

of all. he bought a shirt but our

French was quite capable to make

that understood. Then I bought

two pairs of light khaki socks

after a process of which consisted

2

of a mixture of speaking mispronounciation

and pointing. As I was

wearing my "slacks" frequently

I wanted  a pair of suspenders

to keep these said socks up, but

all efforts to make them understand

 - either by speech or by demonstration -

failed miserably and I'm afraid

they regarded me in the end with

some sort of suspicion. I left.

Next went to a photographers &

to get there we had to go up a

very dirty little street, which ran

up hill. The photographer was not

at home but his wife who . was

rather a pretty girl was. We

sat down in the studio and then
another painful process went on -

trying to make her understand that

I wanted my photo taken at once

i.e. toute suite - because I wished
to send it home. But "Now!

Monsieur. C'est impossible." It was

then we discovered that her

3 

husband was out ^ and he took the photos. While we were

talking a little girl brought a

baby in and it was only

nine months old with big blue eyes

and very plump and healthy and

wonders of wonders it was clean

and very neatly dressed. Each

of us waited for the other to pick

it up & nurse it but all we

did was to shake hands with

it and talk to it in Australian

the mother was very proud of it.

We left there after distributing

largesse for the baby in the

shape of half a franc. But

no photograph was taken.

Next got on our bicycles - yes we

had bikes - and went off looking

for "les bains" for we were very

hot & dusty and a bath here

would do us good. Rode along

to the end of the pier and

4

came to the baths. These will

bear description. The proprietress

was a very large woman with

skirts tucked up. She said 'Yes.

Monsieur we could have a bath.

So we paid a franc - twenty for

a box and trunks. The baths were

not fenced off at all. One just bathed

off the end of the pier and when we

looked we saw it was not only

men bathing but some of the fair

damoiselles were also in - i.e. it was

mixed bathing off the end of the

pier. Our bathing box was very small

& unfortunately the door would not

close tightly and the lock was broken.

Consequently we hid our money in

the lining of the our hats and got

undressed. Then on with our

bathing trunks. I will not say
how they fitted, but I will say

that we two are much bigger than

the average Frenchman. So much so

5

in fact that we were almost contemplating

very seriously whether to go back to

camp without a bath or not. However

courage predominated and with a

little trepidation we made the pier

as rapidly as possible and dived

off the end before for we were noticed

Once in the water of course all

was well and we swam well out

and had a real good swim. Then 

we found an isolated bit of beach

and on this we sunbathed. Finding

the coast clear we made a rapid

rush for our box and once there all

was well. We dressed and got

on our bikes and made for the

nearest estaminet but all we

could get was water - but that was

most acceptable. We exchanged

feelings over our water with the

people of the estaminet - throwing out

our chests and saying "Bon jour"

madame" or "Oui, oui madame", this

7

night in their tent and picked 

up from them a few of the recent

advances in treatment of wounds

and surgery in general. Really

Louie I'm forgetting all my work

and it worries me very much at times

You see in between "field work" as compared

with and "base work" there is a vast

difference. If one of my battalion

gets very sick, he is of no use to the

battalion. I cannot treat him for we

are a very mobile unit and all

I have is a small box of drugs

Consequently I send him away

and that is the end of his case as

far as I'm concerned - and I see

no treatment at all. And when a

man is wounded I dress him - frequently

very crudely for conditions prevent

taking surgical cleanliless and then

again I only possess what I carry

and my aid-post may be just a

sheet of iron across the top of a

6

demonstrating to them what brain

power lies within the Australian

head, where a little matter of

foreign languages is to be dealt

with. And then back to camp

in time for lunch. Such is a

morning's shopping in a French

town à la the Australian soldier

But really it's real good fun

and we have just as much fun

as they do.

The day before that I went to

Abbeville and after visiting the

Cathedral I went to the 3rd

Aust. Gen. Hosp. and there saw

Capt Newton and Colonel Simmons

and Prof. C.J. Martin who was

Professor of Physiology at Melbourne

some years ago but previous to

the war was head of the Lister

Research institute. I slept the

trench, And when he is dressed I

send him away and I see none of

his treatment. However dear, what

I'm losing in Medecine & Surgery is

gained in my experience of men, and

moreover some of us have to do it and

I see no particular reason why I

shouldn't. Well, at any rate, they

made me very comfortable at the

Hospital and in the afternoon I watched

Capt Newton operating on some rather

severely wounded Huns who were

hit in the Messine's battle.

To-morrow we play. Cayeux cricket

There is a convalescent home there & we

are going there by motor to play cricket

against the inmates. And then after

that we have a match in this camp

Australia v England and I guess we

will be very keen on that.

Cheeroh dear. Lots of love. I hope I've

not bored you with all this. Kind regards

to Floss & Mick & Drevs & Allan. And

dear I've got such a clean face today

Keep smiling.

Keith