Letters from Harold Edward Elliott to his family January 1916 - June 1916 - Part 4

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mother is a widow lady & I thought
she would be pleased to Know what
a splendid fellow her son has grown
to be. because He was only a lad when
he joined us but is grown a greatly
six foot man now & every inch of
him a gentleman & soldier. The old
lady must be nice I think because
he l seems to love her good ^very much. I've told
her if my own wee laddie grows to be as
good a man as hers I will be well
pleased. In Lone Pine one old Turk
jumped over into the Trench & thrust at
Barton with his Bayonet. Barton dodged
it & shot Abdul in the Tummy with
his revolver & the Turk fell forward.
Another Turk behind threw a Bomb
but instead of hitting Barton it hit
the old ^first Turk on the head & finished him
completely by blowing his head to pieces.
Then another Turk shot Barton through
the Arm & broke it & he dropped his pistol
Then some on else shot the Turk & the
stretcher bearers took Barton to Hospital 
 

& then the Turks got in again & our men
wavered & it looked as if the Turks would
win but I got in some ^a few fresh men
& told Lt Symons to take charge of them
& Charge the Turks with the Bayonet &
he did it & shot dead two Turks
himself with his revolver & the men went
at the Turks ^& cleared them out. & I recommended Symons
for the V.C & a Sergt Ball & he got a D.C.M.
& the Trenches were full of dead men & blood
& brains. – I wonder will I ever be able to
forget it all. So far I have no reward
but I would sooner have my men's respect
than any thing the King could give me
I would not go back to Australia with
my men speaking of me as Dick Courtney’s
Men speak of him  - "the King of the Dug outs"
Oh Katie There is ^I have a lovely ^great joke to tell you.
You Know Capt Tubb & Lt Symons
were both sent to England. After they
got a Bit well ^somewhat better the King sent for them
& had them to the Palace & presented
them with their V.C's. Well each was
taken in Separately & had a little yarn 
 

with the King & he asked Symons a
bit about his Regiment & Symons told
him that we had got 4 V.C's already
& had more casualties & done more fighting
than any other Regiment & the King was
Very interested & Symons said then ^then added - "I
dont understand why our Colonel has
never been even mentioned in despatches
after being through it all & been wounded"
And the King asked my name & called
in his Secretary & took down my name
& promised to inquire into it. Wasn't
that funny & what a "neck" Symons
had talking to the King like that. But
it was good of him to say that & remember
the "old man" that used to Sort ^give them up ^such
so Scandalous.^ a rough time in Egypt. It is queer isnt it
There is not a single Colonel who used
to sort ^discipline his men so & now I think the
old ones at least would do anything
for me. I received a letter from Major
Weddell who told me this. Weddell
also told me that he met our General
Walker in England. He was wounded 
 

Well they were talking about me &
the General said he some of his recommedations
had not reached their destinations &
I was the first Battalion Commander
on the List to be made a Brigadier.
Thats all very well but mostly it is the
Staff men & outsiders like General ^some of
Smythe who is an ^the English officers who
are getting the promotions. Although
General Smythe ^one of the Englishmen is a very fine officer
indeed. Still there is plenty of room
for good officers in the huge British 
army & they ought to Keep them from
spoiling our chances in our little
army. But as I say ^have said Your love & 
respect & that my men are more
to me than anything else. Everything
that I do my Katie pet is so that you
may thin truly think me the best old ^husband
man in ever the world – ‘Cause I love you
dear little sweetheart –such a big heap lot
& I want to win all your heart so that you  [* Omit *]
may always be pleased you gave yourself
right up to me & never have a single
sad regret. Oh my dearie you have 
 

done much for me & dear old Baaby too.
Your influences have always been for my good
& against evil. Dear old love lady - Does oo love me
truly & really millions & are you Glad you
said pause six years ago ? I have just
received your dear loving letter with all
the big heap ^lot of snap shots of my wee
pets & yourself. They are just lovely. Doesn't
The laddie always look ^so bright & the wee
Dhusach so serious & grave. Surely she
should have been the Boy. I wonder though
will I always think so. The laddie must
be a dear little loving chap. Jack's regiment 
is much further up the lines than us so
we wont see much of each other for a time
I made Charlie a L Corpl yesterday. He
is coming on. I made Mrs Clarksons
nephew a Corporal on the Peninsula 
but since we came back to Egypt his
wound (in the foot) broke out again &
he has been sent away to hospital
again. This is all the news just now
dearie lovie sweet pet. God Bless & keep
You all. Goodbye. Million of love & kisses
from your own Dida Donny 
 

[* 2DRL|0513 *]

P.S. My leg is still a bit
troublesome. My horse was
a bit restive yesterday & 
plunged a good deal
& it swelled up abit
last night as a result.
But I am having it
massaged & it will soon
be all right again
P.P.S. I just discovered 
a dis week or so back
that I had been addressing
your letters to the wrong
number. The first time
you underlined the
No I saw my error
 

Egypt
7^th Feb 1916
My dear darling Katie,
There is nothing much
that I can tell you in the way of news –
my dear old pal – it is a dreary dusty
sandy place but we can get a rain
occasionally. There is lots ^a deal of work for
the men but it is deadly dull for 
me. I feel quite lost We are in reserve
& the men are all day loading waggons
etc building roads etc but for
myself I just loaf round. Occasionally
I get so a few men to sort ^dress down, While
I feel pretty well generally I am not
quite myself. in that the least opposition
excites me to great anger ^temper. I do my
best to control it but a man gave me
a bit of Cheek the other day & I nearly
had a fit I think. I suppose it is
the result of the strain & worry. I
was never very even tempered as my ^you
dear ^old Katie Knows & I shall be
very glad to be out of it all &
back with your soothing companionship
to make me better again. But my Katie ^I hope
you will be very patient with me wont you dear 
 

2
there is no one that will love me good
if you don’t. I will do my best. to be good
dearie pet. Tell my darling wee pets I got ^have received one
photo of them where they are looking up & mummy
& mum is holding up a lol lol ^l or something
& mum has got her hair done a funny old
way on the back of her head . I wish I was with
them to love them good.^There is another picture where
mum has both of them cuddling ^her them good
& I felt as if I wanted to go up & put my arms
around thre three & kiss them all & tell 
them they are just an "armful of darlings”
&In another picture the wee laddie is Kissing &
loving mummy good & Dida wonders if the
wee dear laddie will put his arms round
Dida like that when he comes home.
And Dida got another picture where Gaga ^Dhusach has
her sunshade up & looks a dear wee sweet
girlie & she has her arm round the laddie
& the laddie looks a dear wee cheeky merry
boy. & Dida wants to come & Kiss them big heaps
& In another picture the wee laddie has
Dida's cap on & a gun & he is saluting the
wee lady with his hand ^to his cap & that is not right 
for a soldier because when he has a gun
 

-3-
and he wants to salute he puts the rifle 
up on his ^left shoulder & holds the butt with his
left hand & salutes by putting the left ^right hand
across his breast & slapping the butt with
of the rifle with the palm of his right
hand. & ^Tell him that "Dida" sorts his men who when
they have a rifle salute by touching their
caps with their hand. But the wee laddie
is only a dear nice boy & doesn't know.
&So "dida" wont sort him but will only
give him such a big love because he
is a good little brave soldier & doesnt
cry when mum looks him up or
he falls & hurts himself. & Mummy
sent "Dida" such a lot of other pictures
that made "Dida" just delighted but
he soon wont know how to carry
them all. And tell them Dida saw
Uncle Jack & he was well & loves the
little pets just as Dida & Mum does
My dear darlings I wish I was back
with you all. I am sad & weary & I 
don't like to be "sorting" people always
& unless they are sorted they wont
do things ^behave and nobody else except 
 

-4
Major Layh seems to be able to "sort"
them at all. Poor old Geoff M^cCrae
is not a bit of good that way. One day
while I was ill Geoff had to sort ^reprimand
some one or rather some one wanted
sorting ^reprimanding badly & he first wanted Bert
Layh to sort them & next when Layh
said "No it's your place to do that."
He said "Well what will I say to him"
& when Layh told him off he went
& did it. But that shows that old
Geoff is not ^yet good enough to be a C.O. He
is a dear old chap probably his father
is the same. as ^He is as loyal to me as you
could wish but ^is a little lacking in decision
Alf ^Jackson is not so bad but also hates sorting ^reprimanding
people up. I felt a great difference
in the Regt when I got back to it in
this way. I have straightened things
up a lot but it is weary work.. I
have picked out a whole lot of men to
train for non Coms & on the whole they are
coming on very well indeed. Well dearie
pet I hope to add a little more whe
before the mail closes & I hope to have ^another letter
from you by then. Did I tell you I saw