Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, November 1916 - December 1916 - Part 6

I am sorry I can give you no

particulars of Ronald Welsh. If 

Lil or her Mother or his people

wrote to the C.O. of whatever

Regiment he was attached to I

am sure he would reply fully

to them. Isn't little Gagy Dhusach a dear

little soul to try to write & to play

& do all she can to learn. Tell her

that Dida thinks she is just the best

little girl in all the world for trying

so hard to learn & when she goes to

school if she does better that all

the other wee girls Dida will be so

proud of her. You just needn't 

worry because the wee pets aren't 

like you any more. Thier hearts 

appear to be growing like yours

& that it what counts after all

dear old Sunshine my be true

lady. Please give my love to

Andy Young. I am sorry he lost

his wee girlie. Poor Mrs Morrow

116

was always a nice very gentle lady. When

I saw Kathleen last she was just

a wee Dhusach girl & promised to be

rather pretty & very like poor old

Andrew. Give my love to poor old

Nana. I hope she is better, now & will

be all right in the summer time which

will be very near to you now. I will

sure enough save up really &

truly this time darling & send 

the money off to you & not buy a teeny

tiny thing for a long time anyway.

I do hope the Taffeta Silks & Scarfs

turn out to your liking & get to you

just about Xmas. That would

be just lovely. Hope the old Submarines

dont sink our mail. I hear a lot

of the letters from home went down

in the "Arabia". How funny that Mr

Kick should have thought about

the little book he gave me & only

about a month ago I lose the sight

of it when I was so down in the 

dumps about the Conscription

results. Now I will just open up

todays lesson & see what it

has to say. Oh isn't that funny.

In the 2nd paragraph it speaks of

anointing with oil. That is what

we have to do only the feet not the

head & in the same para it says

"The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost

shall teach you all things & bring all

things to your remembrances". I do

hope I am shewn a way to help

the poor boys & save them the

dreadful agony they have to suffer

I am so glad that Nana finds the

shawl useful. Tell her I am

wearing both pairs of her speckly

socks & they are far the warmest

I have & even then my feet get

chilly. You needn't feel out in tho

cold dear old Mum. If the Bairnies

are not like you they & I will just

fold you up in my heart & keep you

good & warm there. Gnl Walker had 

not to go through the Trenches owing

to the job I got him. If he had he

would have died for sure. I will

try & keep him out if it until

he is stronger. I saw in the Essendon

paper that Sergt Morrell whose

mother & sister you mentioned in

your letter to me a while back

had been killed at Pozieres. I am

longing to know if see you in your

white silk dearie pet. But more

so in the little blue . Euthymol

tooth paste is a pain here. Even

in the Dug out it gets frozen quite

hard & when you press on it it

squeezes it out the tube busts &

spreads all over the place. So 

dont send any more until

February at least. Thank you

very very much darling pet

for all the trouble you are

taking about the Depot. I had a

short note from Foza Flory telling me

about the Hampers. I will

see that some one gets them all

right. I will write & tell her

Did I tell you I was nearly captured

by the Germans the other night. I

wanted to visit the front line &

got a guide to take me there. He

got lost & took me all over the 

place. Our line is only shell

holes held by posts of 8 or 10 men

& not a continuous line. After

a bit I got anxious & thought we

we were getting mighty near the German

lines, So I stopped & asked him

if he knew for sure where he

was. He seemed very doubtful

but said if we kept over to the

left about 200 yards we would be

sure to strike our line. It was

pretty dark. I said "now look

here, I think we are out of our lines

"I will stop here & you can go

"on to where you think our men

"are & then come back to me."

So off he went. I waited for an

hour, & as he did not come

back, I made a bee line for home

& got there very wet & muddy about

2 am next morning. The next I

heard of my guide he was in

hospital with a bit of his foot

shoulder & arm damaged. It

appears that just as I thought

he had headed right into the

Germans. They were surprised

but threw Bombs at him. He ran

away but slipped & fell into a

shell hole. A regular shower

of Bombs fell around him but

the Germans didn't follow him

& he was able to get back to our lines.
Wasn't it a good job I got suspicious

Katie And what a gawk poor guide he was to

go & get lost like that. But the

[*P.S. I wrote you not to send me any more paper
but then lovely envelopes you sent me make me 
cast notes somewhere*]
country is terribly puzzling in the

dark owing to the dozens of trenches

which get in your way. Often you

cannot cross them when you reach

them and you go along & find a

crossing & before you know where you

are they have bent round & when you

do cross them it is ^so dark & you

cannot see anything that will

enable you to pick up your original

line of march. Well dearie

Dinner is waiting so I must

go. Millions of love & kisses dear
little sunshine lady. Dont worry
a bit about your silly letter. I've
forgotten it was ever written. After
all if you cant sort me sometimes
dear little wifelet, who can. I dont
take sorting a bit kindly from 

other people, but its Katies right to
bring me up the way she wants done.

Give the wee pets a kiss & love from your

very own Dida Don. 

France
7/12/16
My dear Katie,
Since last writing
to you I've been hard up with a touch
of Bronchitis. Nothing serious &
so far I've not had to go to Hospital
It came on just as we got out of
the Front Trenches & I've been
in bed pretty well ever since. If this
weather would get anyway decent
I would soon be all right but
the wretched fog & mist has

me half choked. If I have to
go to hospital I will send you
a cable. Geordie is all right
so far. Also Major Mason who
is now Temporary Lt Col., Bert
Layh is still going Strong &
Capt Scanlen. I have just had
a little note from Fred Tuff V.C.
He is coming over to France
in a few days to join the old 2^nd
They are camped quite near 

Henry Bennett a red haired
boy whom I think I took to see
you one day has just become
Brigadier of the 3^rd Brigade. He
came out as a Major under
Col Semmens. He was Major also
under Col McNichol & then finally
got ^command of the 6^th Bn & C.M.G. decoration
He is only about 33 years old
so has had a fine career &
will probably be able to stand
this climate, & do well in his
new job. I taught him all he
knew before he came to the war.
It is sure enough a young
man's war. I am sorry he did
not get the old 2^nd Brigade when
Forsyth left for Australia. I
wonder if you will meet Forsyth.
on his return home. Dr Gutteridge
is back in England. He is now Major
Gutteridge so is getting on. We go into 

the trenches again in a few days &
hope if all goes well to get into
Rest Billits about the 25^th inst
Xmas day; Oh that little gawk of
a French Girl Miss Renaud that
I sent the money to to buy your
silk lost the address & I had
to get her brother our Interpreter
man to write to her again.
This puts it out of all question.
You won't get them till long after
Xmas. Please 'direns Kit cause
I didn't send you any Xmas
box. How could the little people
know my photo in that old one
with the King. I think when I am
coming home you mustn't tell the wee
pets & see if they know me. My
boys have been having a dreadful
time in the cold & wet. Almost half
of them are sick & I am afraid
some of them also got frostbitten well