Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, May 1917 - December 1917 - Part 11

                                                France

                                                8/9/17

My dearest Katie

              Today is a lovely bright

day again. Yesterday there was a 

thick fog for a time but then cleared

The day previous it was close &

sultry & finished with a terrific

thunderstorm. A barn near here

was struck by lightning & burned

to the ground. Some of my boys did 

good work getting machinery & stuff

out of the place. Two pigs were in

a sty & the lightning stunned them.

They were rescued just in time

their tails were just starting to

sizzle. They recovered afterwards.

   Yesterday Genl Plumer came 

round. He is a funny little fat

red faced man very white hair &

moustache but is a good general

He said he was pleased with my

boys. They are all God King fit & 

well. Eric Walker has gone to the

Flying Corps I expect soon we

will be in for a big fight one of the

worst we have ever had. Quite when

  it will come one cannot tell. The

One would not mind if the going were

good but there is such an awful

sense of helplessness when it is all

slush & mud. I hate sending my

boys into a fight like that. It

does not seem to give them a fair

fighting chance at all. In the

spring when we advanced & got

out of that awful mud everybody

revived but from what I hear this 

place where they are fighting now

is worse than the Some ^Somme ever was

in the way of mud. The water 

there dried quickly when the

rain stopped. Here the water 

level is right on the surface

like a [[?]] & even in summer

was never dry.

   Geordie is away on leave I think

He was to go last Tuesday.

     I sent Johnny Avery's brother ^Reg to a school

recently but he did very badly. I don't

know whether I can do much for

him now. If he xxxxx that work     

   it is no use promoting him . I've

given him his chance.

    Well Katie love there not a lot of

news to tell you. Its rather

wearisome here & I wish I was 

home with you & the wee pets I never

feel too well somehow these days. I've

never been really ^felt first class since

last winter & the work seems a great

trouble to me.

   I would just lie down 

& rest my head in your lap & hear

you talk to me. It would be

just such a lovely rest.

    No more letters yet. I am longing

to hear more about our wee people.

I hope they will try to write me each a

little letter soon.

    Tell them Dida is always thinking

about them & wants all the time to come

home to see them & to play little games

with them.

   Bye now & millions of love & kisses

from your very own Dida Da.

We are still in the same place.

                                          France Belgium

                                           19th Sept 1917

My dear old Katie love,

        I have two dear sweet 

loving letters to thank you for. One 

a great big fat one dated the 1^st July

& finished on the 7^th & 8^th July. Your prayers

for warmer weather must have been heard

because at this time last year we were

just going into the Somme Battle

it was bitterly cold with a hard

white frost - today it is quite sultry.

     You will see we have moved & the war

of the Guns are once again like the

waves of the sea & at night the sky is

lightened once again as of wild flashes

of sheet lightning like bloodstained

fingers beckoning us once again to

the slaughter.

    As Harry Auigar has been [[?]]

about your Aida has he? Well you poor

old darling you do need someone to

cheer you up a bit you know. I heard

yesterday that it is unlikely that Col

Layh will be fit again for active service

owing to his heart trouble. He himself

expects to be quite better in a few months

Sept 1917

He will probably be appointed to the

Command f the Training Battn at

the Base & Col Jackman will get

some other job or be sent back to

Australia. Col Alaiz & Col Marshall

have both been confirmed in their job

& are doing very well. Neil Freeman

Mrs Coleman nephew has done splendidly

at the Course I sent him to at

Aldershot. They were so please

with him that they wanted him to

take a job as Instructor but he

would not take it on. I quite

agree with you about Recruiting I would

not like you to ask anyone to go. I

seem to have lost another letter of yours

where you told me of the arrival of Violets

baby - I heard it first from Reg Avery.

    It was lovely getting so much news of

the wee people & the way they are getting on

at school. It was lovely I am glad that all

those photos got home safely. They

cost a good bit but if people were

pleased with them it doesn't matter.

I am glad you saw Dick Coster. He

doesn't write very often & always apologises.

because he says he knows I will answer

him & he thinks that must be a great

bother to me at times. I certain have a 

number of letters to write but i write very quikcly

(if badly) & they soon get done

Fancy that wee rogue of a laddie in my

stretcher - but I am glad he has a bed of his

own. It is not good for wee people to sleep

with grown ups even to keep them warm

You ask the laddies if he'll give the stretcher 

back to me when I come home. And so

they are going to bring that little Blackie

to Melbourne, are they? I suppose Fogies

will adopt her eventually. Capt Legge is 

leaving me again. He is being promoted

to Major. I think he will do well.

I posted you 4 photos of Capt Wrigley &

Major Swift last week. I hope they

reach you safely. Tell the wee people I

wont mind a bit if they spell the words

wrong but I would like a teeny tiny

letter from them sometimes with Mum's.

I see then I haven't any little people

except them in all the world & I like their

little letters such a lot. The rocks &

diary & things haven't come along yet

I haven't seen anything of Jacky boy yet

or Bob [[?]] or anybody outside my

Brigade for ages. I had a letter from

Mrs Edwards this morning. I had

a sort of Royal Warrant sent me

about conferring formally the Order of

The G.M.G. on me. I asked Geordie to take

it over to England & post it to Mrs

Edwards to keep for me. She recognized

his writing & wrote to Bernes Hotel

asking him to come up & he did so

she says he looks much better

than he did when he was up before. She

is a kind lady isn't she to want us to

come up all the time. Your wee ^other letter

was dated the 10^th July just after this

one but just as loving & sweet as ever. I 

don't think it is ^at all necessary ^for the Comfort fund to send 

money at the rate of £100 a month at 

all. The men are well fed & well looked

after on the whole. It is only small

things like socks & so on that they

need really & we could only get them

at much higher cost over here but nearly

as good. I am still wearing your ^the old

speckly socks & they are just about as

good as ever though the first ones came

but years ago. What do you think of that

for yourself dear old lady. Geordie

met Ken McLeod in London recently

Apparently Ken has had leave too.

     I have just got news through

which looks as though we may

be wanted in a hurry dearie

so I will close up this letter.

Tell Barby ^Belle I had her little letter &

I am glad the photos came. If

we are wanted I expect it will be a

day or two before I can answer the

letter if I am still going. Meantime

God be with you my dear little old

lady.

    Millions & millions of love &

kisses for you &b the wee bairnies

from your very own Didda Doo.

                                            Belgium

                                             2/10/17

My dearest darling Katie,

          I got two letters 

from you during the past two days or so

& the little letters from the pets but I am

very sad still. Poor old Geordie. I saw 

him dead so white & rigid & pale &

his loved ones left behind him.

And we have buried him so

far from home amongst strangers

to him. I am glad I was able to

bring his body back from the Shell

tran zone to a little cemetery

where the grass was green & mowed

& we found the valleys over his head

& laid him in the ground with the union

Jack lying over him & our great

guns still roaring in the distance.

     Poor Lyn & poor little darling

Jacquelyn. You must tell her

bairnies to love them both well.

Tell the little people that the

horrid old Germans came

on in thousands & kill Dida

& his soldiers because we broke

their wall down & tried to catch