Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his family, January 1918 - May 1918 - Part 9

rapscallion 
 

much interfering. It might
lead to trouble. He has been
passed as fit for General
Service again. The heart has
made a splendid recovery &
got back to normal size again
but is still weak. However
as he had not to do heavy
work be was passed fit.
Capt Ackeroyd has been
doing Physical exercises
& had his arm massaged
& it has so far progressed
that he also has been passed
as fit once again. Of course
his right arm will ^always still be
shorter than the other but
that is better than having a
useless right arm like poor
old Frank Hewitt who writes
to me still & is always wishing
he was back with us although
he is still suffing pain from
it. Our raids were very 
 

successful & Genl Birdwood
& Genl Plumer both wired
me congratulations over
it. We got 18 prisoners
altogether & Killed a heap
of Bosches. We had two men
Killed most unfortunately
by back bursts of our own
shells, otherwise the half
dozen ^who were wounded were
only slightly hurt.
Well darling pet I hear
the mail is closing so Ill stop
now. We are having very nice
weather indeed just at present
I was at church to day (we came
out of the line the day before yesterday)
in a Slate School house that
was not quite all ruins &
the Silly old Bosche started
to shell the place with a big
long range gun – It was going
over us & bursting on the hill beyond
but so xclose over us that we all
[*felt a bit inclined to bob our heads as each ^one went screeching
over us, but the parson preached a good sermon all the same
Bye dearie pet millions of love & tishes from Dida*] 
 

Belgium
17/3/18
My own dear little pet lady Dhurach
I have just had
your letter. My word - you
did astonish your old Dida
this time. I never Knew my
little pet could write such
a big fat grown up letter as
that. It delighted me
but I was a little bit sad
too because I realized that
my little pet girlie who used ^to like
to do "gallopy” on my Knee &
used to pull grass & throw all
over me is growing up to be
a big girlie who will soon write
better letters than her Dida.
but wont be able to play baby games with him
But never mind, you will love
me just the same & be my pet
lady still wont you? And we
will find other games to play.
I am sorry though to have 
 

been so long away & to
have missed all the ^lovely fun we
could have had together.
But it had to be so because
the horrid old Kaiser wants to
Kill all the little French
& Belgian Babies & take all
their houses & everything & we
must stop them from doing
it. It was nice for poor
Nana to go up & see Mum &
her Gillie Bheg. I am so glad
the lad was pleased to see her.
That would make poor Nana happy
You & the lad must be so good
to Nana that she will forget
to be sorry about Jacky boy
not being able to come back.
I am just delighted to hear
about you polishing the spoons
& forks for Dear.
I used to polish them 
 

sometimes for mum when
she was tired. It wasnt
much of a job ^for me to do but its nice to
be able to do something for your
own people to make them happy.
But it is a lot for a wee girlie to do & I am pleased.
Isn't dear, good to come &
live with Mum & you & to do
all the work she does for you
all ? But I Know you will pay
her for it by loving her always
& being good & gentle to her.
And dear old Mum. Isn't
she just the best in all the world.
She is very sad & weary because
Dida has been so long away.
so my dalin darlings wee pets
must give her all the more
loves & tishes for that & be very
good always.
There isn't that a lot I've
given my pet to do for me
but I am sure she will do it
to please & comfort Dida who
is so far away & lonely for 
 

all his pets. It was nice to
see the little fishes so tame.
That shows the boy must be
Very good to them always.
It was lovely to be able to
surprise Mum & Dear ^the lad like
that xxxx wasn't it. Mr Gilpin
is very good. Did you thank
him very nicely for the lovely
ride darling ? I was pleased
to hear about you entertaining
the little McLennon's. Mum
told me you poured out the tea
& waited on them so nicely. That
was just splendid.
It is nice & bright & sunny
here today & one of our bands
is playing to the men outside.
We are out of the Trenches for a
little rest today. but a few
big shells are coming over. One
hit the Ambulance Store just now &
tumbled all the Kits about & blew
an officer out of bed & slightly wounded
one man but did no more hurt.
None of the others - about 50 came over - hurt
anyone at all - which was nice - but they are
scary old things they make such a horrid noise.
[*Goodbye now my dear pet Girlie. God bless & Keep you safe
for me. You are a dear wee pet. the best in all the world for Dida.
Heaps of love & tishes from your own Dida.*] 
 

Belgium
19/3/18
My dear Katie,
I had another wee letter
from you dated the 13^rd January. Its
Very funny how the letters come It was
just a wee sperrik ^one. Frank Fischer
came to see me yesterday. He looks
splendid & is getting on Very well
indeed. Sent his love to you. He is
quite fat tell - Hugo. In this letter
you were telling me about the lad playing
with the Pircini peoples Kiddies.
I am glad he is not too shy to play
with other Kiddies.
Tell the lad I was pleased he
was nice to dear Nana when she came
to see her Gillie Bheg. I was pleased to
hear too that Dhurach was able to look
after the McLennan children when
they called – like a little lady –
Ask her will she like to pour out
my tea & look after me when I
come home.
It is very wet again today. I am
glad my boys are out of the Trenches
Genl Plumer who was away in
Italy for some months is back in
 

Command of us
20/3/19
I Had to stop last night dearie. This morning
is very cold & there is a dense fog –. Consequently
there is absolute quiet all along the
line. Fog is worse than darkness for Artillery.
At night they can tell by the flash of
their shells where they are falling but
fog blots out everything. I enclose a
Card sent me by one of the Best of
my boys. We were asked to submit men
names of officers for specially dangerous
jobs. Two of mine were chosen & they
have gone off somewhere. This p.card
was posted as they went through Italy
but I don't think they were stopping
there. I rather think it was to go out
& help the Armenians & others who have
been deserted by the Turks Russians
& ^are being massacred by the returning
Turks. They will probably get a bad
time if they should be captured by
the Turks themselves. They were
both fine boys.
Bye darling loving pet. I am ^so glad
you got my letter ^at last telling all about poor
old Jacky boy. I thought it must have gone
down. Heaps of love & tishes from your very own
Dida Don 
 

Belgium
22/3/19
My dearest Katie love,
I have received two parcels
from you. One had just a nice pair of
Speckly socks in it. Then came another
one with some very nice envelopes which
I was so glad to get because the ones
we get here are sperriks ^poor things & wont gum
up properly at all. In the parcel also
was a diary book for me. Yesterday
I had just finished the Big fat one.
Baaby ^Belle sent me ^so long ago. It lasted
from 5^th Nov 1916 when we were down
on the Somme first until yesterday.
I will send it home at first opportunity
I am therefore only now starting on the
first of the smaller ones. So do not send
any more until I tell you I have
finished that one. When I reach the end
of it I can let you Know & I will
have this one that has just arrived to
go on with while you are getting
me another one. Yesterday the Bosche
made Big attacks along the front
He has recaptured Bullecourt
& Lagnicourt which cost so many
of our Australian boys their lives
to take. It is heartbreaking to