Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, April 1915 - December 1916 - Part 12

in the name “Douglas” & in the Bn. Probably
it was G.H. Anderson of the 57^th Bn
that she meant. I have sent to Col
Duigan to ask about young Bray.
When I hear if he is still with them
I will send for him & ask him about
his letters. It is very strange indeed
Tell his people to register one to
him & try that or they can put it
in an outside cover adressed to
me. Of course dozens of letters as
you Know go astray particularly
when men have been wounded or sick
& get to Hospital. These men should
all write to the P.O. at the Base at
Horseferry Road London giving the
Hospital where they are. There used
to be forms in the hospitals ready for you
to fill in in my time but of course there
are dozens of poor fellows who are too
ill to Know what to do or to do it if they
were told. I always notified them but even
then as you Know for some reason some
of my letters were returned to you. Why heavens 
 

alone Knows but every time I have been
sick or wounded some Kind friend
has spread the yarn that I am dead or
gone home or something equally silly.
When Violet was at home a friend of hers
in. London heard that I had been Killed
or wounded & promptly wired it to
Violet who got a great fright – did it
without enquiring first at the Base
Office & had Violet careering round to
the War Office or somewhere to find out about
me. It was of course poor Major Elliott of the
60^th Battn A Splendid boy who was Killed
Had he lived I feel sure he would have
made a “Kitchener. He was only 22
but the whole Regiment including poor
old Geoff M^cCrae looked up at [[ ^to ]] him
as a real military Genius. The day
before the Battle I thought it such a
pity to risk this boys life in what I
regarded as a hopeless thing from the
beginning that I took him into my
office to help the Brigade Major as
an excuse to Keep him out of the fight 
 

but poor [[ ^G ]] feoff came & begged so hard
to get him back – that he would be of
such immense assistance to him
& Elliott himself was anxious to go
So at last with great reluctance I
let him go – as it proved to his death.
What a little Smooger that Dhurach is
telling me any thing [[ ^{in the way of presents} ]] from me would be
just the best thing in all the world for her
& how different to the laddie. He’s looks
a dear wee chap in the photo – where he is
serious for once but poor little Dhurach looks
very sad. Rory says. “She looks so
serious that it makes you feel you must
make her smile – and [[ but ]] when you do you
get a great reward.” Thats a very nice
compliment for the little lady dont you
think. I hope to see Jacky boy again
I hear their Division is to relieve ours
soon just as it did the last time we
were in the line. You dont Know nuffin [[ ^“nuffin” ]]
about it you see So you shouldnt form
any opinion about “Bobbie” Smith as
you call him. Is the laddie getting more 
 

of a chin than he used to have. His
pictures show it coming out like
Dhuracks But it doesn’t seem to
matter. He seems just about sure
to get his own way chin or no chin.
& my own is not so big as all that but I
seem to get there somehow. Still I would
like to see the laddies come out like little
Dhurach’s. I havent got any cable yet so
I suppose you are still in the same house
I don’t think it would be wise to buy
a house just now. There is going to be some
very very hard times in my opinion
after the war & some poor beggars will
have to sell their homes up. This will tend
to bring property down in price in my
opinion & people buying or building now
will lose money. I may be wrong but that
is what I think. Also if we can get the Trustees
Debt paid off altogether then I am sure
they would lend me the same amount
to buy a house which they could take
a mortgage on. So we must try & save
up good & get all that paid off before the 
 

end of the war. It would be lovely [[ ^fine ]] if we could
then buy a house of our own or build one.
I was very sad to hear of the death of two
of my old Essendon Boys. One was Charlie
Cowan. I think I told you about him at the
landing. He had a wonderful escape. he got in
front of a Turk Machine gun at the landing
got one bullet through his cheek & one through
his ear. He dropped down pretty quick
behind a little rise of earth but it wasnt
quite high enough & one shoulder of his
tunic but fortunately not part of his body
showed just over the top & the Turk evidently
could see this because he literally shaved
it off with bullets & left a big hole in the
jacket just over the point of the shoulder.
That was a wonderfully narrow escape. Well
I took him & Ken Walker back with me to the
Peninsula & made Ken an Officer & Cowan who
was a L/Cpl. a Sergt. Cowan went right through
then Lone Pine & all & after coming to France
he also was made a Lieut & just as in
Ken’s Case he was Killed within two or
three weeks after he got his Commission 
 

Also Ken was Killed trying to rescue
some men buried by a Shell. Cowan was
coming out of the Trenches when another
officer who was following out behind
him was shot through the foot & fell
Cowan ran back to him & was also shot.
Also poor Ken was shot through the
Stomach – Cowan was also shot through
the Stomach - the only difference
was that Ken was hit with a bit of
shell [[ ^shrapnel ]] & Cowan with a machine gun
bullet. Ken also had a very narrow
escape at the landing as a bullet hit him
on the top of the head but only cut through
the flesh & Skin not the bone but deluged
him from top to toe in his own blood evidently
some vein or small artery had been cut. Both
lived in Essendon too. Isn’t it a strange
parallel. The other was a boy named
George Ball. If he had only had any
education he would have been a fine officer
He was absolutely fearless I recommended
him for splendid work on Lone Pine &
he got a D.C.M. In fact he was always 
 

doing some reckless job & If I could
have seen any hope of him being a success
as [[ ^an ]] officer I would have promoted him
but he could hardly write the simplest
messages correctly in English. I should
have said that his mother was a Russian Lady
& he had lived almost all his life in Russia
before they came to Australia. His father of course
was English but they always spoke Russian
whilst in Russia so poor George was always
in difficulties with his English. Well I left
the 7^th & poor George didn’t get on at all well
with Col Jess who took over from him [[ ^me ]].. George
was fond of his tot of rum or whisky whichever
was going & used to get three sheets in the wind but
he was such a splendid chap that I always
shut my eyes hard when he was like this &
never ever sorted him. However Jess took
notice & punished him several times & took his
Sergeants stripes away. Well then they had
the Pozieres fight & he did magnificent
work there so they gave him st his
Stripes back. Then they went to Ypres &
in a little attack there George was like 
 

one of the old Palladins or invincible
heroes. He rushed at a German officer
who fired is pistol right in George’s face
but somehow missed. George Knocked him
down & grafted his pistol & shot the
officer dead. Other Germans rushed at
him & alone he shot or bayoneted 5 or 6 of
them & the boys all spoke of his wonderful
bravery & [[ ^so ]] George was recommeded for the V.C
It was refused but they gave him a bar to
his D.C.M.  i e when you have one D.C.M. &
do something to entitle you to another one
they don’t actually give you another medal
but put a bar on the old ribbon. It is the same
with the V.C. They say George was disappointed
that he didnt get the V.C & when they got back
into Billets he got one or two many
& was under arrest when I saw him just
as we were leaving the line last time. I
went over & asked Jess couldn’t he let
him off in View of his services but from
what I gather Ball had been a bit
Cheeky. I may say - Jess is not liked
much & the boys comment a lot on the fact
that they never see him up in the firing 
 

line having a shot himself like (Old
Pompey  i e me) used to do. I fancy
Bull being shee [[ ^drunk ]] had said something of this
when first brought up to the Colonel. So anyhow
he refused. I then sent a message to Ball
asking him if he would like a transfer
to my Brigade. Ball was delighted &
said he would apply at once. He did so
but Jess refused again. After this they
went into the line & while up there
a piece of shell went right through
his [[ ^George’s ]] head & Killed him instantly.
The boys were very sad at his loss &
in spite of the dreadful labor of carrying
a big man through the mud under fire
they asked permission (instead of
burying him on the spot or what is often
done just throwing the body out of the
trench to rot) to carry him back to the
rear. They did this & made a nice
grave & fixed up a neat wooden
Cross to mark his last resting place
I wish I Knew his poor old mothers
address so that I could write to her 
 

It would never have done to have made him
an officer because he would be certain
sooner or later to get tight & disgrace
himself & the Regiment but also his
want of Knowledge of English was fatal.
as officers have to write reports &
make out returns & all sorts of things
He was born hundreds of years too late
He would have shone in the old days of
battle axe & sword fighting. You could
imagine him doing what one of the Old
Knights is said to have done. – Feeling
his wound was mortal he rushed into
the thickest fighting hewing down everyone
saying he would clear himself a space
in which to die & then expiring in
triumph on the heap of his own slain.
Its a queer world Baaby isn’t it that all
these brave boys should have to die all
in the flower of their youth & strength
because a half mad idiot of a Kaiser
went on the rampage.
Well Baaby dear I’m [[ e ]] [[ ^been ]] doing a
drefful skite [[ ^{about the boys} ]]. You dont half deserve