Letters from Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott to his sister-in-law, January 1917 - April 1919 - Part 6

P.S. Just heard that Bob Smith
has been recommended for a 
Bar to his D.S.O. . This will be
counted as equivalent to hi winning
the Order all over again if granted.
His lady will be heap [[ ^very ]] pleased if
it comes off. 
 

France
22/6/17
My dearest Baaby,
I have just got
three letters. One big heap fat one
Started on the 8^th April with two 
and finished a week later after
the parcels had come & two sperriky [[ ^little ]]
ones just 2^nd & 3^rd editions of the other one
as you call them dated 16^th & 17^th
April. I am delighted that the
parcels came along. I had
already told the poor French
Girl they had not come so
must let her Know at once
that they are all right.
What a time they took to get
out there! You needn’t mind
thanking me a bit Baaby dear
You pay it all back in your
love & care of the dear little
people. Whatever would they
do without you? But they
will love you all their lives & 
 

teach their bairnies to love you too
so they may make it up a bit that way.
Thanks very much for the big fat letter.
I had a very good time in
England. I went down to Salisbury
to see the recruit training there then
I stayed a day with Mr & Mrs
Scott at Hendon & then went up
to Wales. Mrs Edwards was
like a mother to me. I met her
son for the first time. He seemed
a nice boy. Your ribbons will be
out of date again now as I have to put
the D.S.O. one next after the C M.G.
& before the D.C.M. Very, very few have
both & no General that I Know
of. People often look at me very
curiously when they notice it. It
shows more than a V.C. or any other
ribbon that I was a private once &
they wonder how I am a General now
as they see I am not so very old.
I see there is a lot of talk about
Lt Col Dare. He was like Le Maistre
one of Dick Courtney’s officers. They
all [[ ^rather ]] made a mess of things out
here yet are being given good
jobs at home where they scuttled
Away to Safety. While 
 

I was away in England they
moved the Brigade about 20
miles further back & Bob Smiths
Brigade changed places with
mine. He has a clasp on his D.S.O. now
When he wears the ribbon this is Shewn
by a little rosette. on the ribbon but
when the medal itself is worn he
gets puts on a clasp [[ ab it ? ]] above the medal
itself.
We are suffering here for something
he did whilst here. The old lady
who owns this farm is a crotchetty
old body & wouldn’t let them or us
play on her tennis Court without
paying rent.
From what she says they agreed
to pay her rent – then a mare had
a little foal. It was one belonging to
the Brigade & as they couldn’t take
it they left it with her & told
her that would do for the
rent of the Tennis Court
So the old lady was offended & 
is very disagreeable to us.
Bob is a bit queer. He takes
All sorts of pains to be well 
 

with General Birdwood &
the Heads but I think he
always looks to his own
advantage & he is not well
liked at all though he is
a brave man & a good soldier
but The boys see through him &
I don’t think they would do
as much for him as they would
for me & [[ ^nor ]] would not [[ ^they ]] I think
have the same confidence in
him. He would I think sacrifice the
lot of them for an extra bar to his
medal without compunction.
But My boys are steadily
getting the best name of all
the Australians over here not
merely in the fighting but for
general behaviour in Camp
& etc. They think themselves
some Brigade too just as the
Old 7^th used to think of
themselves as a Battalion 
 

And their name is gradually
spreading. Tell Katie I
wasn’t really & truly offender’s
about the M^cLaren trouble. [[ ^but ]] I
[[ ^{I had to protest} ]] Couldn’t be really & truly ‘fended
with her after her giving me two
dear little people could I?
I like the little snaps of all the
bairnies in the Hammock though
poor Dhurach looks tired. I am
delighted to hear that the little
people are so fond of each other
The laddie is [[ ^looks ]] a dear little curly
headed rogue. Is the wee lady very
pretty now. Is she prettier than Judith
& what do you think of the laddie now.
It was bad luck poor Wilfred
Avery being Killed. I sent Katie
a letter which I thought a bit
“skitey” from him but I hear
since he was principally responsible
for the 19 mines we put in so
successfully under the Bosches
lines at Messines & blew 
 

the old Bosches all to glory
when the attack started.
He was Killed on Anzac
Day [[ ^{& as} ]] I hear just too soon
to get any reward for his
work. It was real bad luck.
This is a very pleasant place
The house is a funny old barn
but comfortable & it Stands high
up on a hill top. All round
the house except for a front garden
where there is a nice lot of Standard
roses there is a lovely grove
of Walnut trees. They have a
lot of green little [[ ^green ]] nuts on them. There
which promises [[ ^{to be} ]] a big crop later.
On the Slopes of the hill there
is a very large apple & pear
orchard all grass grown
but very heavily laden with
fruit.
Fancy [[ ^Imagine ]] you having so much
fruit you can give it away.
The oranges will be lovely 
 

France
21/7/17
Dear Baaby,
It seems just about
a million years since I heard from
you or Katie. I’s’nt it a pest the way
those old Submarines are sinking our
mails now. And still there is no
Conscription in Australia. I wonder what
that Blighter Hughes thinks we voted for
him for. Admiration for his genius or what.
I enclose a cutting from the Times
about my D.S.O. also Col Denehys. Mine
is a heap of “skite”. If you cut off the
first three words & the last two I think the
rest would be all right.
I am fed right up to the neck with
soldiering Baaby : It would just about
sicken you the way influence is worked
to get good jobs for fellows who are
not worth two pence. Our little sperick [[ ^General ]]
of a Jim Courtney misery is just about
the limit. I do wish M^cCay had not
gone. He at least was a man & a
soldier & did not work by underhand
means. He’s as slimy as an eel too.
you can pin him to nothing at all. 
Since we have not been fighting I’ve
very little news for you Baaby. The
fields are all blazing red with wild
Shirley poppies all over the shot torn
field & the graves of the dead – it is as if
their blood was shedding itself again 
 

And there are
Such hundreds & hundreds of graves in the
back country. It makes one sick at
heart to see them just little tiny
wooden crosses with an aluminium
name plate tacked to it until after
the war. But there are hundreds & hundreds
just marked “an unknown British Soldier”.
These are the great army of missing whose
bodies are [[ ^were ]] not recovered until they are [[ ^were ]]
unrecognizable. It is very sad that their
people will never Know what happened to
them at all.
In this house there is a dear wee laddie
just five. He has pretty rosy cheeks. He is a bit
shy & will only sit on my knee for
about a second & wont give me a “Tish” at all
He has a big toy woolly sheep that he rides on
I wish I had the [[ ^{my own} ]] dear wee laddie here
with me sometimes. Then I wouldn’t get
the blues thinking of the Speriks of Jim [[ ^{things that are done here} ]]
Courtney’s. This is just the same sort
of thing that goes on in the British Army
& then there are Mesopotamia & 
Dardanelles disasters to account for.
I am enclosing for Katie a picture of
the Gallipoli landing. It is the 1^st Brigade
landing about 10 oclock but you can
still see one dead man lying on the
Beach where he fell.
The little laddie who is in this house 
 

has a daddie who is away fighting the
old Germans So I specs [[ ^expect ]] he is saving all the
“Tishes” for [[ th ? ]] him when he comes home to
me him. Tell the little people about this
wee laddie who won’t give their Dida a Tish.
We have moved from the farmhouse I
spoke of in my last letters right out to
near [[ ^our ]] old front line so as not to damage
the crops [[ ^{during training} ]]. All the people here have come
back just a few weeks & they have a lot
of German prisoners [[ ^working ]] & also a lot of
french Civilian labourers too. The Villagers
hate the sight of these men they say they
are the Scum of Paris & every night
there is a row over there – they get drunk
& fight & a couple of nights back one hauled
out a long Knife and was going to stick the
another with it. Madam here is very
offended with them because they start rowing
sometimes about 4 o’clock & wake her up.
She says they are “Apaches” which as far as
I can make out means a Paris “Collingwood
larrikins” only they are worse than the very 
worst of our “pushes” a bright crowd
apparently & they look it.
Well Baaby dear this is just about
all the news this time. Heaps of
pogues from Dida.
P.S. Tell the dear wee people that Dida [[ ^{I am} ]]
is just counting all the days till he sees
them again.