Letters from William George Blaskett to his family, 1915-1916 - Part 15

The battalion.

Now dear Mother I will

close this tale of woe to 

with fondest love to you
all from your loving

son 

Will

PS Parcels not yet to

hand. Am afraid I

shall miss a few letters 

from you now being

away from the

battalion.

19-5-16

1st A.S.H.

Ismailia

21.5.16

My dearest Mother

It is only a few

days ago since last I wrote you

but that letter was some days

overdue. Unfortunately I was

not able to write last Sunday. I was

having rather a rough time with

the beastly wound. It is much

better now. The poisoning is

practically all out.

I am going to ask

the doctor to let me out in a few

days so that I can go away

with the Battalion. Capt Roberts

our OC is a great chap & told 

me even if I couldnt use my

hand for some time I was to

get back as soon as there was

no risk attached. So I'm going 

2

to try my "blarney" on the

doc. In one way I am glad 

it has happened. I was reading

the other day about a 

lad, who before he went into 

action was not afraid, but

was "afraid of being afraid". That's

exactly how so many of us felt.

Now I know my nerves are 

good & I feel ^more confident than 

before. We were down in the

trenches on the Sinai Peninsula

since beginning of April

& I think it did us all good.

We got used to trenches

& the fact that Johnnie Turk

was pretty close made things 

exciting. Johnnie was very

wary however & didnt attack 

in any force.

3
I have been reading a very
nice book since I have been

here, entitled "The Broken Halo"

by Florence L Barclay. If you

get a chance, read it. In fact, I 

think you had better keep 

some money out of my next 

pay & buy it, as a present 

from me. Will you do this?

I'm sure you will enjoy the book.

How are Charlie & dad? 

Both keeping well? Have

had no letter from you 

lately. Suppose there's a batch

for me with the Battalion.

Did you hear about the 9^th 

Light Horse making a raid 

on a Turkish well. Its was

South Aust. boys in it & they

were very successful.

The well was at the place

where Moses struck the rock.

There is plenty of water there,

even today. It was about 

40 miles from there where 

I was wounded.

Now dear Mother, how are

you keeping. I hope your

health is good, & that you're

not worrying too much. Dont 

worry about me I'm bound

to turn up again Right as 

the bank.  I hope to be able 

to tell you next time I 

write, that I'm on my way

to F____.

Now I must close (as I have 

run out of paper) with fondest love

to you all, & trust me I shall 

soon be back with you safe & sound.

Your loving son

Will

28th May 1916

Ismailia

My dearest Mother,

Please notice the date on the 

head of this letter. Read, mark, learn &c, for I

would have you know that on that date 

some years ago was born the best mother

any boys ever had (also note she is infallible, like the Pope). I am not at liberty

to mention her name (owing to the Censor) but

when I tell you her initials are E.B. you

might guess who it is. Anyway, joking apart,

Mother, I am sure I need not say how

much I wish you good luck & many many

years of happy life. It has brought me 

luck today, for there was some difficulty

about me leaving here to join the battalion

as a special ^order has come out that men in

hospital now are to go back to base details

which very likely would mean having to 

join another battalion altogether ^& possibly becoming private. You can

be sure I was pretty miserable at hearing

this, but today Dr Powell came round,

& said he had a letter from the CO of

the 48^th Bn & I was to go back to them.

No doubt Bill is at the bottom of it,

he's a sport & so is Capt Roberts our

Company Officer So, either tomorrow or Tuesday

I am to be sent to the 48th again. Col Powell

told me, that in the letter they said it didnt 

matter if my hand wasn't quite right so long

as there wasn't any risk in coming out, as

they could find me clerical work to do 

for a while. The hand is healing splendidly

- owing to the good treatment & my beastly

strong constitution, dontcherknow. So there 

is no risk whatever although in 

the ordinary course of events I should

not have been discharged for some days.

I wonder what you are doing as I 

write this?  It is just 1 pm so would 

be about 8.30 with you. You would

be back from church & perhaps talking

off your boy so faraway. It is nice to

know that you are thought of & prayed

about. It keeps one cheerful.

The doctors & nurses here are splendid.

Sister Rees in our ward is splendid. She

reminds me of you, although she is not

very much like you. She is older than

most of the sisters & consequently more

(see back of page 1)

3

sensible. She ^has treated me splendidly while I

have been here & she's very clever. When I

came in my hand was swollen up with 

the poisoning & was pretty painful I can 

tell you, but what a change it was

after the way the A.A.M.C orderlies dressed 

it I could hardly feel her do it whereas

in the Field Ambulance I went through

agony every time it was dressed. All the

sisters are kind, but this one was exceptional

something like you; a little bit short tempered

sometimes, also something like ____  but 

there, you'll box my ears when I come

back if I talk like that.

They tell me the names of the men

in this hospital go into the Casualty

Lists, so I suppose I'm reported wounded.

I hope not, anyway, as I would not 

like you to worry about it at all.

About parcels & papers, please dont

send any more, they never arrive; spend

4

the money on yourself, mother. I'm afraid 

some of these parcels never leave Australia.

I wouldn't mind if some fellow in the 

same circumstances as myself got the things

but I do object to coldfooted shirkers 

getting them.

I am hoping the war will see an

end this year for many reasons, but especially

so Charlie won't be old enough to

come. Not that I'm unpatriotic, if I 

was I wouldn't be here, but I dont

want Charlie to have to go through what

I have already gone through & what yet

lies before us. One of us is quite enough. I

have seen so many young boys of his

age here, crack up on the hard work

& the not very high class food. They may

have looked big & strong when they enlisted

but they are not fully developed enough

to stand what is required of them. Now

dearest mother, I must finish this letter with

fondest love to dear old dad, & Charlie & your

dear self. From your ever loving  wounded hero

Will