Letters from David Gerald Evans to his family, 1916 - Part 13

France
26-12- 16
My dear Father

Your letter dated

29-10-16 arrived some days ago, when

I was in the front line. Since then

we have come back a bit and 

spent Christmas day in comparative

comfort, as we had a turkey & plum

pudding, and a dry camp with a

fire, so could not wish for more -

Everything seems to be going satisfactory

when you wrote, hope they continue

to do so - you will be in the middle

of harvest now and will be fairly

busy being so shorthanded -

I received several papers this morning

with three local papers amongst them - 

Some of the excuses for exemption are

rather funny I could not help 

laughing at Dan Byrne saying he was

supporting his mother and sisters - 

The papers seem to be full of the

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conscription business, and it seems

remarkable that it should have been

rejected with all the papers unanamously

in favour of it - Parker Moloney should

be put out on his head at the 

next election, but don't suppose he

will be -  I would like to have the

crawler here, he would soon find out

if men were wanted or not

I saw Austin Mahoney today & have

seen Cliff Anderson several times.

I wonder what the result of all this 

peace talk will be? I don't think

England likely to consider peace at

present, as they could hardly be

very favourable to her under the 

present circumstances.

I see poor old Dan Slater came to

a sad end. Dan didnt want to

die in his bed, but it was hardly

in "full cry" unless he as fishing.

I'm writing to Mother & Minnie

by this mail also sent a cable which

was despatched from London on 16-12-16.

Have not heard from Ken lately - 

Must stop now with love to all

Your loving son

Gerald

[[D.Y. Wans.]]

See Original Document

Photo of 2 women

almost [[?]] Minnie &

Eleanor Lucy Evans at Redcamp

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the firing line I hope you

will always stick up for him

especially when the war is over, he

will want it.-

The stretcher bearers are wonderful

the work they do.

The weather has been lovely

lately quite warm

How are my horses getting on

I have been riding a bit

lately and quite enjoyed it

I will send another cable

soon as the other may not

reach you & I will probably

be reported wounded but I am

quite alright and may get

some promotion out of it.

I must stop now with

love to all

Your loving brother

Gerald

April 1^st 1916

My dear Mother,

I wrote to father and posted it last 

night in Marseilles so you

should get both these letters

together.

We arrived quite safely last 

night & managed to dodge

the Torpedoes, the Captain

never left the bridge all the

way from Alexandria We left

on Monday & arrived here

on Friday.

This is the prettiest port I

have seen yet we got in

about 4PM & passed the

Notre Dame de Armeniers

right up on a hill & as

we came into the harbour