Lieutenant Colonel William McKenzie, MC, OBE - letters - 1915 - Part 3

I am sending a short 

summary of the boat trip

seeing you didn't get the copy

Read to the boys & carefully

preserve.

[*PR84/150(3)

Australian War 

Memorial*]

The Salvation Army

Chaplain Expeditionary Forces

Jany 24^th 1915

Gordon McKenzie

Melbourne

My Dear son Gordon

How are

you getting along & how are

you behaving yourself. How are

you progressing with your

Piano playing, your elocution

your school lessons, and last 

but not least your soul. Are

you saved now & do you love Jesus

this is a fine list of questions to

answer in your next letter to

me which I hope you will write

me at once, Don't be lazy

in doing so, please.

So you have shifted down to

Melbourne again where are   

you living & what school do

you go to? I wonder where
your Junior Corps is & if

you will become a good worker

there & do your verses well.

I suppose you are growing like 

a mushroom & I'll get quite a 

shock when I get back to Aust

2

when I see a three giants come to meet me at

the wharf when the boat comes in. It's now

4 months ago since I saw you all at Bendigo.

How do you like the Postcards I am

sending you? Some of them "crackeys"

& take the shine out of the Australians. What

do you think of my photo on the Camel by
the Sphinx? If you were here there would 

be hundreds of donkeys to choose from

for a ride & Arab ponies too, Camels

Buffaloes, Mules & Men.

I hope you are keeping good, cheering Mother

loving Mavis & just as happy as you 

ought to be. I must close now

with fondest love to all 

From your affectionate Father

W McKenzie

THE SALVATION ARMY.

Mena Egypt

Jany 31^st 1915

My Darling Sweetheart, 

Just a line of greetings

this monday morning before the mail closes

I hope you & the children are real well

& have ere this got nicely settled at Camberwell

where I hope you'll have a 

really good time. I got a letter from

the Commn on Satdy evening saying a 

house had been taken for you at

this place between Hawthorn and 

Camberwell Corps.

I am in good form this evening, I

had a fine day yesterday & some

more conversions, 2 are coming

along to my tent on Tuesday night

to get converted. I had a fine meeting 

last night & [[scored?]] for Salvation.

the men appreciate the hard hitting

facts about their sin & the remedy

I am even shortly hearing from 

both Officers & men some most

flattering remarks re my work.

For instance I even heard [[a?]]

THE SALVATION ARMY.

2

passed thro' the Divisional Road guard

(to prevent the exit of men without passes)

say to one another after I had passed

thro' - that big bloke's a Chaplain. Yes
said another & he's the best Chaplain

of the whole bloomin' bunch of them

"He always has a cheery greeting for us.

Another of the men last night, said

to me, "You're the most popular man

in the regiment, everybody likes you

even the R.Cs. think & say that you

are a 'Ding Donger'" so eventually

I should help some.

I'm just off to town to meet Adjt

Martin & do some shopping. I 

got one of my uniform coats & 

trousers a bit burned on Friday

& had to get a new suit. It occured

in a motor car.

Loves, hugs & kisses to all. Greetings

to all enquirens

Yours as ever

Father

-oxxoxxooxoxoxoxo

for Mavis

THE SALVATION ARMY.

Egypt 

Feby 25^th 1915

My Darling Daughter Mavis

What a lovely letter

that was that you wrote me from

Mentone where you were paddling

in the sea & got your back

& shoulders burned with the sun.

I guess you are all right now.

What a lovely time you had too.

My! I would have liked to have

been there with Mother & you

& the boys, what fun we could have.

It made me feel very happy

to hear that you are saved and 

love Jesus, & that you pray and

ask Him to bless & keep Dadda

every night. He answers your

prayer & helps me such a lot.

One man came & got saved on

Satdy night in my tent and another

came and got saved on Sunday night

so surely Jesus is helping me to

work for Him, a lot more due soon

coming to be saved, so pray a lot &

ask Jesus to help me more & more

March 3^rd 1915

My Darling Wife

I hope you have

ere this got nicely settled in your

home & everything into shipshape

Summer will be over & Autumn

now coming on with its cool 

nights, shortening days, yellow

leaves & pleasant prospects.

I am sure you will fill your

days with helpful happy deeds

& strive to make Camberwell

all the better for your presence.

No doubt you'll have some good

meetings & help to keep things

moving in the right direction.

No doubt you'll also have a

class in the Y. R. Corps. I can

guess you'll have some real

good times with them all.

I am glad to know that our

Gordon & Gord'n Hay are Cobbers

no doubt they'll enforce themselves

together. All the others

will no doubt find Chums

& feel thoroughly at home speedily.

The Salvation Army

Chaplain Expeditionary Forces

2

It's  wonderful how speedily the children

can adjust themselves to new condtns.

I suppose Mavis has made quite a
few fast friends already. Try and
give the Fraser family a look in
as early as possible, give them my 

kind regards.
I am pleased to say that I am keeping

fairly well, my vaccination is just

about right, but my cough is awfully

trying still, however, it is passing

with the aid of Eucalyptus.
I had quite an experience yesterday.

I was conducting the Regimental
Horses (66 in number to the watering
parade (a mile away) I was so

riding at the head of a Column
along the road, on which we

met a wagon with a load of

wood at this my horse shied

& tried to bolt just then a tram

came and that nearly scared

him out of his wits & so
hesitated gallantly performing
& plating his legs in this performance
he fell with me on his

The Salvation Army

Chaplain Expeditionary Forces

3

right side on the hard road and
rolled over. Fortunately, I 
was too quick for him & was
off & out of the way in a
jiffy & so escaped with only a

bruised leg & arm I never
let go the horse. All who saw
it & they were many reckoned

it a smart bit of horsemanship

& I escaped lucky. During

this performance the others
horses stampeded & scattered

all over the place. It was a

regular circus for a bit

& remounted immediately and
gathered up my forces and

proceeded to ride to the water
troughs, All the riders

now eye me as a capable

horseman. There have been
many horse accidents here
some very bad ones too. I take
the watering Parade occasionally

to relieve Officers & let
them into town for an afternoon
& evening, & will always try
to escape scot free.

4

We had the usual meeting on
Sunday with a tremendous
crowd present tho' a sand
storm was raging at the time
& it made it very unpleasant
to speak, my subject was
"essential qualifications for
a Christian soldier". I had
a real good free times.
I spent the aftn visiting the

Hospital patients and in
our night meeting in the
Victorian Y.M.C.A. building
14 young men professed
conversion. Herein you see
the lasting benifits of the
Broadmeadows Camp work.
The Victorians had a good taste

& knowledge of the Army at
Broadmeadows while the
New Sth Wales 1^st Contingent
had none the result is that

the Victorians understand
the Army & are much more
susceptible to Army influences

than the N. S. Wales troops.