Letters from Lieutenant Colonel Leslie Cecil Maygar to school children, 1915-1917

Siani Desert.
23rd April 1916
From Lieut-Col-L C Maygar V.C

C.O, 8^th L.H. Regt.

To. - Mr Jack Moir

Wesley College
My dear Jack
I was very pleased
to receive a letter from you I thank you
sincerely Jack for all your kind wishes-
You have every right to feel proud of your.
old Collegians. I know a great many of the
Wesley boys, who have done well, and are a
credit & an honour to their college- in fact
all the Public School boys, have upheld &
maintained their integrity, honour, & courage,
during this war, this knowledge will also be
very pleasing & gratifying to the Principles
& Masters of the Colleges. I will ask you
to think & realize Jack the fact of the great
responsibility that you, and all the School boys
of today have to face; yours will be a great
and glorious heritage, to take up and carry on
this great work, when we leave off- We are
fighting this awful & strenuous battle to the

Japs must
die at
12 tonight

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to the bitter end, to the finish & with Gods
help we must win - We are fighting for truth,
honour and righteousness; and for all that we
love and hold dear, King Country Women & Children.
My prayer to the throne of grace is for the School
boys and girls of our beloved Australia & Colonies
Is ^this that you may be one & all endowed with
wisdom; to think wisely, to act rightly, and justly
to live purely & cleanly so as to qualify for
the sublime and glorious task, duties, that
you will be called- upon to carry forward
in the future. I pray that you all will give your
very best attention to the wise instruction of
your Masters & teachers, giving your whole mind
and soul to your studies, lastly but not least
keeping your bodies & muscles phisically fit &
strong by clean & manly sports on your
play grounds etc. Well Jack you ask me in
your letter, what of the Turk, is he a good fighter
& fair. Yes he is a great fighter especially at
trench warfare, also a fair and clean fighter
they played the game, I cannot give you one
instance during the whole time we were at Gallipoli
to the contrary. "So there you are". Although sad to
say we have left thousands of our brave Comrades
sleeping their last long sleep in Gallipoli

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We Australians don't feel any bitter
hatred towards the Turks, like what we do
towards the base arrogant overbearing
Hun. German Swine. It is only just and
fair to speak and judge of those as we find
them ourselves, is it not old chippie. I thank
you again Jack for your nice letter I fully
appreciate the kind spirit that prompted you
to drop me a few lines & trust you and
some of your Comrades will write to me
again some day, as I will always find
time to answer a letter from one of our
dear boys or girls from Australia no matter
how busy I happen to be. Kindly convey
my compliments to your Principle & College
Masters also to all your Comrades & school
fellows. Should a Kind Providence so ordain
for me to have the good luck to return home
after the war, will esteem it a pleasure to
visit Wesley College and become acquainted
personally with you all.
Wishing you no end of good luck
Yours very Sincerely
Leslie C. Maygar.

 Marakal
1st August 1917
My dear Jack
Received your very welcome
letter of 6th June by last mail. I am glad to hear
from. you again, I thank you sincerely for all
your kind Congratulations _ Well old chap I am
sorry you are not able to take up a profession for
a career, all the same it is a very good healthy
life on the land, I was born on a Station & have
been all my life on the land. I think farming &
stock raising is a splendid occupation I wouldn't
exchange the life for anything else myself, it is
a free independent life, and you can take great
pleasure in breeding ^a  good class of stock, etc.
Tell your Sister that I never got any reply to the letters
that I wrote to her & Trixie [[Laggs?]], if they answered their 

letters went astray. I see we have had some very stiff 
fighting here between Gaza & Beersheba, during our

big engagement near Gaza on 19^th April. I had my 

charger Wick shot from under me, I have now lost the 

two fine horses in Action that I brought with me from 

Australia, Ned was killed during last August stunt. 

During the last two months we were holding the front 

line doing patrol work mostly, frequently had little 

encounters with the Turkish Cavalry, however when

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-whenever we would go at them with any force
they would always fall back on their entrenched
positions, I can tell you Jack the Turk is a good
fighter and he plays the game fairly well, we will
have some hard hitting before we get to Jerusalem
and Damascus _ We are now Camped on the Beach
at Marakal near Belah, where the temple of Baal
once stood the same place that Sampson pulled
down the Temple on the heads of the people, so you
see this is an interesting old world we are operating
in. I think we will remain here for another three
weeks, as both men & horses required a Spell rest
the Sea bathing is glorious, every one appreciates
it. There is a lot of splendid fertile country between
here & Beersheba, noted for growing the best
malting barley in the world. Well old Chap
I have a lot of letters to write today so will have
to conclude Please Salute all your home circle
for me & tell them that I hope to have the honour
pleasure of meeting them all Some day - Good bye
for the present, With best wishes and good luck
Yours always Sincerely
Leslie C. Maygar

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Yours sincerely
L C Maygar

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