Letters of Athol Cluny McPherson, April - August 1915 - Part 7

NOTHING is to be written on this side except

the date and signature of the sender. Sentences

not required may be erased. If anything else

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_____________________________________________________

I am quite well

I have been admitted into hospital

   (sick   and am going on well

   (wounded and hope to be discharged soon

I am being sent down to the base.

                           letter dated 19^th May

I have received your telegram _________

                                        parcel ____________

Letter follows at first opportunity

I have received no letter from you

        lately.

        for a long time.

Signature )   A.B. McPherson

only            )

Date 4/7/15

                                     Mena Camp

                                      Egypt 9^th 05.

My Dear Father,

        I was so pleased to received your last letter from

home, it is grand to hear all about everything, you may

think that a person doesnt want to know how things

are going in connection with the place, but that is

just what I like to hear about, as I hope to be

back in the Wimmera gain someday myself & if I

have enough money think I will try share farming

myself, it may be sometime yet before this war

is over, but according to some English military authorities, 

it will end a long way sooner than most people

expect, let us hope it will & that at the end Germany

will get right down & have to start off scratch again

For my own part I dont know how we can last

such a great time, as they cant keep the Russians back

on that side & the Allies are gaining ground now

how can they expect to do any good when Kitcheners

new Army starts to move, doubtless Germany will be

very strongly fortified, but the gunnery of the

British will make an opening no matter what

resistance they meet with & I believe the Allies

will be superior in numbers of the French

as well as the Russian side of Germany

The Allies seem to be forceing their way through

                          2

the Dardenelles, it seems to have come as a bit

of a surprise to "Billy" the forcing of the passage 

through, it was supposed to be impregnable

What a fine bit of work the sinking of the

"Dundee" was, it is marvellous to think of a

ship like it was being settled in five minutes.

It only goes to show what fine men they

have behind the guns of our navy.

I would like the Germans to try to get

out of Kiel, I dont believe they would last

an hour. I sent Mr Bev some Egyptian

stamps last week & I got a chap to get me

another lot of Japanese yesterday, they are very 

pretty stamps, at least some of them are, this

is a great place for foreign stamps, the Arabs

come round the streets selling them, the fellow 

that got the Egyptian ones for me said that 

the Arab offered them to him at first for six

shillings but he cut him down to five Piastres

equal to a shilling, you never want to take any

notice of them when they offer anything they ask

almost any price for a thing & will come down

every time to about a fifth of what he first

wanted. The natives are just the same at

Col Port Said, they came round the boat selling

Turkish Delight when we were there, at first

                               3

they wanted a shilling a packet for it, but I believe

some of the fellows got it at four for a shilling

before we left. We were out today filling in

trenches that we had dug, when out practising

we have them dug on the side of nearly every

hill, but it doesnt take long to fill them in

although its mighty hard to sink some of

them, we have to cut through solid stone

& have to take them down inch by inch & some

of these fellows know about as much about

using a pick & shovel as they would know

about driving horses. I have joined the

Christian Endeavour here, there are a good

many members & it passes one evening a week

away & its a treat to get with such a lot of

steady fellows, some of these reinforcements

seem to be terrible slickers, we have one 

or two beautys in our tent now, they must be getting

rid of some beautys in Australia. Did

you see in the paper where two fellows were

brought before a Court in New Sth Wales &

the Judge gave them their choice which they

would do Join the imperial Forces or some 

serve two years in Jail, I didnt see it

myself, but a little Englishman named Russell

                             4

saw it in a paper that one of the Nth Welshmen

had, it is tacked on the wall of one of the Mess

Rooms. Jock would probably remember Rissell

as our "little Rug", he is a bonzer little fellow &

he is one of three of us that have been in the

same hut since we joined, King is the other

We have a bonzer Scotch Band now, four Pipers

came with the Reinforcements, as we have seven

or eight Pipers now, you cant beat marching

to a band, but they only come out with is when

we are on a route march. Well Father Dear

I cant think of anything more to say so will

close. Please give my kind Regards to Mr Rennison

Mr M^cCann & xxx Mr Petrie when next you see

them. With heaps of love to all at home

& Will & Lot when next anybody writes, also

all at Hedley. With heaps of love to yourself

           I remain always

                Yr loving Son

                     Athol G. M^cPherson

                                    Mena Camp

                                    Egypt 21 st

My Dearest Mother

                I am writing this on my Birthday

as you will see by the date & I can tell you

that I didnt forget yours yesterday & hope

you had a very happy time. I would have sent

a Cable only money is pretty scarce I hope

before the next comes round to be back at

home, but its pretty hard to tell when this

War will end, if Germany plants mines all over

Neutral Waters I dont fancy it will last long

    We (the C Coy) are just finishing a 48 hours

Guard, it should have been twenty four but as

the Battalion was out for night operations

they never had any men in Camp to relieve

us. We expect to get a holiday tomorrow

but as none of us have money we cant go to

Cairo, its marvellous how some fellows spend

it, they nearly all draw 14/- a week (fournightly) &

at the end of that time I have a few Piastres

& they have none I can thank that

for not drinking although the fellows 

in our tent arent bad in that respect.

                        2

but of course they nearly all take a little

This is a Sunday & there are a good many

Tommies out here. I always keep an eye

out for Colonel Antill, I think I could

tell him from his Photo & being attatched

to the staff he would were wear red braid

on his shoulders & hats. I havent had 

time to hunt Shep or Ray M^cLean yet was

down at the 8th one day last week but the

Battalion was out, Maloney was in but he was

orderley Sergeant I asked him if Roy M^cLean

was in his Coy, but he said N & A were

attactched to I know know that he is in

A or C two Companies are joined together

right through the Battalion. You should

see the big Pyramid here on Sundays, it 

is just a string of troops from top to bottom

Well Mother Dear U havent got much time to write

so will close as it will soon be relief time

Did Jim Gray ever turn up & if so where did

he get to. I wrote to Gook  by the same 

mail as this We havent had a mail for

a couple of weeks, it seems that it only comes

once a month now. It will be alright

when we get a weekly mail again. I

had a letter from Uncle Alfred by the last 

mail & have replied to it by this one

I was very pleased to get it. Its a

strange thing but so far as I can remember

I havent had a letter from Dick since I left

although I wrote to him once or twice

as far as I know. I hope both you

& Harry are soon rid of the eczema Must 

close now with heaps of love to you

all & hoping you will be spared to

enjoy many more Birthdays & under

better conditions than this one

has been. Goodbye with tons of love

to All also Marion. I remain always

                Yr loving Son

                     Athol G. M^cPherson

Mr Cyril McPherson

"Clyne Milton"

Horsham

Victoria

Australia

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