Letters from Irving Russell Flett to his Family, 1915-1916 - Part 3

Rest of no interest.       22/1/15

 

but it is your duty & job to stay at home; you knew every me everyone can't go; let

some of the wasters & cowards that I know go off & do their jobs. I thought the

camp wouldn't last long at Broadmeadows, as I can well imagine what it would

be like ager 2 or 3 days rain. Seymour will knock leave for the fellows in the

head & will not be very popular in that account as I well know the feelings of

the chaps in the all important leave question. These three men who smashed up

Drummonds window purchased the hewellery were pretty game & you nearly wish them

luck in getting away. It is just as well to do the thing properly & get away with a

big swag on risking your reputation for a small one as they get jagged just as long

for a petty theft as a big one. Yes it is a surprise to hear that Reg is still at

Broadmeadows, & I reckon he wont be half sick of it by now. Am pleased to hear

him at last in the engineers, it will suit him  better than foot slogging.

I had a pretty fair idea the boy's club would go ahead under the leadership  of Will

Ellis, as he can manage then alright I hear from Gary Dong. Forster occasionally slow

from some of the other youngsters, so you see I have plenty of letters to write in my

spare time, which is not great & after 6 hours in the sand of the Sahara desert

 you feel as energeteic as a dead horse. We are doing some very stiff work

now & if we are not fit for Turks, Germans or anybody else I'll

eat my hat. It is all not about the Turks illtreating prisoners, as every

wounded man & officer that retyrns from the Dardanelles say that they are

the cleanest fighters imaginable, At first they did cement a few offences, 

but our fellows had such revenge in them that they arranged an armistice

& gave a guarantee that they would [[?]] prisoners, as every

wounded man & officer that returns from the Dardanelles say that they are

the clearest fighter imaginable, At first they did comment a few officers,

but our fellows had such revenge in them that they arranged an armistice

& gave a guarantee that they would [[?]] prisoners & wounded properly provided

we did the same, & they are wticking to it to the letter. There is precious little

news to tell you now as it is very hard to dig up anything interesting to tell

in the Sahara desert & we seldom go near Cairo. Tell mother & father I posted

in their letters to thedd to read also yours. Hec & Harold  & Hagger are keeping fit

P1 of no interest   24/7/15

that she would  be able to pick out my photograph, but she 's a pretty shrewd little

beggar. I guess Tom would be glad to see the back of your visitor as I know the time of

it their own cat gets. Yes you had better let better let the [[Cole's]] have a photo also Archie Gonslay.

I meant to put their names down but must have forgotten all about it in my hurry.  Since

I last wrote to you I have not been away form the camp at all on any trips so have

not much news to tell you, as when one stays at the Sahara for a week or so it

is not the best place in the world to rake up interesting news. These are all sorts of

rumours floating round about in shifting from this place to the band as all the Indian

troops are being withdrawn from there, this will not be unwelcome as it will be a bit

of a change, & we will see a bit of shipping & the Canal is rather an interesting spot,

especially at the spot whose they say we may be going; Keep this news to yourselves.  We

have great trouble here with the chap who caters for the meals. You cannot get any satsifaction out of the nigger;  it cost us 4/2 per day & I'll swear we don't get 2/- worth out

of them; they are the greatest cheats imaginable, we insist upon having English jam

& we have caught these beggars filling English jam jars with Egyptian stuff for which

the caterer was promtly sacked.  The worst Victorian tucker is not as bad as the best

Egyptian but still I suppose we will have to get used to it. We are still having

it very hot, & I don't know whether it is the heat or what, but I had about a fornight in

the hospital suffering from gaastitis & being a bit our of sorts generally, you get splendid

attention in the hospital & the rest alone does you good. I think I was a bit run down, but

am now pretty fit again. I think for the time being I will wind up & hope to have 

something fresh to tell you next week. I am also sending Aunties some. If they don't arrive

by this mail they will be next. Remember me to Uncle also give my love to Auntie Alice &

Aunties at Lufren & Auntie Russell. Hope you are all well

I remain, you loving son

Irving

 

P1 of no interest 30.7.15

 

close of our seventh week in Egypt & the longer we stay the less we

become attached to the place. I suppose it is not as bad as it may be,

but it's not half as good as it should be, & we are longing for the change.

We have no idea where we will be going but have an idea we will be

here for some considerable time yet. The work is pretty solid, we

get up at 5, start parade at 6 till 9, have breakfast, attend

lectures to officers at 10, deliver lectures to men 10.30 to 12- I have

about one lecture at least per week to give to the company of 200 men,

so you can see you lose any self restraint & shyness. We have lunch at

1, sleep from 1 to 4.30, drill from 4.30 to 7.45, dinner at 8, then

bed, & I can tell you we don't need any tucking in; that is our

daioy routine. We have just sacked all the niggers from the mess, &

have taken on whites - our own men to do the cooking, waiting, & all the

improvement is great; you never know what filth is until you have to 

put up with nigger waiters & cooks. We gave kept on one fine

nigger, who rejoices in the name of "Snowball", only for him we would

have been robbed right & left, he does look after our interests - he received

his name on Kitchener's army where he served 15 years ago. We have been on

no interesting trips since I last wrote. I have been leading a quiet life a

I was a bit off color, but mean to have a week end somewhere or other

tomorrow, so might have something to tell you by next mail. I received a

letter from "Lupran" at the same time as yours, & sent a reply by this mail.

How are things going at Brighton, I suppose just about the same as usual,

with not for many cases of hear disease, through over excitement. 

remember me to Wally, & give love to Auntie Alice, Uncle Tas & Auntie

Blanche. I will now close up for the time being with love to all. 

I remain you loving son, 

 Irving. 

over page. 

 

A Coy 23^rd Batt

6^th Inf Pde A.I.F.

28/8/15

Dear Mother & Father 

There is just time for a short note this week

as we are all bustle & scramble stinking camp the reason being we are

making a shift tomorrow to somewhere; it may be Suez Canal or it may

be over the water but we don't much care where it is as three months

this place is sufficient for anyone. We have had a pretty varied experience

here & will not be likely to forget it in a hurry. The men - in fact all of us 

are in great spirit at the prospect of a shift, & after last pay, they

celebrated the occasion in various ways. I can tell you Cairo is a very

lively place after an ordinary pay but after the last one it was exceptionally

so. We have now reached the time of year when dust storms spray up every

evening about 4 o'clock & I can tell you an Egyptian dust storm is a storm

it is simply blinding & lasts for hours at a time. Hec I am sorry to say

will not be ablte to come; he is alright now but the doctor will not let him

out of the hospital yet; they thought he had dipptheria but it has only

been a slight affection of the  throat & there  is absolutley no danger, their

only reason for retaining him being that they do act & wait to  take any 

risks. That is the great difficulty here, once you get into the hospital, it

is a terrible job to get out; anyhow he will be able to join us wherever

we are in a little one, so were not miss anything, perhaps may escape

a certain amount of hardship which would not do a felllow fresh one

of hospital any good. He is in a grand place; it must to belong to

the Australians but of course [[?]] immediately nabbed it & utilised

it as a military hospital.

Last night we were where in Cairo & went for on of the most

enjoyable motor rides I have ever had. We went out to the pyramids to

see them by moonlight & stand it is a sight worth seeing. The road out to them

is considered one of the best in the world; for 10 miles there are all sorts

of trees on both sides of the road & they pretty well meet overhead &

to add to the enjoyment there is no speed limit in Egypt & I can

tell you the motor drivers got every ounce they can out of these cars

we were travelling at over 56 miles per hour; it is a great sensation

it is funny to see the pedestrians hop out of the way when they see

us coming. We did not go over the pyramids but just viewed them from

the car & come straight home again as we had had a very busy

day & wanted to get to bed early (1am) things dont start to hum

in Cairo till after midnight. I really don't know when the people

go to sleep. We are at present sleeping in the mess room or in the

open, [[?]] of course all the tents have gone & so l have to make the best

of things, but get plenty of fun out of it. We all realise we are in for

a pretty stiff time of it but at the same time will since get plenty of fun

& I for one am looking forward to the next step, & we have such a great

crowd of fellows & officers; it is a pleasure & honor to be with them,

& I would not change place with anyone we have such good times

[[by]] other & are as jolly as sandbags & when this mix up is over will

miss one anothers company terribly. Harold & scotty are well, & 

Rest of no interest

14.8.15

Rest of no interest

2

interesting, also for the good news that the Boys Club is getting on so

well & that their prospects for giving a good display are so bright ^ so

doubt they will keep up their [game name.  As I told mothr & father in their

letter we are being kept  out at it night & day & will not be at all surprised

to receive sailing orders at any time. We have some terrible hard cases

amongst the fellows in our company, & tucker provides a subject of many jokes

The grub they get is good, the only doubtful item on the menu being egg, which

are often decidedly "overripe". Only last week there was a funeral held &

a burial service was send over the "deceased" eggs. Another lot were

brought out into the sun & a native put over the nest "Poultry at

noon" The following is a prayer & lot of poetry composed by one of the

men,  "The prayer of the 23^rd

"Most merciful Father, who, in the past hath worked great miracles,

we thy most humble servants beseech Thee to endow one off ours with

enough strength and firmness to order that no more eggs be bought for

the 23^rd"

& after the officers had decided to strike eggs off the Bill of fare

the following appeared on the mess shed black board:-

"Thank God from whom all blessing flow

Our officers say those eggs must go

All honor praise & glory now in that I have taught them how [[?]] though

Australia lost ten million sheep

Those eggs Oh Lord, we cannot eat

Our Company, which is very unlucky in striking such end batteled duty has

movement tonight at 6 & as I am battalion orderly officer & that hour

is approaching will soon have to close as I have yet to just stressed. 

 

A Coy 23^rd Btln

6^th Inf A.I.F.

14/8/15

Dear Mother & Father,

I received you letter of the 11th July this

morning, and as it is Saturday afternoon there being no parade & 

we are not allowed into Cairo this weekend on account of the  Rhamad an

Christmas celebrations, we bony terrible Australians - I had set

to work without any delay to answer your letter. Your parcel of sox

& chocolars have not hust come to hand but as this is the first day of the

arrival of the mail the parcels will probably arrive tomorrow - parcels

always arrive a little after letters. I can assure the [[?]] will be reg,

acceptable tp Hec & myself & the Chocolate to evertone argued chocolate

is unobtainable here, the people dont seem to trouble much abut sweets of

any kind in this country. I suppose on account of the climate. Tell Walter

the nets are about the best thing he could send, as the flies are getting

worse every day; the paper says that we are now going to get plenty of

mosquitos & dust storms - we have not yet had a proper dust storm, but

suppose plenty of them will now come along. You say you hope I am

Keeping well & not being too hard worked. I am quite well but we are

being worked like the very dickens;  on an average I suppose we easily

march about 10 to 15 miles a day & then carry on with whatever the 

work is for the day; it is not on good roads that we march either, but

over sand pretty well ankle deep, also we carry our Webb equipment with

overcoates & waterproofs in packs; as I think of we survive this stuff having

we will be fit for anything. Only last night we marched out about 4

 

miles, took up a position & had to start on night on trenching - we were

working from about 6 oc'ocl tp  to ∧night till 5 o'clock this morning, only having hourly

spells. Officers & men alike took their turn at the pics & shovels. As some

of the trenches, go as deep as 8 feet & all being 2 ft wide you cn guess

we had a pretty hard nights work. The fire trench which is the one all

the fighting is done i is 4'6" deep with all the earth thrown up out of 

it in front so making a parapet about 1 foot deep thus giving cover 5'6"

deep; the other trench is th supervision trenches from the supervision to

the fire trench, then again there are communication trenches from the

supervision trenches back to the supports trench, which trench in a shelter

for men waiting to come up to take the place of  asualties in the firing

trench. the following is a diagram

Diagram, refer to original

The shaded parks are what are called travenes, which are just walls of earth left on the

trench, so that if a shell bursts in a part of the trench between these walls its 

effect will only be felt in that particular part & not all along the entire length 

as would be the case in the absence of this travene. The St Cuthberitites

skill seem to be as close fisted as ever with regard to anniversary collections,

 

Rest of no interest

 

At Sea,

Dear Mother & Father 

Your welcome letter of the 22^nd July came to hand 

together with 9 others from different people, also four papers & pair of sox, so you

can see I am not forsaken by my many old friends, they are the kind of friends

to have the sort that are the same to you whether you are near them or far away

All these letters just came to hand so we were leaving Helipolis to entrain for

Alexandria. I had to go on ahead with some men to act as a guard over nearly a

million rounds of ammunition, which was a fairly responsible job. A million

rounds of ammunition carried by xxx thousands of Australians does not sound

at all healthy for the Turks, & such chaps they are that are carrying the "lead pills"

you never saw a better body of men before or a more determined brokery around. On

board our ship the air of quiet determination is very noticeable, not that the fellows

have lost their spirit - far from it, but they seem to realise - in fact we all realise

that we are getting very near to the goal which we are determined to face the ball

through. Our motto is a good one "Trust in God, keep your head low, & hearts high

& I am going to they & carry it out to the letter. As I said before all these letters came

to hand just as we were entraining & they helped to while away the rather monotonous

night journey.  We are now at Sea well on our way, & are having a very enjoyable

trip, the weather is perfect, but the ship is far behind the standard of the

"Euripides" she is very hard to punch. I think the poets who wrote who wrote about the islands

of the Mediterranean being so beautiful & green etc. have stood pretty well out of 

sight of them when writing as they all appeared to me to be particularly barren &

bare. I had a letter from M^rs Swannson by this mail she seems to be a bit upset about

Percy being wounded but you can tell her it is not serious & he will soon be better

about again. Yes I saw Bill Snowball last Sunday week; he looks the same

as ever, only is growing some hair on his upper lip, he wishes to be remembered to you

all. My word Roger is having a time of it in camp; he will know camp routine

pretty well by the time he gets off, some fellows are very unlucky being delayed so

long. I hear George Usher & Rus Logan have enlisted - more power to 'em, let 'em

all come they are all needed. I will have to cut this short now as

we have to get busy. If you don't hear from me as regularly as

in the past don't worry as postal arrangements may not be too good

over the way. My letters in future will only be a few lines to

let you know how things are & if there is time I will give you as

much news as I possibly can. Give my kind regards to

Uncle Walter, Auntie Alice, "Lufra" & all the rest. Try & keep

smiling & whatever you do don't worry as we are better than a good

many dead Turks yet & quite well & fit; I never felt better in my

life. Hec is now nearly right I called to see him the night before we came

away & the Doctor tells me he will get about a months holiday to finally

fix him up & perhaps the war will be over then, who knows.

Well for the time being I will end up with 

love to all.

Your ever loving son

Irving

 

XXXXXXXXXX

XXXXXXXX

15/9/15

Dear Mother & Father,

I suppose you will receive my P.C.

about the same time as this letter comes to hand. Those

post cards are great innovations for us at the front as they

convey most of the things you at home want to know; they are great

ideas for bad letters writers & many have taken advantage of them

Well since I last wrote we are now right in it & are now

generous & considering things in general are very comfortable & not

kept going too hard. We left Heliopolis on Sunday 29^th [[?]]  I was

in check of any advance guard over about a million rounds of

ammunition & had to sit tight on them all day till the rest of the

battalion arrived. We left the station for Alexandria in about 11oclock

in the night & arrived at Alexandria on Monday morning at about

4am. There we cobunked in the SS Haverford on our journey to Lemnos

We had a very fine voyage till we were within a half day voyage for

Lemnos. Our ship was bringing up the rear of the line about 4 miles behind

the "Southlands", the ship with brigade headquarters on board, & when drawing

near to them could see that something unusual had happened as there

were dozens of small boats & rafts all about also torpedo boats & they all were 

full of men and appeared to be gathering up men out of the water.  When we

had approached near enough we found out that the Southlands had later

torpedoed about half an hour previously but luckily did not receive it in

a vital spot & when we arrived she had a great list on . She was struck in the

bows & was very deep down in the water & we were all waiting to see her arrive

but they did not turn out as bad, with the ship anyway, as anticipated, but

otherwise things were bad enough as you no doubt have heard. [[Illegible]]

[[ whole line illegible]]

exhaustion when taken on board the torpedo boats. It appears he spent

over an hour in the water & was in a state of collapse when taken on

board. We were all very upset when the news came out as he was very

much thought of by everyone who came in touch with him, [[??]] 

none of that military Cluster about him that is so [[?]] with a

lot in high position. I am sorry for M^rs L & Hilda they will be hard

to console out it is all in the fortune, or other misfortune of war.  Our

own ship had rather a narrow escape, as about half an hour after

we had passed the "Southlands" a torpedo from a submarine passed

about 10 or 15 yards under our stern, so they were alike but out in 

their shortly that day. Our men kept very cool, & I think it would take

a good deal to upsest their app hearts.

The firing line has not turned out quite as bad as we

thought it would, during the day it is rather hard to imagine there are any

hestilities in progress, all business is done during the night when things get 

fairly lively what between bombs & bullets, but behind trenches we are fairly

safe from bullets & also from bombs, except where in places the trenches

are only about 10 or 15 yards apart. The din at night is rather deafening

 

17^th Sept 1915

Dear Father

I just received your letter of the 3^rd [[?]]

yesterday & considering all things I reckon it came to hand

fairly promptly, as there is usually a certain amount of delay in 

despathing mails from Egypt to Turkey. The spirit of the Australians

is evidently of the High Road as we all consider the second

of July, enlisting on campaign wonderful; I believe there have been in 

recognition of others from the church that have decided he do their job

My [[?]] the Brighton Presbys have a bit of Abdul's blood on their

hands. I wish it were only Germans instead of Turkish as we have

nothing against him. Don't take any notice of the yarns going round about

atrocities etc, as the Turk is as honorable an enemy as you could

have been found with Yurkish overcoats on a turkish water bottles by ther

sides. I believe they have a sort of respect fot the Australians & for that

they have good reasons as you will no doubt realise & the Australians,

Indians & sailors are very attached to one another; for some reason or

another the "Tommy" seems to be out in the cold. For instance a party

of us were coming back from a swim the other day & we met a party of

Indian transport drives & we were just passing sure Tommies who were

sorting out some Kitbags. One of the Indians pointed over his shoulder

said "English no good. Australia Good" I think they advise the

physique & style of dashing fighting of the Australians.

I am terribly sorry to hear about poor Wally being bad

he has a lot of bad luck with his health. Hope it will not turn out to be

anything serious & that he will not have to stay long in Dr Marne's hospital

for his ours & your sake. Remember me to him & tell him to try to Keep his

pecker up although it will be hard for him to do it, as he will not relish

hospital life. 
Yesterday just before we came into the trenches for

our third 48 hours (where I am now writing this letter from) I came

across Hec; he is now alright again or looks a lot better than he did

he just arrived the day before & has got through his first baptism

of fire alright so now will not need to worry on his account now

we are together again & am trying to get him into "A" Coy

so then we will be together.

I will now wind up as this was just a

reply to your letteras there is not very great scope for

writing a 

long or particularly interesting letter as there are as many forbidden

subjects. Hoping you are all well & that Wally will

soon be about again. Tell him to be sure & get that bike as

I told him last some time ago. 
Your loving son

Irving