Letters from George Leslie Makin to his family, 1917-1918 - Part 8

France

31/7/17

Dearest Mother

Your letter of 27/5/

to hand after a weary six

weeks without a line.

I know it is not your fault

dear Mother, for your letters to

me have been most regular,

but I'm afraid one mail

was lost & you would

hardly believe what a gap

even one lost mail makes.

Our mail to you on the

Mongolia was lost, & I'm

sure I had a lot of letters

aboard her, for we had

just come out of the line &

I had written ever so many.

I wrote to M^rs. Timbs about
 

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Harry, but I'm rather afraid
that the letter may be among
the missing.
You might ask M^rs. Timbs if
she received it & tell her
that I sent his pocket book
to her by another mail.
Harry was not with me at
the time of his death, but
only 50 yards away.
He was in the trench
alongside a stack of trench
mortar bombs, & a German
shell struck the heap.
You can imagine the
result. Death was instantaneous,
& he was buried
where he fell, in the
Hindenburg line at Bullecourt.
I've no doubt that some of
 

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his comrades have written
to his Mother, but I should
have liked her to receive
my letter.
Harry Timbs was one of
the best little soldiers I
have met & a perfect
little gentleman as well.
He was dearly loved by all
who knew him & our only
consolation is that he died
on duty in the most
trying of all our operations,
namely Bullecourt.
Small enough consolation
no doubt for his poor Mother,
but she would be a proud
woman if she knew how
truly brave & noble was
her son Harry, or as the
 

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boys knew him "Timbo".
Oh, I do pity the women
in this war. Our worries
are mainly physical &
although many a poor
body is weary, we have
not the ceaseless worry
& anxiety of a Mother
for her boy's wellfare.
But you are all so brave,
& my own dear Mother
has always been so
cheerful, although I know
her poor heart has ached
for nearly three years.
But there must be an end
to everything & perhaps the
day is not far distant
when all our troubles
may be over & we settle
 

5
down to the old life again.
I often think of those days,
& I'm sure I would not
be so hard to wake in
the mornings, If I had
another chance.
What a relief it must
have been for you, but
I expect Perce will be
following my bad
example now.
How is he getting on at
work. Jim tells me he
is in long pants. Is that
so.
I expect he will want to
come to the war next.
Chain him up if he even
suggests it.
We are on our way back
 

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to the line after a good
spell.
We are at present in a
village & I am in a
very nice billet.
The old lady of the house
is a dear old soul &
takes quite a motherly
interest in me.
She tells me all about
the days when the Germans
were here & is most
interested to hear about
Australia.
My promotion did not come
through as I expected it to,
but it makes no difference,
& it should be along any
time now.
We have a lot of senior
 

7
officers rejoining & they
came at a bad time
for me, as they filled the
vacancy I should have
filled in the ordinary
course of events.
I have been unlucky with
promotions, as the fever
kept me away so long,
but all the same I have
done better than most, &
I got mine in the field,
while others got it before
coming to the war at all.
Well dear Mother I will
say goodbye for the
present, but I'll write
again soon.
Lots of Love
from Les.
1 DRL
 

2
On arriving in London at about
8.P.M on the 29/3/; we were so
weary that we went straight
to bed.
Next morning I went down to
Horseferry Rd to see Jim.
When I first saw him, I nearly
dropped: He has grown
wonderfully during the last
2½ yrs, being now 6 ft 3 in in
height & giving everybody a
stiff neck looking up at him.
He managed to get off most
nights & we went to a few
theatres & also to dinner
1 DRL
473
 

France
12/8/17
Dearest Mother
I am back again
with the battn, after ten glorious
days in "Blighty".
What a wrench it was, to leave
after the good time I had.
After spending six days in
London, I finished up with
3 days at the Seaside.
On the way across France, I
met another young Australian
& being the only two on the
train we stuck together &
became such friends that he
spent all his leave with me.
 

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one night with Madame Carrie Tubb.
On my birthday the Misses
Fairfax gave me a dinner
at the South Kensington Hotel.
We were a party of nine &
all Australians with the
exception of D^r. Gibson.
The trip to Southend was
very enjoyable, but spoiled
somewhat by bad weather___
We arrived back in London
at half past ten & left by
the leave train before 8
Monday morning.
 

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The doctor & Jim came down to
see me off & when the train
started, I felt utterly miserable,
leaving comfortable England
for the most uncomfortable
place in the world.
However I have quite got
over that feeling now &
have settled down to the
old routine again.
I am still enjoying very
good health & trust that
you are all having the
same good luck.
Lots of Love to all
from Les.
 

France
27/8/17
Dearest Mother
I've been expecting a
letter from you daily, as I believe
there is an Australian mail in,
but no luck so far.
Mails come & go at very irregular
intervals these days.
My last letter from you was
dated 27/5/17, three months to
the day.
There seems to be nothing to write
about except the weather & that's
vile just now.
We have had almost continuous
rain for about a month & today
it is rather cold as well.
We seem to be in for an early
winter & a very wet one as well.
It is not usual to have much
rain so early & it has made