Letters from Francis James Burton to his Family, 1914-1917 - Part 2

B.R.C. Hospital No 7 (Montazah)

11^th - 2^nd - 16.

Dear Mother.

I left No 2 A.S.H. on the 9^th Feb & am now having

my convalescence at above Hospital.  I am feeling lovely & absolutely 

no after effects from operation & hope that all at home are

doing well.  I feel as strong again now that I am fixed

up & would not hesitate a moment to go under another

operation for anything that needed one to get me right.

I am anxious to rejoin my Reg again but M^r Lawson

will not have me until I am properly well as may as

well be here as anywhere else.  This place & surroundings

are beautiful & quite a typical place for convalescents as

it is only 300 yds away from the sea & we get the Northern

& N.E. sea breeze by day & night.  A nice metal road

with pine plantations on either side leads up to the house

right from Rly Stn which is nearly 1 ml away. The outer

buildings are very nice & boats are at our disposal.  We are

allowed walk on any part of the grounds & have nothing to

do but report to M.O. every few days.  Of an evening all the 

boys assemble in a nice big glass conservatory where there

are nice couches & chairs & writing desks , a piano which is

xxx  always kept going & thus we spend pleasant evenings.

We get very good food, nothing to do & all day to do it in

so one should get strong in a short time.  You see dear

Mother a soldier life is not all misery as some people

think, thanks due to our Red Cross people who are always

thinking of us & doing things that add to our comfort.

2.

Things are really rough & dirty when we are in action but

we don't mind that at all for we came out here to rough

it & as long as we get good attention when wounded,

or sick or in standing camps we don't care a hang.

When I say standing camps I mean we should & we do

get fed better than when in action.  This place used to

be the old Khedive's Harem where I believe he kept a

great number of wives & a little farther away his own

summer dwelling place which is now used by Sisters & Officers

is built.  Gran will explain to you all about the "Harem".

much better than I can, I will rejoin the Reg as soon

as possible as I don't like this life at all & am very

fond of soldiering when in or out of action but lolling

about all day is no good to me besides I am cut off

from Frank Phillips & all the old boys.  Frank was out

to me every other night almost, when I was in No. 2 A.S.H.

but he can't come now as I am too far away.  He is

a fine boy & I will never forget his good treatment

of me when I was ill & when I was well.  M^r Lawson

often came out to see me. By the time you receive this

letter I hope to be with Reg & when that lucky day

comes I will cable to you.  Now dear Mother I must

close as I want to write a few lines to a Sister in No 2

who was very kind to me during my illness there.  She

was a perfect Sister & no mistake. Au Revoir Mother with

fondest love to you & all hoping to hear from you ever. Loving Son

Frank XX

B.R.C. Convalescent Hptl. No. 7 Montazah

14^th-2^nd-16

Dear Dad,

Hope you are all well at home as it leaves me

in good nick & almost able to rejoin my Reg again.  I

had no trouble with operation & did right from the start.

I feel quite able to carry on but M.O. told me that riding

might effect the wound if I took to it too quickly so I

will put up with a loafers life for a while longer.  You

will be finished harvesting by this & I hope you have

the remainder of the hay in.  I would like to know

how the crops turned out & the kind of prospects you

are having for the present year. things are quiet over

here, the boys all being well & getting ready for another

dust up.  I wish to be with them on any of those

occassions.  Hope the harvesters behaved well but I fancy

the old one would make your hair stand on ends occassionally

Hope the horses are looking well & that old Duke is still keeping

up his reputation as a good horse.  What paddocks are you

putting in this year?  The time soon flys past as you

will be getting ready to sow oats buy the time you receive

this.  It is nearly 18 mths since I went into Camp at Broadmeadows

& 16 mths since we left Melbourne.  I hope this dust up will

soon be over as I would like to do a bit of farming

now & what's more I would like a good old smoodge

We have every comfort that is necessary to a soldier in this

place & is a typical joint for sick people as we are only

300 yds from sea & get a lovely sea breeze.

Rest of no interest

Cairo

Heliopolis Camp

27^th-2^nd-16.

I saw Tip McDonald last

night. He is well & sends love

to all.

Dear Mother.

Received a nice long letter from

you last night & was pleased to hear that

all were well as it leaves me at present. I am

back with the regiment again.  I suppose you will be

surprised to hear from me as Frank was called 

away and he asked me to put a line in this

letter to you hoping you are well as I am in

not bad trim and hope you are all well up

your way and hope to be back with you all

before long I will stop and let Frank

finish this letter from Gov Stamp.  I will lose a stripe

now Mother as I was away from Reg over 3 mths &

they just wanted me to go on a body guard with

12 others as body guard for General Birdwood but

I did not wish to go.  I never wish to leave the

old Reg again until the war is over.  I had

enough of being away from it as it is like

being with out a mother & father to be away

from Reg.  I was pleased to hear that the

crops were going so well.  I have to be equipped

Mother so will close with fondest love to you &

all from loving son.   Frank xxxxx

Hope dear old Dad is doing well & pleased he has a good

crop. xxxx

Hill 200

Elarish.

7/4/17

Dearest Mother:

It is a long time since I last

wrote to you.  We have been on the move for some

time dear & it was quite impossible to write, but

now that we have settled for a while I can drop

a few lines.  I just received a card from Aunt

Eliza & a letter from "Mary Jane".  I was please

to hear that all were well.  I received many parcels

from home lately.  I wish you would thank the

good people who sent them to me. [[Men?]] tobacco

& pipe was just the thing also the 1 lb of tobacco

that Ann & Esther sent me.  I also received a 

lot of tobacco from Olive so I was a young

x tobacconists shop.  Have more tobacco now than

ever I had, so am ashappy as a king.  You will be

pleased to hear that Frank Phillips arrived safely with 

all the parcels & letters you so kindly forwarded me.

We had a great old chat & were quite pleased with

each other.  You will be pleased to hear that I was

promoted to Squadron Sgt Major last month &

transferred into A. Sqd. which belongs is Commanded

by my old Troop Leader. Capt. James Lawson.

I am getting on alright with the work but am

not fond of it.  I could have had the same rank

along a long time ago only I didn't care for the

job, however I could

not refuse my old Troop Leader when he asked me

to come into his Squadron.  Well dear Mother I hope

you are keeping well & that before long I am back

with you again.  We are not very far from the

scene of Battle again & it is quite pleasant to listen 

to the boom of the Artillery.  It awakens the good

old memories of the past on Gallipoli.  I was pleased

to hear that the harvest was such a success & I

hope that they get the wheat carted in good time

so as they can continue with the good work.

I was indeed very sorry to hear that old

Gran was not keeping too well, but one

cannot expect him to enjoy the very best

of health at his great age.  I do hope that

he hangs out until I return.  I would love to

see him again.  All the Local boys are well as

far as I know but I never hear from them.

Frank is well settled down to soldiering again.

He is getting back the good old brown complexion

again. We are as brown as berries Mother, but

suppose we will lose our colour on the voyage

home.  Now Mother excuse my short letter as I

have a number of duties to get out for tomorrow 

Fondest love to you & all at home from

Your ever Loving Son.

Frank. xxxxxx

Cheer Up Mother   Good Luck

I will soon be back.

XXXXXXXX

26^th/7^th/17.

Dear Mother,

Just a few lines hoping to find you

& all the rest enjoying the best of health as it leaves

all the boys & myself at present.  I am on guard today

& spent a very nice day as Dug Hardley was with

me nearly all day & we were talking of the good old

times we had spent whilst he was working

for Mont.  He is a fine fellow, is looking

grand & wishes to be remembered to all.  He

has been wounded once, shot through the

thigh with shrapnel but has quite recovered

again & just as gay as ever.  So far Mother I

have been very fortunate & have not been hit

at all so hope my luck continues for a while

yet & I will be able to make myself a

jolly old nuisance at home once again.

We had a few days spell just lately & enjoyed

them very well.  It was nice to be away from

the roar of the guns & screeching shrapnel  for

even so short a time. Beer, Wine & different kinds

of edibles were procurable where we were

resting & needless to say Mother we enjoyed

ourselves immensely.  It was the first spell we

have had & I would not mind if it had

(2)

have lasted a few days longer.  However it is

our job to fight whilst over here & I am sure

that every one is quite willing to stick to it

until the war is over. I am at all events & I

am not over brave. We also could get mulberries

& cream & they were very nice but just like a lot of

school boys we made it a welter & the consequences were

that we all were sick.  However we soon got alright

again & next day were eating mulberries & cream

again.  We had a very enjoyable few days Mother

& looked quite fresh again. I wrote a letter to

M^rs. McKenzie yesterday & hope she won't be offended as

I know if I had have done so some time ago

I would have been blown right off the earth.

I have written three times to you just lately dear

so you will be very unlucky if you do not get

one out of the lot. I also wrote to ever member

of the family so think I have done well. The

old Turks are sticking some good old

shrapnel just now Mother, & quite a lot of

lads have taken cover in my dug out. They

have stopped again just now. & started again now.

I will close dear Mother with fondest love to

you & all at home hoping you have

good harvests & good health for years to come xx

Your Loving son Frank XX

When next you see Jessie

please give here a kiss for me.

Tel-El-Fara

10/10/17

Dearest Mother.

Some time has passed since

I last wrote to you but I am pleased to

say that I receive your letters regularly.

You are by far dear Mother a better

correspondent that I. I received a letter

from Olive & Min also a letter & some

papers from Jess & Mary. Well dear Mother

you will indeed be very pleased to

hear that since I last wrote to you

I have had the good fortune of being

promoted to 2^nd Lieutenant, which means

that I am now an officer. I only wish

that it had happened before poor

old Gran died for it was his greatest 

ambition to see me for me to

become an officer. I was promoted about

a fortnight ago and have a troop

in the same Squadron as I was

Sgt Major in. I must tell you dear

Mother that I am very pleased indeed

for I have worked my way up from

Trooper without any influence being

brought into force.  Bill Kane will

be pleased to hear the news and will

tell you an Officers dress & etc. I know you

will be curious to know what uniform

I wear now or rather an entitled to

wear. I will get my photo taken when

I go on leave and will forward you

one for inspection. I must not forget

to tell you dear Mother that I have

a nice troop of boys and they are

very good soldiers. I look after them

well and in return they play the

game alright. Major Lawson is still

my Squadron Leader. He, you will

remember is my old "Troop Leader.

I am sending a Cable to you tomorrow

asking you to forward 20 £ to the

Anglo Egyptian Bank in Cairo. You

will no doubt think it a big sum

but dear Mother I will require it

to buy a kit which every officer must

have. Some day I will be able to

send back the same sum again

but at present I have not a penny

and am not able to go on leave

for a week to Cairo or Alexandria

I was pleased to hear that Ann

had got over her trouble alright and

like you was sorry that it was

not a boy.

Rest of no interest