Letters from George Alexander Hugh Murray to his family, 1915 - Part 12

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So you can imagine how high

up they were. They were beaten

off, but returned again after

midnight, and by the paper

they killed, and injured 

many people, but the damage 

done was not published.

I am sending you under a 

separate cover, a few of our

hut  designs. They do not look

a near as good in paper as 

they are. 

Winter is setting in very

quickly and for days at a 

time the thick fogs never 

rise. You can hardly see

any distance ahead, and you

can smell them.

There came in

to the ward that I am in that

I looked at for a long time

I thought it was Les for it was 

the image of him and one

would pass for the other

anywhere

These are a terrible 

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crowd of our chaps here. As fast as they

go out others take their places.

In a hospital near this camp there

are over two & a half thousand 

Australians & N. Zealanders and some 

of them are very badly wounded.

Enteric fever has pulled a terrible 

lot of our fellows down & some 

of them are that thin that they 

cannot walk about.

I will have to close now if I am to 

catch the mail so I will say good-bye

for the present though it will be a

long th time before any of us have a 

chance of returning

So goodbye

From your loving son

George

This is the letters from George and Les so I will

send them along to you

We have had such a terrible day dust and hot

winds. It was my ½ day but I went to bed

Love from Lena

Little Dick Gardener jumped of a lace into the creek

& stuck the hard ground he is  pretty bad.

Eprom
Surrey

23/10/15

Dear Lena

I do not know where all the 

letters that you have written to me 

have gone to, for it is over six 

weeks since I had a letter from

home, and most of the other chaps

in the ward are getting Australian 

mail.

I got a letter from A. Gunn 

a few days ago. He said that 

he wrote to me but I never received 
his letters.

This is a cold country for now you 

hardly ever see the sun & it is 

generally raining or there is a 

very heavy fog which does not 

lift for days at a time. It must 

be very unhealthy for you can 

smell it, and it is a good shield

for the Zepps when they come over.

They came three nights running

I saw them the first night but

not after. It was a lovely night to 

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watch them.

I was to go with a batch

to the Base Depot on the 20th, but 

on the th morning that I was to go

I had a slight misfortune and

had to go to the Doctor's and 

get about my right eye stitched 

up. It happened about nine in 

the morning, one of my mates 

was in bed and I pulled 

the blankets off him and 

he got wild, picked up one of 

his big iron shod boots, and 

threw it at me. I was walking 
away and just looked over 

my shoulder and copped the 

boot. I had no time to dodge

and if I had not turned 

it would have caught me

on the back of the head. Well,

I got a lovely black eye & a few

stitches out of it anyway, so I 

will be here for a few days

yet for the stitches will not be 

taken out for ten days so I may

get another furlough out of them

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There are thousands of Australians around

here but not one from home

but there are plenty out of our own 

brigade.

The 22nd of this month was set 

apart for the selling of flags for the 

wounded & those out fighting and a 

prize of £5 pounds was to be given to 

the first one who got a whole set

of the flags & designs.

Has Jim joined

yet?  for you never said so. I have not 

heard from Les though I have written

to him pretty regular. In the letter 

I got from A Gunn he said he 

saw where Les had been wounded

but I cannot find out anything

about him although I have written

to the War Offices but they could

not tell me anything. The last word 

I got from him was dated on 

the 17th August and he said he was 

quite well as was his mate F. Cowles

but I saw where F Cowles was badly 

wounded on the 17th and has since 

died from his wounds, so you do not 

know how long you are safe where you 

are in that place, and some of the 

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Tommies, who have been through the 

retreat from Mons & Neauve Chappel

said that they were nothing to what

they had to put up with in Gallipoli

for you could get out of thebullets way

in France but in the Peninsula you 

are under fire all the time you are 

there.

I see by the papers that our battalion 
has the youngest Officer Commanding 
it than any other battalion of 

the King's Force. He is the 5th C Officer

we have had and he is only 27 years old.

A lot of our chaps are getting married 

for the War Office ( so they will 

give a fire pass so their wives to

go to Australia

I think isthis is all this time

So goodbye

From your loving brother

George

Woolwich

11/11/15

Dear Bess.

You may get this letter

before you have started on your 

holidays.

I got a couple of 

letters of yours a few days ago

and about a dozen from

home and a couple from

Jim. He is still lamenting his 

fate that he cannot join 

the forces, but there must be 

something else in store for him.

Since writing home I have 

been sent back to a hospital

for a time to see what they are 

going to do with me. No one 

seems to know. The place I 

am at now is near the 

Arsenal and it is nothing but 

cannons going off day & night

so we think we are back in 

Gallipoli again but I can tell 

you I am in no hurry to

Hughie Cameron of Warrack. He did not 

know me. One of his mates told me he 

had seen Les on a hospital boat

but did not know where he was 

going to.

This would be a bad place 

if you had a bad head for it is 

near the arsenal and they are continually 
testing ammunition and 

guns. When some of the shells 

explode they shake the whole ground

and we are a mile from them.

They are only half charges so you can

guess what a few of them would 

be like when fired at you.

I am having a very bad time with 

toothache. It never stops and I cannot

get it out for if I do the plate will be

no good to me.

My wound is completely healed up

now. You can only see a very small

hole just where the bullet went in

& out again.

It is raining steadily tonight 
and it may keep on for a

return to that inferno.

I am sending a few cards of the 

Westminster Abbey I have been

all through it and it is a 

sight of a life time to see the 

old places. The old Abbey is turned 

into a hospital and it is still

a lovely place to see though it 

is over a thousand years 

old. I have not much time 

to spare in order to catch 

the Aus mail so I will

have to close 

With love from your loving 

brother

George.

Abbey Wood

Woolwich

18/11/15.

All at home,

I am writing this letter but I do 

not know if it will catch the mail.

This country is getting very cold. I was out 

one night and when I was coming home 

it began to rain but before morning

the country had a very different aspect

for there was a lovely fall of snow. It was 

about four inches deep and we had a 

lovely time snowballing each other. The next

night the snow froze froze and it is 

like walking on glass.

I do not know when 

I will leave this place for they have given

me some work to do. I have charge of 200

men so I have not much time to myself

When I was in the mess one morning I 

could not help looking at this a chap out 

of the 5^th Batt when he went outside 

I followed him but did ask him

his name but when dinner time came 

I had to ask him his name but you 

could never guess who he is. It is