Letters from George Alexander Hugh Murray to his family, 1915 - Part 4

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being having a holiday as the Truth has
put it. I should like to have the writer
out on the desert for a week or two
and he would not put us down
as tourists.
I have not seen Les for
five weeks and may not seem
him again till after all this
trouble is over and we are spared
to return home again. I do not
think he will be going the same
time as the Infantry
I got a letter from
home They were in the usual way
but still no rain and trouo no
work to be had for the love of it
This may be the last letter you
will receive from me for many
a day to some for we do not
know when or where we are going
to but if I have a chance I will
write and let you know how I am
fairing
I will send you a present
(registered) along with this letter & hope
 

Sealed with a loving kiss
from George X X 

The machine gun section is practicing not
far away with batt cartridge, and letter
aff close on 500 a gun a minute so there
is not much chance of missing a bullet
We have been shermuking with with
ball cartridge & you can see something
to work for when you have targets to
hit One day we were out one of
the targest had 44 hits on it. Not
too had considering we started firing
from 800 yards
We have been issued with
plenty of clothing and boots galore
you can have them for the asking
I am sending you a small present
It may be the last that I will
be able to send you who knows?
for when we get into action not
many may come out again
I will know close with Love from
Les & My self
I am yours true brother & Son
George
Easter Sunday & Monday you could see nothing
but dust
 

God ne with you till
we meet again
Goodbye all
George

Aerderone Camp
Heliopolis
2/4/15
Dear Jim
I never received your weekly letter
so far so it must have gone astray
One quarter of the year gone and
not a blow struck but our
turn will come in good time I
hope
There is not much to say as it
is the same old place with crowds
of niggers swarming about tell all
hours of the morning,
The first Batch
of the sick to leave for Australia
has gone
We have lost another man
His name was Suttiffe He was a
Sergant in the Machine Gun Section
There is not much to say so I will
close with love from George
 

Aerodrome
Heliopolis
2/4/15
All at home
I am writing so as to catch
the mail Back for I do not know
when it goes. I have received no
letters at all for a good white, but
all the others received theirs
There is
not much to say as it is the same
old work and sights day in & day
out.
We have lost another man.
He was Sergeant Sutliffe of the
Machine Gun Section. He got a
severe chill He was the first
Sergeant to take charge of the
firing party at the first funeral
and not a month afterwards
there was a volley fired over him
I am sending another packet &
views along & hope they will arrive
alright. There has been a plague
 

of locusts they darkened the sun at
times. They came on while we were
being inspected by the General Maxwell
and another time by General
Sir Ian Hamilton
My teeth are breaking
away fast and the plate is getting
very loose so I suppose I will
have to get it remodels
Cario &
Heliopohs is nothing but one mass
of restrustants selling anything &
everything
I have not received a letter from
Bess since I landed
I will now close
with love from George
 

UNION-CASTLE LINE
S.S "GOORKHA"
May 3rd 1915
All at home
you will no doubt have receiveed
my active service card & see that I have
left for the Battle front. Well I have been
there and am back again for a few
weeks compulsory rest for I have had the
luck to have the bullet through my left
knee. I have seen the pains of war and
they are not what they we cracked up to
be for you see some horrible sights
that at other t times I would not
have the heart & nerve to look upon
but all that is gone now, in a few
hours you may say I have carried dead
& wounded men without a nerve tingle
I will now my to describe a bit of our outing
from the day we landed. W arrived off Gallipoli
Peninsula on Sunday 25th and you ought to hear the
by guns sounding from the boats for some of
them can hurl a shell about a ton close on
twelve miles & there is a fair clap when they
hurl against a target We landed on the the  

a day that is easily remembered April 26st
Eight Hours Day & stayed at that night in
the beach under a perfect hail of shrapnel
& it makes you duck till you get used to
it. On the 27th went up to the firing line
but some of us never reached it for the
Turkish snipers are deadly shots & very sure
of their mark, Well armed safely &
get to work & plugged away at our human
targets & every one rejoices  when he sees
one drop & you hear them say "Got the bastard
Tuesday night I was sent with others to join up
with  the force on our right 
With me were sent
about twelve others and three of us
reached our post. What became of the
others I do not know & have not
seen them since. The rifle fire was
too hot for us to have dug ourselves
in so we had to lay flat among the
bushes till more help came. When it
came we dug ourselves in & began firing.
That night I had bullets hitting the
bayonet on the rifle some through
my cap & killed my mates
either side of one hut I lived throught
it all till 7-30 Wednesday morning
when we we were ordered to some
 

back to our old position & then it
was that I was hit by a sniper. The
bullet entered the knee & came out behind
it. From the knee down has been numb
since & is swollen up like a bloon baloon,
I dropped like a log & began to take my
puttie  off when very vily matter began to run
out so I thought the knee cap had been
split but I do not think so now. I got
it dressed up well as possible & between
crawling hopping & being carried on arms &
a stretcher I covered five miles in about
seven hours & came aboard a trooper
bound for Alexandre & arrived home
there in Sunday morning, & on Monday
put on Goorhka to be taken
to England with hundreds more
so we will not see any more
fighting for a time. I only possess
a flannel & a tunic out of all my
issue but that does not matter
much for we will have a new
lot all being well
Fred Banyard
got hit in the knee before I did
I have not been him since