Letters from George Alexander Hugh Murray to his family, 1915 - Part 5

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I will now close hoping you
are all well & happy as I am only
for the leg.
So I will now close
with love from George
I have not seen Les for a
good while
Corporal George Murray 

Corporal G Murray
Manchester
England
17/5/15
All at home
I suppose you are wondering
where I am for it is close on a month
since I have written but I have not
had the chance before for we were at
sea for three weeks & it was a
dreary trip. I never seemed to be getting
anywhere nearer England. I had a
try to come on deck as we were passing
through Gibralta & got out by crawling &
hopping & saw the great fortress. 
The boat arrived in Southampton
on Saturday morning, straight into
the train & went through some
lively places. Where ever you
looked, it was one mass of green.
We got to Manchester about 7 p.m.
Sunday after we had been fed
like Lords all the way. We were
taken in motor cars to different
hospitals. I did not know 

many of the wounded for we
are all split up. Alex M^cIntosh
from Eltham got wounded in the
thigh with shrapnel. I do not
know where he is now. We are
well looked after in the Hospital,
& the Indian A.M Corp looked
after us just as well. It is over
three weeks since I got hit &
can't put my foot to the ground
yet. The bullet went through the
bone & never xxx splintered much
but the lump that formed behind
the [[???]]
trouble but hope to be about
shortly when we are each
granted a week's furlough to
go where we like so I will
have a chance of seeing a bit of
England. I did not think when
I got hit that I would see
England. From leaving the
Dardanelles till I reached 

3
England, there were 42 men buried
at sea. The first night after
leaving the front there were 21
buried [[?]] 8-30 at night. The
bell was tolling all the time
{they left xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx bad
again & xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx}
I see by this morning's
paper that Wesley Mitchell has
been wounded. There are
not many names published yet.
There is not much to
say so I will close
with Love from
George
I do not know where
Les is
brother 

June 1^st 1914
All at home
I am getting on fairly well & hope to be
able to walk properly in a week or two. The wound
is healed but the muscles are knotted up & I
cannot straighten my leg. I spent my 21st
birthday in bed. All the Australians in
Manchester have been shifted to another
hospital and from there we have to go to
London to the Base from where we will
get out furlough of seven days. We have
had no pay for close on 2½ months &
no chance of getting any.
We are looked
after very well & could not be treated
any better by our own people. All the wounded
that could walk were taken to the
theatre Hypodrome, and had afternoon
tea brought round and chocolates &
fruit. There are a great crowd of
Belgian people here & they are housed 

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in the parks.
Victorian parks do not come
within cooee of the English ones. I do
not know anyone here but there are
seven of us in one ward & we are
up to all kinds of tricks I am the only
one out of the 14^th in Manchester, but
there are some in Birmingham.
I have not had
a letter from home for close on two months
& not likely for a long time to come for
our officers do not know where we are.
I have no paper or I would xxx write to
Bess & Jim but I will do shortly.
I wrote
to Les, but he will not get it for a long time
for I see that the Light horse have been
taken without there horses & put into action
No one is allowed out of the hospital before
12 oclock & they have to be in by seven!
I have not much time left for I have to go to 

3)
bed to have my leg massaged & it is [[?]]
the best in the world for when the leg is
being straightened that's the time when it
hurts.
I will now close hoping that you
are all well
I am your loving son
George
Do no write to England but to the Base
at Alexandria

June 23^rd 1915
All at home
I am getting on very well It is now eight weeks since I
saw a shot fired & not likely to go for some time yet for they
are in no hurry to shift us to London. Sir George Reid hospital
a place fitted up for Australians & it is full to overflowing.
All the Australians have been treated right royally. They have
been issued with [[?]] picture, & [[???]]
lawn town greens are given free.
None of us have received any
letters for about eleven weeks & not likely to receive them
for a time as they are kept at the Base in Alexandria
When we leave Stratford the place where we are now, we
have to go to London then to Weymouth near Southampton
to start drilling again before we embark
back again. I am the only one of our Battalion about
here. I saw the Bugler who is only seventeen years
old. He got wounded through the arm.

       We have

heard a lot about the cruelities of the Turks but

do not know if they are true but this I do know

that they caught one of our buglers & cut his tongue

out & then let him go, but he died soon after.

Some of the Aust. have been found pinned to the

ground with their own bayonets.

         I suppose K. McRae

is home again. He was passed out as medically unfit

while in Egypt. The Warrack chaps have suffered

very badly if the papers can be relied upon.

    This is a 

very dirty country for you hardly ever see a bright sky but

when it rains that the time that it is cold for a north

wind comes & then you to try to keep warm.

    I have

a lot of friends out around the hospital & they could not 

treat you any better.

     The biggest works are the

Westinghouse munitions works they employ above on

five thousand hands in two shifts. Most of the

work is done by girls.

    There has been knew rules made

at this hospital you are bound to be he in for tea

& they you have to be out by 7.30 to bed at 8.30

up again at 6 but it is not carried out I can

tell you.

       I have not heard any thing of Les I

have not seen his name in the paper

This is all I can think of now so I will

now close hoping you are all well

            From your loving son

                      George

                              June 29th 1915

Dear Bess,

       I have not written to you since I

left Egypt and that is a good while ago

so I will try & tell you some of the

sights I have seen these last few weeks

After I left Egypt on Sunday 12th April

I went on board the Lesany Choon &

then a 12 dys sail to Lemnos island &

stayed there for a few days & then foreward

to the scene of the War. At Lemnos there

was every kind of ship imaginable for there

were close on 230 boats of all kinds. When

we were about fifty miles away from Galoppi

we could hear the big guns booming & as we

got nearer you could see the shells bursting &

if you looked at a place once & looked again after

a shell at hit it, you would think that it was

not the same place for some of the xxx war-

ships throw shells weighing over a ton. On Sundaty

April 25^th we were ready to go ashore at any time

but did not go till Monday morning. I was carrying

wounded chaps all the night and it was there that

I first saw a dead man. It did not look too nice

but in a few days, I was used to it & could throw

them out of the trench & get into their place. I only know

one chap that was taken on our boat He was Jack Cantwell