Letters from George Alexander Hugh Murray to his family, 1915 - Part 8

3.

traitor has been made a

General so there cannot be

 any truth in the

saying.

There are only a

few of the old Battalion

left now.  W.W. Gunn a

relation of Mr. A. Gunn

of Warrack has stood up

so far.

He went in as a 

L/Cop & the last I heard

of him he was a Serg.  He

may have a commission

by now.

I am going to have

my photo taken today &

will send some along.

 

 

4.

if they are any good. Lady

McBride has given our

ward a new gramaphone

& plenty of records.  She

is giving one to each of 

the Australian wards.

The doctor is due now

so I will xx sing off

hoping you and Les &

Jim are well.

I remain

Your loving son

George

XXX

I have not heard from Les yet.

Corporal G. Murray

 

 

Copl. G. Murray 

Epson

Surrey

21/8/15

Dear Dad

I wrote to Mum last week, and said

that I did not receive any letters, but mine

had not been posted three hours before

I got two.  I was out when they came. 

Another chap & I went out to Epsom village and

met some friends & went with them to tea and

a good time we had.  I thought I would be gone

to the Base Depot at Weymouth or even back

to the firing line but I am not discharged

from hospital yet.  My throat hav is about better

now.  The doctor worked to have my tonsils out

but I would not have it. So I had to put

up with the pain.

Alex McIntosh writes very

regularly from Weymouth. He described his furlough

trip through Scotland and I would have like

to have been with him.  

Mum J said she had

some relations in Liverpool.  I was there for a few

days and a lovely place of it is.   There are

five miles of docks & miles & miles of overhead

railways.

The rainy season has passed and we are

having lovely sunshine.  The best I have seen

since I have been here.  The time does fly

for it does not seem like over three months

since I landed at Southampton .  There are

always Australian men and women

 

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coming out to the camp and they never come

empty handed. 

Frank Worttan the race horse owner

of Melbourne come fairly often & he gives

money all round.

Our chaps have been kicking 
up a disturbance in the villages and getting

drunk, and were turned out of the hotel but

came back and broke a lot of windows.  They

were arrested & given 21 days detention.  The

Colonel gave us a lecture over that. 

I got a

snap shot photo taken the other day and if they

are any good I will send you some

along.  A man came out at the beginning

of the week and took a photo of all the

Australians to be first in the British

Australian.  It is the only paper that we

can get that shows the losses that we are

receiving.  There is a zeppelin raid two or three

times a week, but not much of is

published about them.  They do not even

publish the names of the towns.

You

want to be here to see aeroplanes.  There

is an aerodrome a few miles from the

hospital, & it is nothing to see a dozen up

at the same time.  I saw two racing

the other night and by heavens they

were travelling.  They were going faster

that the "flying Scotchman".  They were

supposed to be travelling between

eighty five and ninety miles an

3.

hour.  You would hear them coming long

before you see them.  The engine makes

a terrible noise.  The only difference

between a British & German aeroplane

is, a British has a red ring & the German

a black cross on the bottom.

You never

see a larger horse team than two.

They still use the single furrow

plow, and cut their crops with the

scythe.

We play the English cricket 

twice a week, and have only

been beaten once, so we cannot

bets bad.

We do not get any notice

that w when we are to leave.  The

doctor comes round and tells us

to report to Orderly room & we know

what that means.

The Australian War

Association supply the Australian & N. Zealanders

with tobacco cigarettes razors and any

things that we need.  Each man is

allowed five shillings a week.  Some of them

have it to pay out again as soon as

they get it.

Did you ever get any of the

things that I sent from Egypt.  I sent close

on ten pounds worth.  You never said

 

 

4

if you got them or not.

I do not know how we

will be for work if we ever get home again.

We are getting lazier ever day.  Most of us never

get out of bed for breakfast and never

think to make our beds. They are only 

straightened.

We have great liberty for a

hospital. We are not needed to be in

after the doctor does through about nine

in the morning till nine thirty at night.

You want to be here to see lovely county

Wherever you look, it is nothing but

green hills and forests of pine trees.

The villages and towns are very

close together. We are over fifty miles

from London, but when you get on

the Epson Grand stand you can see

London plainly.  I do not think much

of the celebrated Epson Race Course

It is all up hill & down dales.  It

must be very trying on the horses.

The building about the Race Course

have been turned into hospitals.  
I saw

a military funeral yesterday.  It is the

second I have seen in England.  There

was a firing party and the coffin was

5

on a gun carriage.  He had a descent

burial what in any thousand never had.

There is not one of my platoon  left

standing.  They have all been put

out of action, most of them the

first four days.

Most of the officers

that came over with us all out of

action.  A lot have been killed and

the wounded are at Wandsworth in

England.

The Commanding officer of

of the Coy. that I am in said he

was sick the morning we went

to the firing line and was sent

back to the hospital. He has been

getting worse and worse ever since

and is to be invalided home.

I wrote to

the Commonwealth Officers to see if

there are any more letters there for

me.  I have received no answer

yet.

While I was writing this I got another

letter from you. It is the third for

the week more than I had since

last March.  It is a good start

and my it keep on.  You said

 

6

something about being forced to land

This is what I saw & know.

A Coy 14^th Batt. landed with the

third Brigade on Sunday 25th April

and B.C. & D. followed on Monday

morning.  There was no forcing them

off the transport.  They went straight

on to the destroyer singing all

the way to the shore. They were 

transferred into lighters and towed

ashore and many were killed &

wounded including Ley. Murphy

from  Bangerang   They were not forced

ashore. B.C & D. Coys went up to

the firing line on Tuesday night.  They

took time going up Shrapnel valley

for they were raked from both

sides by snipers and above by shrapnel

but not one turned back.  All that

day and night they suffered very

heavily losing the principal officers.

xxx One machine gun belonging to 

another Battalion of the fourth Brigade

was captured by the Turks and they

 

 

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turned it upon our lines for a few seconds

but those few seconds did terrible

damage for it wiped out close on

one hundred men and a few officers

Captain Hoggarth of Geelong Second in 

Command of B. Coy was the first

14^th Batt. officer to fall, for he got

the butt the machine gun fire

full in the chest.  He was walking

about attending to his men.

Any person

who said the Victorian Batt had to

be forced to do any thing are as do

not know any thing about it.

There

was nothing of a rumor till it was

published that L/Corp. Jacka had

won the first Australian V.C.

They can

say what they like, but there is

no truth in their statement, and

by enquiring they can find out

the mistake.

I think I will now

close hoping that the rumor has died

out by now.  It is dinner time

and I had no breakfast

So I will now close

From your loving son

George

God be with you all till me

meet again

Corporal George Murray

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