Letters from George Alexander Hugh Murray to his family, 1917 - Part 11

set out to take a place, it always falls to them
in the long run but some times it has cost them
heavily and by all accounts the enemy is
loosing heavily to for in a report from Germany
they said it is best now to husband the 
human beings & not so much of looking
to munitions & material
Another mail boat sunk three lately & that means
 a bit of mail of for the troops is lost & that
is the only thing we look forward to is the
mail from home so far away.
The hop picking is in full swing now & the
soldiers do a fair bit of it for it is a good
spell, after the fighting.
When I came back from England I received
three letters from you one from Alex Gunn & Linda
March & I have to set to and answer 

them All right receiving them but not so good
answering for it is always the same we are
allowed to write.
I have not seen a trace of any of Les's unit
yet but will hunt them up when we get a
bit more settled for we are on the move
again tomorrow nearer the lines.
Well I have nothing more to say now so I
 

will close hoping you are all well
From your loving son
George.
 

Belguium
Sunday 30-9-17

All at home
Received your letters by the last
mail also one from Lena written by F. Tarrant
& one from Les that was written last
June The first the wrong address on
it & it went to London & then returned
to me.
Het has a school of her own at last.
Now she will be very cocky bossing
the kiddies about.
The fighting is getting very severe now
especially about the sector I am in nothing
but artillery fire day & night and a few
days ago there were 12,000 guns on
our side giving the Germans their own
rations. They did not like it for in xx
[Giverny?] four hours close on 3000 prisoners
were taken & some of them the pick men
of the German army.
I tried to get into the flying corp & if
that does not come off I am back
in the infantry & try my luck once again

Did you never get my letter with my new
address in 4th Div. Salvage company. It
is collecting ammunition & inspecting it.
Not a bad job but it gets stale & I am
sick of it & the sooner I am out of it
the better pleased I'll be.
Just before I came to it I dropped one
stripe & have had no chance of getting
it back here but one does not make
much difference.
I will have to hurry up with this letter
for lights are not allowed to be lit
after dark in account of the enemy
planes. Last night he got very close about
100 yards away got nine men & 21 horses.
By an Australian Comforts fund Fritz
dropped a bomb & did terrible
damage getting about fifty men killing
a few of them. A most terrible sight
Men blown to pieces some with no heads
on & others limbless.
I do not like the place I am camping in
for there is only canvas on the roof & one
log thick on the sides not much to stop
a bomb

Lena had a long spell in quarantine but 

I suppose it did her non harm just a nice
long spell away from the growls of the matron
I have not seen any warrack boys for a
long time but by all accounts a lot of them
are dying for their country for it is only
scientific murder here now. The one
who who can invent the more deadlier
weapon for killing human beings always
comes out on top.
Well I have nothing more to scribble  I have not
seen Les since since I returned & of poor Jim I have
found nothing more
I remain you loving son
George.

Belgium
2-10-17

Dear Florrie
I received your welcome letter
yesterday, the one you wrote for Lena when
she was in quarantine
The boys are putting up a grand fight
and giving the Square heads all they
want & a lot more besides for of late he is
continually giving ground & vantage
points too but it is a wonder any
of his men can live under the barrage
that out gunners put up, for at times

there are thousands of guns throwing

their messages of death & destruction and

the ground is one mass of shell

craters after an attack

I have not seen any of the Warrack

chaps for a long time but by the papers

that the local boys are giving accounts

of themselves but many of them are

giving their lives for their country

but it is terrible to think that the poor

chaps are doing their utmost for the empire

while there are loafers at home who are

doing their best to stir up strife at home

& doing all kind of unthinkable actions

in the interest of the enemy & what's

more they are living in our own

com country but still are in the

enemy pay.

I see Het has got a school of her

own now. She went a fair distance

to get one. With me there is a chap

who went to the same school as

she is at now.

Well I have nothing more to say so

Au Revoir

Your sincere friend

George.

Belgium

5-10-17

 

Dear Het

I received your welcome letter

today the first from your new school

Well you went far enough to start on

your own but now you have started

keep going. If The school must have a 

very good garden for to have been awarded

the certificates.

There is a chap with me who comes

from just where you are and knows

the people with whom you are staying also

Mrs Mulholland & daughter. His father has a

big butcher shop in Lal - now find out

the name if you can

I have just answered Jamies & Dolly's

letters and my hand is getting tired but

I am scribbling a short note to Les after

this that for I have not seen him

since I came back from England

where I had the best of times & was

mighty sorry to have to return

you had a good look around town

before you went up the North east but

we could do with some of your warm

weather here now for it is terribly cold

& drizzling rain all the time

I have absolutely nothing to say for things are

the same to us here day after day & the

only thing that any interest is later on

is when we make a bit of an advance

wha which we have just done & gave

fritz a good battery with the bayan

Well I have nothing more to say this

time so Au Revoir hoping you are well

Your loving Brother

George.

5-10-17

 

Dear Jamie 
I received your most welcome

letter today with one from Dolly which

I have just answered I have to write to

Les & Het yet tonight so I have my

work cut out for tonight but I have

nothing else to do but play the old

chanter which I bought from England

this time with me and it is a beauty

made of ebony & bone. I paid in all £2-10

for it so it ought to be good but it gets

knocked about a lot so far I tu have

broken the mouth piece but I stuck it

together with plaster so it is working

wonder again

I suppose Mum is home again after seeing

Het into her new quarters but I thought

that she might stay some time at Everton

It has been wet weather lately & very

cold into the [b?], the winter weather

is well on its way and if its anything

but like last winter there will be a lot of