Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1916 - Part 11

in the afternoon. Beyond that I have 
practically done nothing beside my duties here 
all week & the chief trouble is the monotony. 
I have very little to do & sometimes it is difficult 
to fill in the time but still it passes away & the 
end of the war grows nearer. Wesley came 
out to dinner tonight & has just left & then 
Jaques came along & had a yarn & smoke. 
I rose at 3.30 a.m. this morning & am feeling 
rather weary but that was an exceptional 
practice for me & at any rate I'm going to 
doss early though I had an hour this 
afternoon. Nothing further to tell you my 
dear - I do hope you are keeping brisk & 
well so that you will be in good health 
& spirits when I return. Best of love 
to all & an extra lot for mother from 
Her loving son (who is sleepy) 
Wilf

17.5.16.
My dear mother, 
No mail has arrived since I last 
wrote you but we expect one any day now as it is a 
fortnight since the last. Wesley & I broke the monotony 
this week by going off to Ismailia for the day last 
Sunday. We left here at 6.30 a.m. - I had previously 
done my sick parade - & caught a train to Ismailia
from the nearest railway station. Even at that time 
in the morning it was hot so our first performance 
was to go into the club & have an iced lemon 
squash & it was glorious to get a really cold 
drink again. Then we trotted round to the hospital, 
saw a few people there including Davidson who 
go graduated a year after us at Sydney & was 
attached to the 3^rd L.H.F Amb. but is now sick in 
hospital. We repaired to the club for lunch & 
saw a lot of English papers there also & later in 
the afternoon went for a dip in the lake, which 
was delightful as it was a sweltering day 
& the water was glorious. We managed 
to borrow tights & dressed in some proper 
bathing boxes which are placed along 
the banks of the lake. We then swallowed 
more lemon squashes & afternoon tea &

wandered about in the cool evening air till 
our train departed, but the villainous thing 
was 1½ hours late & so we did not get back 
to camp until 2 a.m. It was beautifully 
moonlight on our return trip & although 
we felt a little tired, riding home was not 
unpleasant. It may seem a ridiculous 
thing to do making such a big day as that 
but it is well worth while in order to make 
some variation in our life here. The weather 
has warmed up in earnest now & two of 
our thermometers in water registered 106° yesterday 
in the tent so I suppose that it was a good 
many degrees over that but we dared not leave 
them out as they would burst at 110°. 
The flies also are very troublesome as they 
persist in coming into the shade of the 
tent or humpy & cause great annoyance as 
their numbers beat anything I have ever seen.
We keep them down a lot by spraying but 
they breed very fast. The nights are not 
unbearably hot fortunately & we sleep well 
I have a horses nosebag on my tent as a waterbag 
& have now a bottle of lime juice & manage to 
put a surprising quantity away. My batman 
boils the water each night & fills the bag

as I never trust the water in these places. 
As for tea we put it away by the pint. 
I don't think our Turkish friends will 
visit us at all now - if they can cross 
this desert in the heat they are not 
mortal, so I expect we will have a 
quiet time. We have no mosquitos or 
sandflies which is a great comfort 
Stuck again my dear for news so 
must think of finishing. I do hope 
you are keeping well & in good spirits 
& taking a trip away. Best of love to 
all & a double share to mother from 
Her loving son 
Wilf

May

21.5.16 
My dear mother, 
I wrote my last letter to you only a fe 
three or four days ago but last night we had a large 
mail & I thought would write a few lines today to tell 
you that I was so pleased to have two letters from you 
one from Mab, one from Mrs Job, one from Cedric & one from 
dear old Gordon Walker who is doing quite well in Tasmania. 
I also received two Sydney Mails from Ern, a Life from you & 
a copy of Land & Water & Bystander which I have sent from 
Cairo each week. So I had quite a splendid mail. 
What a lot of news you had to tell me in your letter of April 6^th. 
Harry with his car, Bloomfield's selling theirs, cousins in khaki
& so on, your poor hand must have been very tired I'm sorry 
to say that the recruiting sargeant who visited you confused 
me with the other Captain Evans who was medical officer of 
the 7^th L.H. Regt & to whom my letters were sent at first. 
He became sick on Anzac went to England & finally
had a trip to Australia & was only 3 days there when he 
was sent back to Egypt & is now in the 13th a Field 
Ambulance near here. Strange to say Colonel Arnott 
was in command of that regiment at the time so 
he has had two Evans as medicos to his regiment. 
You said W West ∧Chemist of Bega had fought at Tel-el-Kebir - 
it is strange that only yesterday that

some fellows I know who have just come from Tel-el-Kebir
- for we have a big training camp there now - spoke 
of visiting the trenches where the famous battle was fought. 
& were describing to me the type of trench they used 
then although they are very largely filled in with sand 
now. I hope you received that shell safely as it 
cost me a lot of trouble & I want you to keep it 
for me. It fell in the vicinity of my dressing station 
& I secured it & kept it for some time as I wanted 
a good shell case, then at the evacuation we had 
orders to take no curios but I put it in my pack 
& left other items of clothing rather than it although 
it made my pack much heavier. Sister Gibbins 
who took it to Australia for me was a very kind 
hearted little thing & was going home on transport 
& wanted to know if I had anything to send, so 
I thought it would be safest sent thus. You 
will notice the shell cap which screws off, when 
the shell explodes it flies off & all the contents 
- large bullets of which I sent a sample fly out &
spread out many yards. I think it is a 
75 m.m. shell - the Turks had one of those 
guns which played on Rhodadendron Ridge 
& kept us always on the qui vive. I am 
able to write today because it is cool & the 
flies are not troublesome. When I last wrote

it was sweltering & I had no energy for anything 
but a couple of days ago a Northerly wind sprang 
up & since then the change has been marvellous & 
it resembles a rather warm spring day in Australia. 
I'm a bit worried about your health as you say 
you are thin - I sincerely hope with the winter you 
will regain weight & that a timely holiday 
will do all the needful for you. All the letters I 
have from Australia about the fellows in my year
who stayed behind speak of how well they are 
all doing. It is rather annoying for those who have 
gone to think of the others establishing themselves firmly
in good practices & gaining good experience 
while we are doing so little real medical work 
but after all we have the satisfaction of knowing that 
we have done the right thing, although Wesley & I 
get very annoyed sometimes when we hear of some 
fellows doing a big practice & many operations while 
we ourselves become more out of practice each 
month. However I suppose it will all 
adjust itself in time. We have applied 
for leave to go to Cairo together for three 
days & hope it will be granted as the 
change would be very welcome. 
Cheer up my dear, & get yourself 
in good nick for that trip to

England with me later on. 
Best of love 
from 
Your loving son 
Wilf 

There is another letter dated 17/5/16. Very little 
news in it - Chief thing they had to 
keep their thermometers in water which 
was 106 - & they would burst at 110 
he said same thing to Mrs Job before 
I left Sydney - but left this out 
did not like telling me the temperature
Was 122 that day - poor fellows -
God help them all - they are 
enduring plenty on that desert. 
Friday 
So glad to get your note & learn
that Linda is so much better & 
all going on well at home. 

Nov 1916

28.5.16.
My dear mother, 
Once again I commence my letter to 
you, on a Sunday afternoon this time although there 
is little to remind one in these regions that it is 
Sunday save that the men do less work & we have 
a church parade. Still there is not the same restful 
feeling of the Sunday at home, probably because my 
own work goes on much as usual & occupies no 
very great length of time at that. Last Sunday 
Wesley & I rode into the XXXXXX & had a dip (I 
forgot & had to censor myself) & again a couple 
of days ago. It is rather a long way to ride 
in though the bathing is very enjoyiable. We don't 
seem to mind coming back as we are cooled down 
& it is later in the evening but it is generally 
rather warm riding in. We have commenced 
playing bridge in the evenings now & find it a 
very pleasant method of passing the time. Until 
recently we had not enough players but some 
officers came in from some outlying posts & filled 
up the required four. I am now looking after 
the health of a small British company near here 
in addition to my own people & it helps to occupy time.