Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1917 - Part 4

we have just received some books from the
Red Cross in addition. However we will move
when the time comes, with the stuff we are accumulating
here now, heaven knows, but there will be a
good deal of sweating done by myself to try & get
the load on the camels - note that we are likely
to move just now as far as we can see-
still one never knows. I have been away again
this week only to Kantarah this time (look it up
on your map my dear) & had just a flying trip
there & back on duty. I can't tell you what
the duties were as that would be giving away
state secrets. However it took me a day trotting
round. I left here one morning at about 7.30
a.m. per hospital train & had quite a long 
trip as the wind was blowing very fiercely &
raising clouds of sand with it so that in
places where the line runs between small
cuttings the sand obstructed the line &
we had to stop & dig an a way for ourselves
through it in some places & to make
matters worse our old engine went bung
& we had to send for another, so that 

it was late at night when we arrived at our
destination. Capt Yuille who is from this
Ambulance & was going on leave to Cairo accompanied
me & I was glad of his company. We were
treated well on the train & managed to get
some nourishment on board & in the evening we
chummed up with a Scotch officer who was
a patient going down to have his appendix
removed & another doc. & played bridge 
for 3 or 4 hours & this kept us amused
so that we did not notice time passing. When
we arrived we set out looking for a home for
the night, walked a couple of miles & got a
boat over the canal & directed our steps to
a small camp which has been established by
a Mrs Chisholm for the convenience of officers
& men travelling up & down from Cairo. Trains
arrive at all hours of the night & very often in
fact almost invariably those coming from this
side do not fit in with those leaving on the other
side of the canal which are part of the Egyptian
State Railways & men who have gone down from
here, sometimes spending nearly 24 hours on the trains
without being able to get food or drink, would
have to spend the night out in the open but

for such an institution. So that it is really 
a noble work they are doing. They supply 
meals & good ones too at a nominal cost,
& bl beds blankets etc. The YMCA & 
Church Army also have similar institutions
somewhere in Kantarah but not run by
Australians & of course we always make
for our own if possible. Mrs Chisholm is
a small delicate looking oldish lady &
is assisted by a Miss McPhillamy a
well known name in N S Wales I think &
they both look quite tired out, as they
have had a rush lately & the night we
arrived all the beds were full, but we
were given a couple of mat blankets & 
were quite happy to doss on the floor of
the tent with over coats as pillows. I was
occupied all next day with my work &
returned the same night by hospital train
& had a beautiful sleep all night in a
comfy bunk with sheets & blankets,
waking up this morning when we arrived
here. I had breakfast with our Immobile 

Section who are situated near the station.
Hearing that there were some Ambulances
which belonged to our worthy cousins division
near by I trotted off to see him as I have
been expecting him up here for some time &
have been keeping an eye open. Sure enough
he was there & wanted to know all about
Rafa & Magdaba, asked after you & so
on. He looks very well & seems to like the
place out here, it certainly is much more
pleasant than the desert where no water is
to be seen. Now I am back again & all
is well, have been fairly busy today straightening
things out one way & another & now think I
will turn in to bed, smoke a pipe & read
a novel very contentedly. It's beautiful
to go to bed when it's a little chilly & smoke
& read, one feels quite a philosopher then
like Diogenes again. A Life came safely
to hand & some Sydney Mails from Em last
mail thankyou all very much,
with love to all the old family & an
extra share for mother from
Her loving son,
Wilf. 

19.2.17
My dear mother,
Your two welcome letters (one registered &
one unregistered of 28.12.16 & 4.1.17) safely to hand this week.
And also the parcel my dear, which is a treat though
I have not been able to open it yet, as I am away from
the Ambulance for a few days & have not had a chance
to get at it, but I know what mother's cake will
be like. I don't like to hear of you sending away your
good cake tins though, my dear as I know how
handy they are for your little eatables. I unfortunately
have only one of your letters here & not the one containing
the cheque so I must wait until I return to camp
to fill that in, but it won't make any difference as
the mail doesn't close for ten days or so yet & you
will probably receive this letter & my next at the same
time. We can obtain tinned milk quite readily here
my dear, so in case you do not send any more parcels
it is just as well to omit it, as it is weighty & costs
money to post. And please, my dear, don't worry too
much about sending me things, as I know you have
lots to do at home & I don't like to think of you
overworking yourself to send me cake & now that 

Jack is away, & he will need things more than I,
so don't trouble too much about me. I haven't
told you yet what I am doing at present,
well the Divisional Sanitary Officer is away on
leave & our A.D.M.S. (chief medical man in the division
who arranges our duties) told me to come up & relieve
him during his absence, said it would be a little
experience for me & so on. It is a very easy job
though, the unit is a small one of 25 men & one
has to supply sanitary materials for the division
& go round inspecting the camps & stir up
the medical officers & others if things are
not all they might be. Captain Harvey Sutton is
the man I am relieving & comes from Melbourne.
He lives alone here & I think messes by himself as
a rule but I ride over at mealtimes to the 
stationary part of our Ambulance which is
not far from here & eat there as I must
say I like company. One morning however
I stayed in bed for breakfast as it was
cold, bed was comfy & there wasn't much
to do. I brought my batman Smith along
with me so I just told him I would
stay in bed & be brought my tucker along.

We couldn't do such a thing in the Ambulance so it
was quite a treat. They all tease me now & call
me "Dan Dan the Sanitary man", I reckon I'm a
second "Thoms", in a different walk of life. But
you have no idea, my dear, how very important
sanitation is for the health of the troops, & the way
which modern science has improved it. For instance
Napoleon lost more than half his army in this very
part of the country from Cholera & entire & here
we have an army as healthy as can be solely from
good sanitation. The only cases of Cholera we had
were a few after the August fight when we had
traversed country which the Turks had occupied
& they were soon stamped out. Everyone is inoculated
against cholera as well as typhoid so that not
only are they not likely to get the disease but if
they do get it, the form in which it occurs is not
so serious. So you see Army medicine is  more applied
to prevention than cure. You sometimes ask after
my health, mother my dear & seem anxious about
it. I wish you could see me & your doubts would
be dispelled. I think I look fitter than I have
ever done, & naturally so, as the weather is glorious
and I spend a lot of time out in the open &
have frequent swims, much riding, so the 

conditions are very favorable. Strange that you
did not know why I cabled after the
Battle of Magdaba, you must have missed seeing
it in the papers, & I thought you would have
seen it & been anxious. Jolly glad you didn't
though, I am never certain of being in a position
to send you a cable after a fight as we are
often far away from cable centres but the chance
came during the last two. I think it very possible
that I may miss the next if there are any more
here & of course we don't know if there will be
any more. But if there is one in the next few
months I think it most possible that I
will be with our stationary part, nowhere near
it, as it is my turn to go there, so you need
not worry at all if any fighting does occur.
Of course we may not have any fighting at all but
war is an uncertain thing & one never quite knows
what the other side may do, or at any rate the
junior ones of the service don't. I am very glad
that Jack came along in the Light Horse
as Infantry in France seems to be a suicide
club when they have those big pushes, the men 

in the firing line seem to have no chance at all.
I called in to see worthy cousin John today, he
was very pleasant & seemed glad to see me
of course as Colonel of his Ambulance he is rather
a big gun & sits in state at the head of the table.
It seems quite different to Australian Ambulance,
we laugh & chaff on Colonel on the same plane
almost as ourselves but in the British Ambulances
they seem to sit quietly round as if they were
mummies & afraid to say anything. Well well
my dear I think all topics are exhausted so
I must return to bed with much love from

Your loving & sanitary son
Wilf.

What is Jack's full address.
You said he was a reinforcement to the 6^th
LH Regt. but I will want to know his
number & what the number of his reinforcement
is.

23.2.17

My dear mother,
Once again in the Ambulance in our
old camp, having a quiet peaceful time. I opened
the parcel you sent me in the cake tin I remember
so well & thoroughly enjoyed exploring it's mysteries.
The cake, my dear, as usual was a beauty & we had
it for afternoon tea for several days. And the "Lucy
Hinton" was indeed welcome to say nothing of the
tooth brush nuts & chocs. They are not all eaten
yet but are being spread over several days. I wish
I could return you the cake tin but I don't believe
you would own it now, it's so horribly dinged by
the treatment it received en route. I will fill in
cheque & send it by this letter as directed by you &
will also write Mr Bloomfield. Our Colonel
is going on leave to Luxor tomorrow - lucky
man & I will be all alone in charge of the
Ambulance for a few days, as Major White left
us this week to take charge of another Ambulance
which means promotion for him to rank of Colonel
I presume. Then another officer is away with
several of our sandcarts to assist another