Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1918 - Part 2

must be given to go to either place.
I feel quite distressed about your possible troubles
in settling on a home & wish I could give
you help or advice, but it is so difficult
here to do so. Building is doubtless very
expensive just now & it rather makes one
wonder if a place could not be bought or
rented more advantageously just at present
particularly as you do not wish to settle
yourself down absolutely just yet.
Don't for goodness sake though settle in
a crowded suburb or you will stifle.
I have had rather a busy week this
time, as it has been necessary to ride
round a good deal & stir people up about
their sanitation owing to our settling down
for a period in a standing camp. Also
water has had to be watched closely
& I had to condemn one place altogether
from which they were obtaining drinking
 

water & which on examination proved to be
absolutely unfit. Today we have been to a 
sports meeting held by one of the Brigades
which reminded me rather of the old "shows"
at home, as it consisted mainly of jumping
& events of a similar kind, though of course
adapted to military conditions. For instance
it wasn't the best turned out buggy, but
the best turned out limber, & so on.
The 10 best horses which had been out since
mobilization, also, was a good item & there
were some beauties probably the pick of the
English stables. One amusing item was the
best turned out camel, in one case with
ridden by a white man & in another a cacolet
for wounded led by a native Egyptian as
they always are. And it was a proud
Egyptian with whom the Corps Commander
shook hands as he did with all the
 

winners of the other competitions.
Memorial church service to be held tomorrow
& everybody is to attend & in addition
the Corps Commander will be present.
No more news this time, mother mine, there
never is much when in a standing camp
Am enclosing a note for Candelo
Knitting Society just to buck them
up a bit though all my stuff was
knitted by you.
With very best of love to all &
mother's usual share from
Her loving son
Wilf.
I really am getting horribly fat
 

Sent to
Harry.

24.1.18

My dear mother,
I have just sent off to you a 
registered packet of photos which I hope you
will receive safely. I went through my papers &
collected all the oddments which had been
lodging there for some time past & just prior to
sending these away the photos I had taken of
the recent Palestine operations came along &
I sent them also. They are really quite a good
interesting lot & I was very pleased with them &
hope you like them also. We are now living
much the same life as we did at this time last
year when resting back at El Arish, only we
are farther North & it is a little colder.
The men are training & sports are the order of
the day, each different unit is trying to 
arrange something to try & amuse & entertain
 

the men. Sickness is now very slight
-it always is in winter & the men are all
in very good fettle. We have had rather
a busy week de-lousing them, as during
operations it was impossible for men to
wash themselves or their clothes much & they
accumulated horrible numbers of lice & we
eventually secured the disinfecting train
for our Division. This consists of an ordinary
engine with two ^closed trucks attached, fitted with
iron doors & steam pipes & the clothes are
stacked inside this on racks provided for
the purpose, the doors closed & steam turned
on. Steam of course destroys all leather
articles so breeches with leather facings
cannot thus be treated. While their
clothes are being steamed the men go
about in their overcoats & boots & those
with leather faced trousers iron them with
hot irons provided for the purpose or else
expose the inner sides to a steam jet which
proves fairly effective. After ¾ hour they
 

get their clothes back & their overcoats are 
then done. It took us three days to do the 
Division & we have just finished. I never
saw men worse afflicted with lice than they
were this time & the eggs were sometimes in
solid masses.
Otherwise I have been continuing my Sanitary inspections
stirring up one or another so as to get them
into good trim. We generally have a game
of cards in the evening so that time passes
fairly pleasantly save that I wish one could 
be going on with medicine instead of rather
stagnating. I wonder how you are 
progressing now & whether you have yet
found a suitable place to live in, suppose
you are still house hunting.
Several fellows have gone off to England on
leave from here this week whose homes
are in England - Musker, Cavanagh, Ford Young
 

& Col Preston, so I think they will have
an adventurous time as submarines still
seem to be present in the Meditteranean.
One of our medicos in charge of a Sanitary
Section went home to get married & was
torpedoed on the return trip but fortunately
reached land minus his baggage.
News very scarce my dear so will close,
hoping the photos reach you safely
with best of love to all & a hug
for mother from
Her loving son, 
Wilf.
Some distance away from Jack just
at present so haven't seen him for
sometime.
 

18.2.18
My dear mother,
I didn't get a chance to write yesterday so am
trying to scratch off a few lines now before dinner. I leave tonight 
for Moasca for a fortnight's military school, & don't expect
to have a very good time as I understand that they keep the boys
fairly busy. I have had a fairly strenuous week here during
Col Dixon's absence on leave, but he returns tomorrow morning to
take over. Jack wrote me a few lines this week - the first I 
have had from him for a month or two & he seems in good
spirits & well, but is quite out of my reach just at present
& I expect will remain so for a few weeks more until we
move again. I have been out visiting once or twice last
week, one night I was invited to dine at one of the
Yeomanry Regiments by their medico. All the Yeomanry
were at one time composed of the pick of the English
county families & a good number of their originals still
remain with them, so that it is by the usual thing to
meet several titled people in the Regiment. The mess I
was invited to was quite a small one consisting only of the
Colonel, Signal officer, medico & one of the squadron
leaders. They were all very decent indeed & numbered one
"Lord" in the party, but ofe one never quite breaks the crust 
in one evening, & however pleasant the British officers are, &
they usually are pleasant, we naturally feel more at home among
 

our own Regiments. Still I spent an enjoyeable 
evening though a quiet one.
A couple of nights later, Murray Jones - the Veterinary
staff officer here & I went over to the 9^th Regt
to dine & the evening was a great contrast. They had 
a big Regimental mess including in it all the 26 officers
in the Regiment & there were several visitors in addition
to us including some from the 3^rd Field Ambulance.
They had a gramophone going & some of the younger
members got up & danced to the tunes, giving exhibition 
of Tangos twosteps & so on, then they started chorus 
singing led by a fellow with a very decent voice
so that we had quite a rollicking evening.
They practiced "trench raids" too, three fellows sat
themselves on a settee made of sandbags filled up 
- built into the form of a couch, & challenged 
the others to dislodge them. A tremendous
scramble ensued & they all ended up very hot
& perspiring. The evening was a very marked contrast 
to the previous one. Last night a couple of the same
 officers came over here to dinner - Major Daly & Macdonald, 
the latter who was wounded at Rafa & brought back by our 
Ambulance when I was there was invalided home & has
returned again. We had a quiet game of cards & 
amused them in that way, with the aid of a gramophone
in addition. Murray Jones is a splendid fellow to entertain
anyone, he is so full of spirits & talk & can go on
indefinitely talking away & acting with it, so that
 

we experienced no difficulty in keeping the party
amused. I'm taking all sorts of furniture with me down
to Moasca for a fortnight - sort of travelling circus,
camp stretcher & mattress & everything complete. The
trains out here have improved very much in the 
last few months & one can get a fairly comfortable
place to sleep, or endeavour to sleep in, on the trip
Im I often wonder how you are progressing in or 
about Sydney & whether you have fixed on a 
spot yet. Perhaps it will not be necessary to
build a new place; you might find something to
suit you already built & fairly cheap. However I'm
a useless beggar as I am though I would very
much like to have a hand in the pie.
News is scarce again my dear so must close
with lots of love to all
from 
Your loving son
Wilf.