Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1918 - Part 6

9.7.18.

My dear mother,
I am still enjoying my trip to hospital &
expect to return next Sunday.  It has been a treat to have
time fully occupied here as I have had 150 patients to look
after & they take quite a lot of time. Then we have swimming,
I often go in three times a day as it is quite handy & then
we sometimes go to tennis in Port Said which is very
pleasant.I have chummed up with a Major Brown
here, one of the surgeons, & we took a couple of the nurses
to tennis one afternoon & dinner afterwards. Another
afternoon Comins who is a dentist formerly attached to
the 3^rd LHF Amb, & now down here, & I went down
with another couple of nurses one afternoon to the
Armenian refugee camp which is a few miles down
the canal from here. We sailed down & the girls had
a lot of shopping to do for different people as the
Armenians make handkerchiefs, laces etc, & sell quite
a lot of stuff. When I saw the hankys I thought
you & Mab might like some so I bought a
dozen & also a quaint little coat which I
thought might be of use for one of the young nieces
or nephews, whichever it would fit. It was quite a
queer little thing & looked as if it might be useful
At any rate I hope you like the handkerchiefs.
An Australian mail has arrived, but I have rather
missed it, as it has probably gone out to the field

for me & won't get mine for a few days.
When we were at the Armenian camp our boat cracked
it's sail & couldn't return, so we had to breast up to
a naval officer who was there with a fine motor launch
& was buying some things with some ladies, & we
asked him if he would rescue us as there were
no other boats. He was very decent about it & off
we went in great style & had some tea in Port Said
on our way back. Quite a number of officers I know
are sick in hospital here & I often pop in & have
a talk with them so that time goes very rapidly
I'm not looking forward very much to returning to the
field & the valley of the Jordan but it must be done
so there's no use regretting it.
We went over one day & had a look over a boat
which is returning to Australia with sick & wounded
shortly & upon which I hope to send this letter with
some of the people who are travelling on her. She
was very much fitted out & comfortable & I
certainly wished that I could stow myself
away on her somewhere. I will have more to
say I hope when I receive my mail my dear
so will close this with the very best of love & many
a big hug
from
Your loving son,
Wilf.
If I succeed in sending this by a passenger, I expect
you will get this letter in the shortest time for a long while.

28.7.18.

My dear mother,

Two welcome letters from you arrived today
dated May 27^th & June 1^st I was very grieved indeed to
hear that you had not received letters from me recently
this being due to your change in address as some would
be addressed to Candelo, some to that place at Vaucleuse
where you were for a while & some to North Sydney, so
no wonder they have gone astray. I only hope that
my letter about our stunt to El Salt reached
you as it was a very interesting little operation
up there & I should be sorry if that letter went
astray as it was a fairly long one. I am also
rather sorry my dear, to note between the lines that
you are a wee bit lonely & not too well & that
confirms me in my intention of applying for
transport duty on those grounds. I have been
trying to make up my mind to do it for a long
while but can never quite decide to give up
the business out here, much as I hate it &
have hated it. But, when we have finished our
turn in this valley for in a couple of weeks time
I will do so, though at present the supply of
medical officers out here is on the short side.
But I know what a joy it would be for you 

to see me again (to say nothing of myself!!) so I'll
have to make a shot at it, though it may
take some little time after I apply. Please don't
worry about sending parcels, my dear, they are only
extra expense to you now & you can ill afford
it under present conditions so please dont
worry about it at all as we can get most things
in canteens.  I think in my last letter I
mentioned to you my trip to Hebron from Bethlehem
& on coming down to the Jordon valley again.
Although it's very hot I don't mind it a bit
this time, I think my trip away bucked me
up no end & I'm as fit as can be. Last
week didn't seem very hot but the average
for the days of the week was 105° so you can
see it was fairly warm & it didn't come down
below 70° at night. Yesterday was fairly
hot 114°, but we get used to it & I didn't
feel it a scrap - we were out all afternoon
chasing mosquitos, as we say, or to be exact
looking for their hiding places so as to
exterminate them. We found a new place out
beyond our barbed wire where out patrols
go out to & get very much bitten at night,
& we discovered the source of the breeding
& can remedy it quite readily.
We went out by motor car part of the way 

and the rest of it we rode.  The previous day
we went up the Wadi Mellabah where we
did so much work last time & found it
very satisfactory on the whole. Things are
very quiet just at present, since the Turks were so
badly biffed when they attacked recently, &
there is only occasional shelling nowadays
& an occasional hostile aeroplane comes over
& has a look at us. Col Dixon's boat got
away so sharp to time that the letter I wrote
him giving him your address didn't catch
him & I'm very disappointed as I don't
know his address in Australia & he will
be there before you get this, on a hospital boat
- no names mentioned.  He intends coming
back again, I believe - I'm afraid my trouble
would be that if I once got to Australia I
wouldn't feel like moving off again.
I have very little news to tell you this time, my
dear, & hope I'm not boring you stiff as the
boys say, but as you will know by this time
our life in camp is always very much the
same routine unless active operations are
in progress. We seem to have got the Germans
pipped in France at last & I think it's
only a matter of time until we have them
completely settled - time of course is the

nuisance.  Turkey must be feeling a bit sick too,
I fancy & I think half their soldiers would
desert to us if they hadn't been told that
they would be killed if taken prisoner & the poor
beggars are always surprised when our fellows give
them cigarettes & food when they are captured.
No more news my dear. I do hope you
are feeling fit.  Best of love & a very large hug
from
Your loving son,
Wilf.

21.7.18.

My dear mother,
Down in the valley once more for a few weeks
among the dust & heat, but the season is advancing & will
be changing for the better soon. We fortunately missed one
heat wave when the temperature was over 105 ° for the whole
week. Since our arrival it has been comparatively decent & we
haven't felt it at all. We are comfortably situated as we have
an E. P. tent (quite a large square tent) for a mess & have decent
bivouacs.  I think when I last wrote you I was at Bethlehem
Port Said. I returned to Bethlehem only a few days before we
moved but was fortunate in having a trip to Bethehem Hebron
in the meantime. Hebron was the spot where David
lived before he became king & Abraham, Sarah &
Isaac were all buried there & over their graves
is erected a large Mohommedan mosque with
pillars or minarets in honour of each of these,
as the Old Testament characters are heroes to
Mohommedans as well as Christians. The town
is a pretty old place surrounded by a fertile tract
of country covered with grape vines, fruit trees
& crops of all kinds. The main road from
Jerusalem to Beersheba runs through it & I
understand it was the centre of the Turkish
vilayet before we took the country. The hills
around are rocky & steep & it was among

them that David took refuge - the tomb cave
of Abraham being I understand between
Bethlehem & Hebron. We had a most pleasant
afternoon, on our way down had a look at a
new water supply which has been constructed
for Jerusalem. Jerusalem has always been
short of water as it has only the Pool of
Siloam & one small spring as a natural
water supply, relying, otherwise on catchment in
the rainy season which is stored by the
inhabitants in cisterns in their homes & the
supply thus kept generally tides them over the
dry season which lasts all summer.
In addition the old aqueduct from Solomon's
pools still runs but is not a great
supply. Early in this summer the presence of
so many troops encroached considerably on
the water supply of the inhabitants & to replace
it our engineers have been engaged in repairing
a large reservoir built by Pontius Pilate many
years ago some 15 miles from Jerusalem on
the Hebron road but instead of using the old
aqueduct by a s which ran by a sinuous
course through the valleys to the lower
part of Jerusalem - it's source was only
as high as the lower part of Jerusalem -
they now pump it up to the top of a big

hill & then by means of pipes run it by gravity from
there to Jerusalem. Certainly the British
people treat the inhabitants of captured
countries very well.
I am now busily engaged warring against
mosquitos. Col Dixon suddenly obtained
leave to Australia & leaves tomorrow. I have
given him your address & asked him to call
on you if he is in Sydney. He is a fine chap
& I'm sure you would like him.
No more news this time mother mine, hope
you are very well & in good spirits as
I am with lots of love
from
Your loving son,
Wilf.
Some of these days I'm going to have
a shot for some leave home to
Australia if I can raise some
decent reasons.  Can you think
of any?

6.8.18
My dear mother,
Here I am again starting another letter
to you but this time I fear without any news at all
to tell you. We are still in the same spot in the valley
& have had rather a sweltering week, but it has cooled
off today a good deal. I have been kept fairly busy
with my mosquito work to do & various other tasks
in the office & so on. I started from here one morning
at six oclock with Parkes from our Sanitary Section
in a Ford motor car to visit the farthest portion
of our line. We arranged for horses to meet us at
a point beyond which the car would not go, & then
rode on several miles. I think that portion of
our line is the most desolate & hottest in the
whole valley. A gradual descent from here
leads into the fresh water stream of the Aujah
which is quite a beautiful stream of fresh
water though it's banks are now desolate & deep
in dust from military traffic. Beyond this there
is another brackish stream called the Mellabah
of which we hold one portion & the Turks
another. Mosquitos breed in both the Auja &
Mellabah but we have cleared them out
pretty well now in our part of the stream, but