Letters from Wilfred Evans to his family, 1918 - Part 8

5
is mournful about things generally.
Her mother who was with her until recently
has been sent to Cairo with all other
Germans, but this one left as she, being
married to an Ottoman subject is treated
as one & remains in Jerusalem. She
still has a mother in law with her but
seemed pretty miserable & I don't
wonder - poor thing. There are lots of
cisterns for water about the house, with
a tremendous storage capacity as it was
on this that they depended for their water
supply of before the war & they are all
full of mosquito larvae & our fellows
have contracted a good deal of
malaria there. So "yours truly" used
a net at night & advised them
to oil all the wells & I think the
fellow in charge is doing so. I made
several attempts to leave Jerusalem & join

6
the Division but was not successful
until the 3^rd time. The first time, x
the car I was in went wrong -
"stuffed the hut" the driver said
though I don't suppose that makes
you any wiser. The next time we
got a few miles on our way when
another car tried to pass us &
the silly driver in charge of it, for
some unaccountable reason switched
across the front of our car striking
our front wheel & caused us to
topple over the edge of the road
down a bank. It rather made
some mess of the car as it fell
several feet but we were all
fortunately unhurt save for a few

7
bruises though the driver got rather
scared, as when we extricated
ourselves we found him pinned
to the ground, as a seat had just
managed to fall on his neck & he
was bearing most of the weight of
the car. He looked & certainly
was a most scared man until
we relieved him of his troubles.
We were fortunate as we might have
come off much worse. We had
to leave the car where it was &
go back again to Jerusalem
continuing our way next day.
We have a beautiful camp site
just now situated among some
olive trees with a splendid view

8
comfortable mess, all our baggage
here & we are enjoying life. I
have even a mattress on my camp
stretcher so I'm in the lap of
luxury. Before we left the valley
Jack came to see me - he had
only arrived there the previous
day & he spent the evening
with me in my tent. We had
a little supper - biscuits you
had sent me, me tea & some lime
juice & soda etc. & talked about
everybody & everything in general.
He looks well & feels quite an
old soldier now, is anxious
to get some leave to Cairo too

9
I saw Willie Shaw at the Ambulance
today, he looks well also - last
time I saw him in the Jordan
valley he had a touch of sandfly
fever & wasn't too well but
he is very fit again now.
That influenza which is raging in
Europe has reached here & is
travelling rapidly through most places
& a lot of people have had it here.
Fortunately I have escaped so
far & hope to do so altogether
-I generally manage to dodge
things with a little luck & a little
management & hope to avoid
this too. I must bring this long-
winded scrawl to a close my dear

10
hoping you are well & taking care
of yourself so as to be very fit
when I come home, with lots
of love
from
Your loving son
Wilf

[*Please post to Mabel at once -
Mabel post to Harry -
"Livesey"*]
7 Canberra Grove
Malvern
Melbourne. Victoria

10.9.18.
My dear mother,
I am commencing to write to you
after lunch on my birthday, which I had quite
forgotten until a parcel from you containing a
cake appeared in my bivouac just before lunch.
It was rather remarkable that it should arrive
on the exact day, it only did so by being delayed
a few days, as it was sent to the place at
Jerusalem where I had stayed for a short time
& was then sent on. I received no less than
four letters from you by this last mail,
some old & some new & only hope
that you are not overdoing things in
that nice home of yours. We have learnt
more than ever over here not to worry
too much about exteriors & as long as
one is comfortable what does appearance
count? I shall be quite capable
of living in a small tent when I

go back & could be quite happy & comfy
in it too. No expensive furniture required
-merely a bed & a comfy chair &
a table. We have not done very much
here lately, life is much easier when we
are resting as we are at present & there
are practically no mosquito breeding
areas to worry about. Col Fowler is
away at present - he has his wife
at Cairo & has gone to see her.
Quite a number of officers have their
wives over here now & there is quite
a large Australian colony at Port Said -
fifteen or twenty women at least & they
have almost taken possession of the
hotels there. Two or three babies have
appeared lately too I hear & more
expected. One rather funny incident
occurred when a child was born
to one officer's wife & a friend wished

to inform the husband who was in the
field of the occurrence that he was
the father of a daughter & not a boy.
He had necessarily to put red the
message into military form so that it
might be considered official & so
be sent to the officer at his unit. So he
composed it thus - "Indent for drawers,
leggings & spurs no longer required".
The country round here is very pretty indeed
& there are some beautiful rides in the vicinity,
so we take advantage of these whenever
possible. Towards evening it becomes quite
cool & delightful & we thoroughly enjoy
a canter over the country to one or other
of the pretty villages. We are all
overjoyed with the good news from France
& we have a splendid map of the
battlefield here at headquarters & I
visit the office where is kept each

day & follow the progress we make on it, as
we receive the news each day by wire.
Talking of business - I now have over £100
over here now partly in my paybook
undrawn & partly in the Anglo Egyptian
Bank & I think the best thing for me
to do is put £100 into War Bonds
here & send the receipt on to you.
Arrangements have been made for us
to do that through our pay people
here & it will save lots of bother in
sending it home. I always keep
a certain amount of money in hand
for emergencies (going home! or on holidays)
but & was waiting until I had accumulated
£100 over & above this to put it into
Bonds. I must see the pay
sergeant about it today.
I have not heard very much
more about my trip yet - Col Storey