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[Transcriber's notes: - David Conroy's letter is addressed to his Mother in Nottingham, England and covers his training and the journey from Sydney, departing 20 October aboard the Euripidies, and arrival in Cairo, 6th December 1914. He was killed in action on Gallipoli, 23 July 1915]
T.S.S. Euripides,
Alexandria,
Egypt.
Dec 3rd /14
My dear Mother,
I expect this letter will come as a surprise to you when you first read it, but, I hope that when you have got over the surprise you will not only approve of my action but will also forgive me for not having informed you right away. Now to come to the point. I am a member of the Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force that has been raised to assist England. I joined it in Sydney somewhere towards the latter end of August 26th or 28th.
My reasons for not letting you know at once that I had joined are as follows, No 1. I was not absolutely certain that I would remain a member of the A.I.E.F. for they (the officers) were always picking out all the fellows who did not seem to be up to much & either discharging them or else putting them in the 2nd contingent. As I had no previous training I stood as good a chance as anyone of being rejected. Well as it happens I was not passed out. Reason No 2. Is that when I first joined we were told that after we had ahdf a little training in Australia we should be sent to England to complete out training & then sent to the front. This was all the information we had given to us until a few fdays ago, when, whilst we