Item 01: Henry Gordon Simpson letters, 1915-1916 - Page 7

[Page 7]

The Dardanelles 27th 11 August – I think [1915?]
My dear Onion Your most interes welcome letter has just arrived. The only one I've had since leaving Australia. I wrote to mother from Fremantle, Aden and Cairo & again from here the other day. The Cairo one ought to be in Sydney by now, the others of course long ago. if the mater has written, her letters must have gone astray. Our Company has been 3 weeks here today – at the front or a small portion of it. We landed at dead of night very quietly, occasionally a rifle spitting out some distance off. Then we had a perfect hell of a march on a sandy track of hills & over rocks & bushes, with all equipment & tent on – very heavy until we got to our trenches where we halted for the night. We all fell down & went to sleep – then about 2 a.m. – up again at 5. We went to another trench. We had a scratch breakfast & tried to settle down for some rest in our dugouts – about 11 oclock the order came along for all the th company to be ready by 3 o'clock – ten of us were detailed off for fatigue work – we didn't know of what nature – the rest await further orders –