Item 02: John Herbert Butler correspondence, 1914-1920 - Page 19

[Page 19]

[This page follows on from the end of the first paragraph of page 14 above and the second paragraph above starting with "I wish I could have seen... follows this page 15]
He was doing heavy execution with his mits when a squad of town piquet thought he was one of the rioters, & seeing he was a lieut. they evidently thought not to disgrace him by arrest, so he was seized before he could make explanations & bundled into the bottom of a motor, squashed a private's hat on his head & covered up his lieutenant's stars. Thus he was borne out of the fight.

The other day we – the whole of B Squadron went into Heliopolis, mounted without arms & cleared the town of stray drunks & absentees of all kinds & brought them back to camp.

Well you will have got my photos by now, how do you like them? I don't think the full face one is bad, except that I was out of condition, & very thin at that time. I got a doz. of each kind so as to send everyone I write to a print.

I went over to Mena & saw Charlie & Jack [Butler's cousins] & had a chat to them one day about 3 weeks ago, they arranged a picnic for the next Sunday week, for the three of us to go to some old ruins. Well last Sunday the day appointed, I went to Mena & found that the whole camp had vanished except for a few regiments of the latest troops.