Volume 1: Letters written on active service, A-L, 1914-1919 - Page 347

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[Page 347]

My Brother Jack joined up the 4th Battalion in the line & shortly afterwards he was sent away to hospital. I had a letter from him saying he expected to be alright again very soon. I hope he will not have to come back again because one is enough to be here let alone all the family. It is not very nice here at times Vi & I am very thankful to come out every time so lucky. I always remember you in my prayers Dear & I am not ashamed to say that I am often praying when I am in a tight corner.
In my Battery I am a Signaller & of a day we cannot show outside & all the work is done at night. When I am out on duty by myself that is the time my thoughts turn to you Dear. I cannot forget you Darling & at times if I start thinking of you my heart yearns to return to Sydney so that I can look on you again vi. I hope I will have good luck to come back safe & sound because I am sure I will get on when I return to Australia.
I am afraid you will find me a little different in my ways Dear but my love for you is the same. I think I have grown a bit since I left home but you will know me all the same when I return. I had to smile when I read one of your letters & you said I would know you because you would jump into my arms & kiss me a Hundred times. When I return Darling I will kiss you so long that no one else will have a chance to speak to me or shake hands. I would give everything I own to be home again with you Dear. You will soon be nineteen & how I would love to see you & kiss you nineteen times. We will have to wait a bit longer Dear.
If I could only get back a bit further to one of the Towns I would send you some little Souvenir for your Birthday but Dearest there is no such luck. All the Australians have been complimented by Field Marshall Haig & I think in a couple of weeks our Division will be going back a few miles so as the boys will get a decent spell.
you would not believe Dear how our boys over here are. They are splendid Dear & I am proud to be an Australian. Our Infantry are looked upon by every one else as the greatest boys on the front. The Germans are doing a lot of advancing in some places but every time they run up against our infantry they get a good hiding & they will think twice before they attack us again.
I is a shame to see the way lots of the people had to leave their homes in a hurry when Fritz was advancing. I went into one warehouse where there was Thousands of Pounds worth of stuff that the people had to leave behind & run away. There are things over here where we just came from that would make your heart ache to see. I went into a milliners shop of some sort & saw bundle upon bundle of beautiful underclothing that must have been worth a lot of money & rolls of beautiful material that would make enough blouses & frocks for about 50 girls. Fritz used to shell these places nearly all day long & now and again you would see a place catch on fire & Hundreds of Pounds worth of things destroyed. It was no good of getting anything because we could

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