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had a letter from Pte So & So for three weeks would I mind letting them know by return how he is & would I write too them should he get sick or wounded & in one case even sent me the address of an uncle in Ireland & would I arrange to have him sent there if anything happened to him. of course that kind of letter gets very short shift & the man gets a flea in his ear, & advised to let his people know that a coy consists of 222 men & not 1. In the event of men killed except in a big push the coy comdr always writes to the next of kin, but in a big push that is impossible, as the work of reorginazition is something stupendous.
Thanks for the suggestion re support, our greatest trouble so far has been that, after getting brother Fritz on the run, our fellows are not fleet enough to catch him to often, fear lends wings & the devil himself would miss a good hun when he gets a move on.
I am very glad to hear of the progress of the old Division & hope that by the time we get back they will have reached 200 strong, some Division then eh? Glebe Division for ever. You say I will get in more efficient service while away than if there, but we will only get year for year while away so will not benefit by it at all however very thankful for that as it will help to keep the boys efficient so that the division can get some of its old members back with active service experience.
If in London will try & get a couple of swagger canes for you, but think you will have a long wait if you wait until I bring them back home however I would try & send them because we carry Rifles & bayonets here, no time for swagger canes and no where to put them by, so will have to forward them.
I am very sorry to hear that Mrs Harris has been an inmate of Syd Hospital, but hope & trust that she is her old self long ere this reaches you.
Lt Johnson got a p c from you. I thought it would better for the people getting the cigarettes to acknowledge them, so that subscribers would know that I was not using them for my own personal use.
I have not found any of the members of the division who are with the Bn yet, in fact have been too busy to look them up, a Bn is a big thing & men out of your own coy are completely lost, unless you know them real well by sight and just drop across them. I lost all the address you sent me in a note book but we had orders to destroy all personal notes before the big push so of course it went with the rest.
Now about this cock & bull yarn about letters In the first place is this man with his battalion or is he one of the happy Anzacs who are always posing before the camera either in London or Egypt unfortunately we have plenty of the type of