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[Page 75]
3.
is something much worse than influenza troubling me.
My company had only been in Abbasseih about 1 week when they were ordered to join the 13th Battalion, whom of course they are reinforcing, at Heliopolis, that is right next to me here, and some of my pals often come in to see me. They had not been here 6 days when the 13th Battalion, together with nearly all the Infantry here, received notice to pack up and be ready to leave at very short notice for ??? we don't know where, but are almost sure it is the Dardenelles.
Our O.C. told our boys that they are almost sure to be under fire inside 5 or 6 days. There are some 40,000 French troops at Alexandria, and they are also going over with the Aust. and N.Z. men. We hear that an army of 100,000 Turks are waiting for us, so there should be somethin' doin'. Our army is expected to be landed, under fire from our warships, on the Dardenelles, and most probably will engage the Turks at once, and if all goes well, will start marching on Caonstantinople.
All my pals that I came over with are going, though they are reinforcements, as it is expected that we shall sustain pretty heavy losses at first, and of course the gaps must be filled up. And here am I, lying on the broad of my back out of it all. Gee!, it's hard, dashed hard. I would give anything I possessed to get away with the boys, and last night I got up and dressed myself and went and saw the doctor to ask him if I couldn't get out of the hospital and go along with them. But it was no good, he wouldn't let me go. I would have cleared out, but knew it was no use. I would only have been sent back.
Well, I did not sleep at all last night, and am not ashamed to admit that I shed a good few tears. Aren't I unlucky? Just the time when a man ought to be well and in the pink of condition, ready for anything, he goes down to it and is only a drag instead of being of some use. The worst of it is, it may be the last fighting the Australians will see as it seems probable that theur work will be to watch Turkey and see that all is right round this way, and perhaps never get to the front