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[Page 88]
There were two good football & hockey grounds. Mr. MacLachlan was the principal and he threw this beautiful building open to Prisoners of war while they were in Smyrna. Imagine our joy at living in a place like this after the hovels we had been in for 3 ½ years previously. We were allowed out in the town daily without sentries, but were advised to go in parties for our own safety, this was a real treat for we all had a fair ammount of money after selling our clothing; also the Dutch Ambassador had just paid out £10 per man. We soon found that money did not go very far, for a decent meal cost £1. A small bottle of German lagar beer cost 4/-. I never heard a prisoner refuse a drink even though it was made in Germany, and cost a high price. There was not much chance of getting intoxicated on this beer. This went on for about 10 days, when one evening the joyful news came that we were to be ready to leave first thing in the morning. Previous to this we had rumours that a hospital ship was waiting outside the harbour for us. We got very little sleep that night