Lewis war diary, August 1917-March 1919 / James Ray Lewis - Page 7
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[Page 7]
tea. So began and ended that 20th of August when I first crossed the Rubicon, & began a new era of life. The next few days were spent in making friends and settling down. A few observations might be made upon the type's of recruits volunteering in the army at this time. The recruits comprised two distinct types that stood out prominently, 1 youths, 2 married & aged men; these are divided into 2 other classes. 1 Those who enlisted for patriotic and adventurous reasons, and those who enlisted because they were stuck. Well Alec, I said to a new mate, who was helping me to sterilize pints & plates one saturday afternoon, what was your stunt, before you came here? Oh! we owned a dairy farm on the Dorrigo. Im the only son & one sister and father and mother attend to the milking of the cows (about 50). How old are you? Oh! 19, & such cases can be multiplied over & over again, in lesser degree. I am sorry to say of many of the older and married men that fondness of drink seemed to be before love of country. Though to be sure there were some jolly fine men amongst them. There was R - who came from faraway California to enlist.
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