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[Page 103]
The chocolate is arriving regularly & jolly good it is too!
As regards my state of health, I have never felt better. My right side is beginning to feel itself again, & I am getting along famously with my talking & swearing seems to come easiest somehow.
Give my filial fraternal & friendly love to mother, fr Dorothy Mr. O'Reilly & Dodger.
Your loving son
Keith.
[Transcriber's notes:
Pg. 4:
"paresis" means slight or incomplete paralysis
"aphasia" means a defect or loss of the ability to speak or write, loss of ability to understand spoken or written language, due to injury or disease of the brain centres.
Pg. 6:
C.C.S. means Casualty Clearing Station. These were small hospitals generally located at railheads or similar transportation hubs. Their job was to provide emergency treatment and to move patients back to the stationary and general hospitals.
Pg. 7:
"Trephining" means the removal of a circular disk of the cranium.
Pg. 8:
"anaesthesia" means the loss of normal feeling or sensation.
Pg. 15 – 18:
This letter was written by Charles Melville McNaghten, born 18.11.1879 and educated at Eton and Cambridge. On 1.1.16 he was awarded the Most Distinguished Orders of St. Michael & St George for services in connection with military operations in the Field. In June 1916, at the rank of Lt-Col it was determined that he was incapacitated for Military Duty because of neurasthenia and invalided back to Australia. He re-enlisted for military service in Brisbane on 19 October 1916 under the name of Ciam Macmilville.
Pg. 19 – 21:
This letter may be from Leslie Charles Whitfeld whose name was sometimes spelt incorrectly in military records as Whitfield.
He was a vet and in April 1917 became the O.C. Australian Vet Hospital in France.
The "Ballarat" referred to in his letter was a British troop ship sunk by a U-boat SW of the tip of Cornwall on 25 April 1917. She was en route from Melbourne to the UK. There was no loss of life.
Pg. 23:
Major C R Lewis was Cecil Rodwell Lucas 53rd Battalion. Major Lewis received a glowing report from his superiors on 15.9.17 in which he was described as "A determined officer of very cheerful disposition. Reliable, conscientious with plenty of energy and drive…". His profession was listed as Judge's associate.
Pg. 41:
Maurice Guillaux was a French aviator who came to Australia in 1914. He decided to remain permanently in Australia but left for France in October 1914 as a member of the First Australian Division. By 1915 he was a test pilot in France and was killed in the crash of a new aircraft he was testing on 21 May 1917. Wikipedia
Harry George Hawker was an Australian born aviator who after WW1 co-founded Hawker Aircraft. He was killed in a plane crash in 1921. Wikipedia
Pg. 65:
The correct spelling of the name of the French town is Abbeville]
[Transcribed by Ros Bean for the State Library of New South Wales]