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[Page 16]
Rolleston
October 2nd.
Monday
Dear Father,
Yesterday I went into the mess to find a stack of papers several feet high and as many thick – all for me. "Mirabile dictum" four or five Bulletins were amongst the number. Being Sunday I had a glorious time, and the pile seems yet undiminished.
You have no doubt heard by this time that Alan O'Connor has been killed in action. What a terrible shock it must have been to his mother and fiancée – so soon after he reached the firing line. I would be glad if you would convey my sympathy to Mrs O'Connor. War is a strange mixture of tragedy and glory. Blue Harper has been awarded a D.S.O. and Croix de Guerre, and everybody seems to think that what he did was worth a V.C. I met one of the old Tramway Reinforcements, in London about a month ago, who was with Blue in the trenches. When I mentioned Harper's name his face lit up: ' The bravest man I ever met; Do you know him?' I think the fact that I knew him and had spoken to him raised me one hundred percent in his estimation.
There is a good sprinkling of original 20th Batt. Men in camp here, discharged from hospital and waiting their turn to be sent back to the firing line. I have