France
5-6-17
Dear Everybody
Well! here is another of many days drawing to a close to the tune of heavy & continuous artillery bombardment. The real meaning of it all will have been made known to you all long before this reaches you, & you will know on which side the balance has been weighed. To say that we are passing through stirring & an all important phase, is to put it mildly indeed; but to say that we are doing so with the utmost calm & absolute confidence of the success of the operations in front of us, is only stating a fact that is intensely obvious in the expressions of every man in the Division, & I believe in the Army of which we form a part. I am afraid this letter will only be a very short one, & perhaps the last you will get for some time to come, however, I trust it will suffice to indicate to you all, the state of mind & soul, at the commencement of these all important operations. Never I believe, were men more confident & prepared to meet whatever is to be their lot. That the hardships will be many & great, the fighting hard, & perhaps of a desperate nature
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we fully realize & are prepared to meet. For those of us who come through, it will without a doubt be the greatest moment of our lives, for the others, well, the greatest path to Glory. I have to acknowledge receipt of letters last night, or the night before, dating 9th April, they are the latest to hand throughout the Division, & contained very interesting information. By the same mail & via Kate, a very nice cake arrived in perfect condition, & was very much enjoyed by the various members of the mess. I am not long back from a short 6 days Coy. Commanders Lewis Gun course at a very pretty little seaside spot on the channel coast. While there I had dinner twice with Doctor Gordon, now Major Gordon. He wished to be very kindly remembered to you all, & Tom in particular. He is senior medical officer at the N.Z. Base Depot in France. The remainder of the photos of which I have previously written, came to hand today, & I am sending them via the High Commissioner in London, because I have not time to do otherwise. You can send the Balamona ones on to them.
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I had a letter from Geo Wilson the other day from Sling Camp, but up to the present I have not been able to reply, & I am afraid I won’t now. He seemed to be in great form & looking forward to getting out here. Now I think I must be off. I have nothing further to relate, but Field Post Cards will be the next order of the day. If possible I will send off a cablegram immediately we come out of this affair, or if we just get back for a few days spell. Oh! I nearly forgot to say that I am going in as 2nd in command of the Batt. a bit of a surprise I can assure you. Major Hargest has to stay out in case of the worst happening, & reorganization becomes necessary. I am rather disappointed at not get over with the old Coy. but of course, orders are orders. Now then Cheer Oh! & best regards to everybody. I would liked to have written Mr Diack, but it is not possible. Au Revoir for the present.
Affect Brother.
E.S. McI.
