No 3 London General Hospital
Trinity Road. Sth. W.
Wandsworth
27/7/1915
Dear Everybody
I wonder what you will think when you read the above address, that you will be surprised I can well imagine, but not more so than this chicken. When I left the Penninsula I had little idea that I was to be away from it so long or that England was to be my destination. I thought a week on Lemnos Isld. or a fortnight at Alexandria at most, would see me allright again. However I arrived at Lemnos safely, but next day I developed a very bad head & my temperature went up 103°. The doctor there told me there were very strong symptoms of interric, but that he thought he could stop it. I put in three more days there, & I don’t care if I never put in another like them, & my temperature got no better, still I did not take the interric side of it seriously. After the third day they sent me aboard the hospital boat Donga, bound as I thought for our own base, Alexandria. Here it is that I had a lot of luck, this particular boat was not going near Alex, but going straight for Malta, where I thought I was to be put off. Had I had the luck to have struck a boat that was going
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to Alex, I would most certainly have been put off there, but as things turned out I was darn’d glad I was not sent there, for the heat would have been intolerable. When I arrived on the boat the doctor took me very seriously, but even then I did not think I had interric, & it was not until I had passed Malta that the doctor told me I had it. Had I not been so bad I was to have been put off at Malta, but on arrival there I was just about at my worst, & as a consequence they decided that Malta was not the best place in the world for interric. A day out from Malta the doctor told me what was wrong, & said that had I not been inoculated against it, things would have gone very hard with me. It was the very fact of my being inoculated that did not let me take the matter seriously in the first place. Right up till we turned round Gib. I did not seem to get much better, but from there on I improved wonderfully, & was allowed to have something to eat. When the doctor was making out his report he came along & showed me what he was sending in against me, & it was not till then that true state of affairs shot home to me. He was reporting to the effect that I had interric, & that I required 3 months furlough to enable me to pick up. Whether I will get the three months or not I do not know, but it seems an awful long time to be held up doing nothing, & anything may
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in that time, & one does not want to get out of touch with things altogether. I am afraid if I have to spend three months here the affair on the Penn. will be over before I get back to it, & goodness only knows where our next field of operations would be, too awful to think that we might have to garrison Constantinople, when there is so much doing else where. These are only my own private conjectures & no weight is to be placed on them. We landed at Southampton after a splendid voyage from Lemnos, a voyage which took us 11 days. With the exception of about 36 hours, which time it took us to pass through the Bay of Biscay, & during which time we got a rare old tossing, there was hardly a motion in the boat. At Southampton I was one of the first to be taken off, & from the time I left the boat till the hospital trained moved out was only half an hour, really the facilities for handling sick & wounded here are just perfect. On the hospital train we were well attended to, & the beds were as comfortable as any I have been in. Of Southampton itself I saw nothing, but of the country between Southampton & Clapham Junction where we detrained, was simply glorious. After the sandy desert of Egypt & the poor country of the Penni. the contrast was a relief to the eye. Everything was just looking splendid, the crops are just
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changing colour, hay harvest just appears to be finished, & the other pastures were looking splendid, to say nothing of the beautiful English trees. Another point that impressed itself upon me, was the splendid looking stock that was to be seen on all sides. After the mongrel bred thin wasted looking things we used to see in Egypt these looked like prize stock, also horses they all looked tip-top. I have often read of the beautiful rolling downs of the South of England with their cosy homesteads, but never imagined that anything could look so splendid. Of London we have seen nothing, for I came up in a closed in ambulance & could see nothing. However the view from the windows is simply splendid, & from one end of the room we are in we can see Crystal Palace in the distance. Not being allowed out of bed I have not yet seen it myself but my room mates have seen it. Room mates are two Aust. Officers, & very nice fellows too, none of us are wounded but all suffering from stomach trouble. Their names are Capt Simpson, & Lieut Leslie, & I believe we will all get away from here about the same time, of course there is no knowing, they are both able to get out of bed & walk about a little, just a step or two in front of me. Like me Capt Simpson
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does not know a soul in England, but Lieut. Leslie is well off for relations some of whom have been to see him already, as a matter of fact two have just arrived to see him this minute. Yesterday one of his Aunt’s was along & she has invited us all down to her place, also she is going to take us out for motor runs, darn’d good of them isn’t it. These people live just opposite the observatory at Greenich. As a matter of fact his Uncle, husband of the woman who was here yesterday, has just come to see him this afternoon, & was good enough to again ask us to be sure & go down & see them. Now what do you think, I considered I new nobody in England but, who should come along yesterday & ask to be allowed to see me, because she believed I came from Otago, you will never guess, well it was none other than Miss Raymond daughter of I.W. Raymond, she was exceedingly nice, not too much of that say you, anyhow she talked for quite a long time. Her father is coming along to see me someday, I can tell you I am beginning to feel as if I am some kid. Here it is Wed. morn & a day more like our N.Z. days you could not meet in a years march. We are inclined to feel it a bit cold after Egypt & the Penn. a bit thin in the skin you know. We had another patient come into our ward
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last night, he is from France & is a Canadian. He is down with interric also, but has had a couple of relapses, & as a consequence is very low, he is Capt Bennett by name. Now I am peculiarly placed here, in huge sense that I have no uniform, & no money to get one. Not that I have no money coming to me, quite the reverse for I have any amount of money in the pay office in Egypt, but I do not know yet whether there are any facilities enabling us to draw that money here in London. I have heard that arrangements have been made with the High Commo: whereby we can get what we want, then again on the other hand I have heard that such is not the case. However when I am able to get out I am for paying him a visit first thing to see what is doing. If you could just see my present turn out, it would make a cat laugh, allright for the trenches of course, but a rare old sight for a London street. When we left Egypt we got orders that we were to pull off all badges, turn up the collars of our coats & make ourselves look as much like the men as possible. So we came to the conclusion that the quickest & best way to do it, was to get hold of a Tommy turn out, & we did it. This turn out was made up of a long pair of pants & a jacket that came well up our backs, right up to our hips, & then our stars were sowed on to our shoulder straps, rare sights we were I can tell you.
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At anyrate it served the turn, & now this is the turn out that I am landed here with. Our other uniforms we placed in our base kits, but where they are goodness only knows, floating about in Egypt somewhere, we shall not be a bit surprised if we never see them again. The leather bag I put into Cooks & Son, I have sent for, it is bound to arrive here sometime but I do not know when. However it only contains a cotton drill uniform, quite suitable for the climate in Egypt but not for here. Should you receive a cable from me some day asking you to pay into the bank of N.Z a sum of about £10 you need not be surprised. I do not think it will be necessary, but the old saying “forewarned is to be fore-armed.” There is a report to the effect that the Aust. have only to present themselves to their High Comms. & if they are in need of a uniform they are supplied with everything they require. So if that is the case with the Aust. I should not be a bit surprised if the same does not apply to us. The only alternative I have, if all these others fail is to send a line to some one in Egypt which I have already done, & get them to post me a a pay form, which I will have to sign & post back to them in Egypt. They will then take the form to the pay office & draw the money for me & post it on. However this takes a long time, it would be a month at least before I could get it.
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Since writing the last page I have had a visit from Mr Smith, he brought along with him another man, he did not tell me his name, at any rate he is a member of the “N.Z. War Contingent Association” & he came along to see if he could do anything for me, or give me any information. Of course he was just a little gold mine & gave me pretty well all the information I required. Now I am satisfied in regard to money, I find that once I get out of hospital I can draw as much as I want, until I do get out I cannot make a draw, but they will advance me some from the High Comms, quite all-right isn’t it. Pretty good one thinking he knows nobody in London, I am beginning to think that it is not quite such a big place after all. It appears to me that the people can not do too much for us. This War Contingent Assoc., has a printed phamplet giving a great deal of information, & asking all N.Z. soldiers to present themselves to the secretary, who will do all in his power to make them comfortable, arrange for cheap board & lodging or even some people have offered to take soldiers in as guests. Until I get out of here I do not think I will find much to write about. As regards news, we get very little from Dards, for the simple reason I suppose that there is nothing doing. News for the Russian front is very good today, reports tell us that they have checked the German advance & driven them
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across the Narewa. They seem to be a most remarkable force. They get cut to pieces & yet make such remarkable recoveries. Time & again they have been practically routed, yet popped up again & the next time you hear of them they have inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. It is on that frontier that the Germans are making their push just now. In the western front there is practically nothing doing. If everything is summed up I think the biggest part of the war is going diplomatically just now. Both sides seem to be straining every nerve to induce Bulgaria & Raumania to side with them. On the other hand they, Bulgaria etc appear to be playing the waiting game & are not going to [comm]itt themselves until they are quite sure they will be on the right side. That they will go a long way in deciding the final result should they cast their lot with us I am perfectly certain, especially the operation against Turkey. On the other hand should they go in on the other side they will only prolong the struggle, & will not I feel sure have any effect on the ultimate result. Of Greece, the least said the better, the pro German section are playing their remaining cards very well. You will in all probability receive a letter from a lady, a Mrs Hooper by name, she has taken the address & says she will write you & give you her version of how I am getting on, she is very nice & has
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made us promise to go to her place when we get out. She is the same lady that I spoke of earlier in this note. Well now I must get this off tonight as the mail leaves tomorrow. When it is gone I suppose I will think of quite a number of things I wanted to write about, however they will keep till next time. Trusting that this will find you all in the best of health. For myself, I am on the improve & can feel myself getting better every day.
Au Rêvoir for the present
Your Sincere
Brother E.S. McI.
