France
1st Nov 1916
Dear Everybody,
Here I am joined up with the Btn, came along on the 25th just in time to meet the Btn coming out. At time of writing we are just preparing to go back in again. If for our turn in the trenches the weather is going to be as cold as it has been this last 8 days, we are going to have a cold spin. However, we are going to have the benefit of a very favourable moon, which is a great boon for the men on duty & for the night patrols in “no man’s land”. During the week I have had several letters from N.Z. the latest dated 10th Oct. The Balamona people had had a good run round with Charl before he left. Oh! the 2nd day I arrived here, the long looked for birthday cake came along & in tip top order, not a single crumb out of place. It has been very much appreciated by myself, & the other 3 members of the Company Mess. We have had supper of it every night these last 7 days, & our cup of cocoa with which we usually wash it down has just come in, so you see our
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supper time has arrived. Unfortunately we come to the end of our tasty dish tonight. Just finished & it is a little piece of all right. We are in the middle of a discussion on the best way to feed the men, & by the tone of the argument I should think there will be some improvement. I have been out to a town today, sending off tonight a couple of spoons as souvenirs of a couple of town I have been in. They are not anything like the same quality as the previous ones, but they are the best I could get. I was pleased to hear the one from R. turned up all right. Since coming down here I have met quite a number of the old O.M.R. boys, & they are all so pleased to see one of the old Regt. & to know how it is getting on. They themselves in many cases are getting on very well too. Hugh Crawford is a Sgt in the artillery now. I have not seen him lately, but may do so & hope to i the course of the next few days. Everyone you meet speaks very well of Hugh. If he was in the Inf he would have had a commission by this, a Sgt in the Artillery is equal to a 2nd Lt. in the Inf. on
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account of it being such a technical branch. It is just possible that he may not get a commission there before the end of the war, but still, he is better there as a Sgt or Sgt. Maj than as a 2nd Lt in the Inf. At time of writing the military situation is not pleasant. So far as this front is concerned all is well, but our friends the Roumanians are very deep in the mine. This morn however, we had the news that the Russians were making a move in that direction & had also taken over command of the Roumaman forces. Therein lies great possibilities. We fully expect to read in the morning paper that Bucharest has capitulated. There is no use in us shutting our eyes to facts, so we must admit, that this last thrust of Germanies, has been a very successful one, & does at the very least, add 4 months on to the duration of the war. Yet we hope that, that same success may yet prove their very undoing. Enough of war. Charl will by this time be in Egypt I suppose, I envy him the climate he will be enjoying. I like the yarn Jess Tapper gave Lotte’s rather Romantic don’t you think? I was speaking to Bob a week or two ago, & he did not know that Hannah was engaged. Well I am off to roost, for tomorrow we _____. Au Revoir for the present. Heaps of love to all. Your Affect Brother E.S. McI.
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Oh! tell Eileen I received her letter all right & that perhaps while in the trenches I may be able to drop them a line.
E.S.
