France
30.12.17
Dear May.
We have got Xmas over alright & taking it alround we have had a pretty fair time. I started my festivities on the 23rd when I landed a lovely big parcel from Doris, next day I got a similar one from Elsie & continued the celebrations. That night I went to a pantomime, Sinbad the Sailor, by our camp glee party. It was a real good show, about the best I’ve seen out here. Xmas day was fine but a bit cold & our Xmas dinner was a great success. It was a real good meal, the first I have had here. We had roast beef, roast potatoes, carrots, turnips etc & then a big plateful of lovely duff & sauce, finishing off with apples dates figs nuts etc. After that I pushed off to Boulogne to
[Page 2]
see what was doing there. They run a N.Z. Club there & had told some of our chaps that they wanted us all down for tea at 4 o’clock. However there was a hitch somewhere & our Colonel refused to give us passes so we just had to slope off & chance it. We got in in time to spend an hour or so doing the town before teatime then we drifted round to the Club. There are 3 Con. camps near the town with a few N.Z’s in each so that we mustered about 120 altogether. The tea was real good, sandwidges, duff, fruit, lollies, etc. I don’t know who paid for it but I suppose it will be alright. Before we left we each got a pcl from the Dominion Gift Assn, containing condensed milk, lollies, ham & tongue, hanky etc. At the Soldiers’ & Sailors’ Institute I landed a backsheesh set of celluloid dominoes & a free supper at the Y.M.C.A.
[Page 3]
When we are out on a pass we have to be home early but as we were not on pass it didn’t matter so we stayed a bit late & got caught in a snowstorm halfway home. Boxing day we were to have sports but there was 6 ins of snow on the ground so we started tobogganing instead & had some great sport. That night we had parlour games & competitions in the red X hut old Father Xmas came in at the finish presented all the winners with prizes off a Xmas tree. My share was a miniature cards, draughts & dominoes outfit, for a balancing game sitting on a stick with my feet in a basket. Things are just about back to normal. It has been snowing & freezing pretty well every day & we are having great sport snowballing & tobboganing. We have a good long run for the toboggans with two good bumps in it and a fairly steep drop of about
[Page 4]
ten feet into a small stream at the bottom. Of course we didn’t let her go right to the creek until the old Colonel came round looking for a ride. We invited him to come for a spin & then we let her go. There were 5 of us on it & she took the first rise in great style & went about 15 yds in the air, just landing in time to get another good kick off on the second bump, & then straight for the creek. He started to say something about speed but the next second she was over the bank & we all rolled into the creek in a heap. You should have heard the crowd yell as we disappeared from sight over the bank. Of course the water wasn’t deep enough to do much harm but most of us got an elbow or a knee well into it. The Colonel seemed to enjoy the joke, it was about the only thing he could do, but he wouldn’t come for an encore. I managed to give my knee a slight twist so
[Page 5]
will have to be spectator for a day or two. I think I told you that the remnant of our Batt. had been over the top again at Polygon wood, & when I was down at Boulogne I saw some of the casualties & pretty well all my mates have been killed in action, including Frank Marshall & Bill Millar. Bill was slightly wounded at Passchendaele but was unfortunate enough to get back in for the next stunt and got hit again & died of wounds. Two other men on our gun were killed, they were left out of the Pass. Advance but joined up again to reinforce them for this push. One of them is a 6th reinft man & was on the Peninsular & through everything in France up till Passchensaele & had never had a days sickness nor a scratch. We went into Ypres with 11 gunners, 3 have been killed 5 wounded 2 trench feet & the other man used to write to me regularly but
[Page 6]
suddenly stopped just before the push & I feel pretty sure he has got a smack too, if so that is our whole section “nah poo”. If you see photos of M. Campbell, Thornbury, A.P. Poole Isla Bank, or Corp J. Beattie Tapanui, you might keep them. They were killed on Dec 3rd. Out of 119 of us who joined the batt. from the 8th Rft I only know of two at present with the Batt. It will be a pretty miserable show to go back to. A few days ago I posted another pcl to you, containing 1 book each of Paris & Marseilles views. Although we passed through Marseilles we didn’t see much of the town. The big viaduct is the most familiar scene, from the boat we saw dozens of similar ones. I also posted to Rodie a couple of little souvenirs de Boulogne in the shape of a pencil & a vase. I hope they get through alright. I don’t think there is any more news.
Love to All
Len
[Written at top of Page 1]
P.S. I enclose p.c. of Mabel. She asked me to send it on to you.
