A Soldier's Letter. The appended letter has been received by Mr. H. McCann*, of Berwick, from Lance-Corporal W. Watson, of Yannathan, who was a prominent member of the Berwick football club. -
“I received two letters from you some time ago and feel rather ashamed of myself for not answering them sooner. We are now back among the sand once again. You have read the account of the evacuation, of course. We got off very well, but it seemed hard to leave after all we lost, but I think it was the best thing to do, as I am sure we could never have done any good there, and we were losing men every day - mostly through sickness, and we would certainly have lost heavily if we had to stay on during the winter.
We had some terrible weather in November, rain and snow a treat. I, with a good many more, was in the trenches for about a fortnight without a spell, and during that time we had no water, and could not take even our boots off. It seems strange to say we had no water when it rained so much, but it was so. When we got a bit of time we used to gather a dixie of snow and melt it, but that did not seem to quench our thirst, it only made it worse. I was never so thirsty in my life, and never want to be so again. I would have given all I possessed for a drink. I saw fellows drink what looked like pure mud, and indeed I did it myself, and then to top the lot they gave us a terrible bombardment on November 29.
The snow was still on the ground, and had frozen hard, but all the same a goad many of their big shells failed to explode, and a good job too, as quite enough of them did explode with terrible results, A good many were killed by pieces of shell, but a great many more lost their lives by being buried. They tried to seek shelter by getting into dug outs and tunnels, and places that, during any ordinary bombardment, would have been quite safe, but they evidently got some big guns up to give us a proper doing, and they succeeded. They were using 11.2 shells - a battery of them. I spent a good part of the day helping to dig some of the poor fellows out dead.
Our officer and three N.C.O's. all got knocked. They were standing together, and a .75 (a high explosive shell) got the four of them - killed two, and badly wounded the others. The officer had to have his leg taken off, and it is still doubtful if he will recover. I sincerely hope he does, as he was a fine chap. I'll not forget the 29th of November as long as I live. I was very lucky during my four months over there. I did not get a scratch, and did not have a day's sickness, but was not very sorry to get away from it.
Now I'll tell you a little bit about the way we got off. To begin with, we went off in parties called A party, A1 party, B, B1, and B2 parties. C, C1, C2, and C3, each party leaving at different times. A and A1 left a day before us. They consisted of all the chaps who had been attending the doctor, and a good number there were too. Then the rest all moved off at their appointed times, until only C3 party was left. In the section that our company had been holding, only eight were left, and I had the honor of being one of them. I was with in the very last party to leave, and when the time came for us to move off, we wasted no time in getting to the beach (about two miles), where a barge was waiting for us.
During the day some of our blankets were torn up and laid in the trenches and saps, and we also had to wrap bits of blanket round our feet to deaden any sound, as the Turks were only a few yards away. We that were left had to try and carry on just the same as we would on an ordinary night ; no more sniping, and no less, and, when the time came, hop down off the parapets; and off as hard as we could go. If the Turks had attacked us we were gone, as eight of us could not have done much and we had orders that we had to stay there until our time came - 3.30 am., was the time. Anyway, we managed it alright.
Then we went into a rest camp and put in three weeks there, where we spent Christmas, and had rather a good time. Next time I write I'll give you some of our experiences there. I must draw to a close now, with best wishes."
* Mr H. McCann was, I believe, Harry McCann, who was Head Teacher at Berwick State School from 1911 until 1917.
Letter to Mr Smethurst from an un-named soldierThe Lang Lang Guardian published this letter in their April 4, 1917 issue (see here). It was written to J. Smethurst of Yannathan. The Electoral Roll lists a James Thomas Smethurst, a John Samuel Smethurst and a Joseph Richard Smethurst all living at Yannthan in 1917, so one of these men was the recipient of this letter. The paper actually fails to tell us who sent the letter. In spite of the fact we don't know the author, it is an interesting letter about life on the Front, how Christmas was celebrated and also mentions a few other local lads, so it is well worth publishing here.
Soldier's Letter. The following extracts are taken from a letter written to J. Smethurst, Yannathan.
France,
Jan. 1, 1917.
Just a few lines in answer to your ever welcome and interesting letters which I received a few weeks ago dated 30th October and 18th November, and also to thank you for the parcel of sox and cigarettes I received last night. The sox are very acceptable as we are continually in the mud and slush. I suppose you have heard that report of me being wounded was only a slight wound in the hand hardly worth reporting, they told me at the hospital it would not be sent in so I did not bother. I sent the cable after I came back from the hospital, I only had ten days spell with it, and have had nothing worse since than a cold, but am quite alright now and going strong. We were in the trenches when I got your letters, so have not had a chance to write before, but you will see I have started early in the new year.
Xmas is over once more, this is my second away, I hope, to be back in Australia for the next. We had a nice quiet time for Xmas we were lucky enough to be reserve Division and well out of the firing line, just within hearing of the guns to remind us there is a war on. Xmas morning we had a Church Parade, but it was a beastly cold windy day quite unsuitable for an open air service. The chaplain was very disappointed as it was the first parade, he had for some time. He is a fine man. We had nineteen days in the trenches last time, and had very bad weather, it was either blowing, snowing, raining or frosty.
We worked in relays, some of us in the front line, and some in supports (about 700 yards behind the front line) we changed over every four days, as one could not stand more in the front line exposed to the cold and wet, and not able to have anything hot: back in supports we were lucky enough to find some German dugouts about thirty feet under ground, needless to say we occupied them and were fairly comfortable, we were able to light a fire and have a hot meal, and go to sleep and feel safe from the shells. Fritz made himself very comfortable with his dugouts, some of them are sixty feet deep, floored and lined, bunks rigged up in them and even pictures on the walls. It must have been a sore point for them to have to leave in a hurry and know that we are now occupying their dugouts.
I witnessed several aeroplane duels, in fact every clear day they are at it. It is a great sight to see as many as sixty planes all up at once, but rather horrible to see them brought down, sometimes in flames and other times I have seen observer fall out of his machine while hundreds of feet in the air.
I suppose you heard that Mat Doran was killed in action about the end of October. I'm not sure of the date as I did not hear till some time after. I went to see Gordon Burton after we came out of action, but he had gone away sick, I haven't heard anything of him since. I just heard yesterday that Chris Keighery and Alan Whelan are about here somewhere.
The author of the letter mentions four other men -Doran, Matthew John (SN 1376) Matthew, a labourer, enlisted on August 3, 1915 at the age of 22. He was born in 1892 in Trentham to Denis Doran and Mary Cranny. Mary was subsequently widowed and married John Scanlon in 1902. His address on the Embarkation Roll is Heathcote, the same as his mother's address. He did, however, undertake his medical examination in Warragul and has a connection to Modella, see here. Matthew was Killed in Action in France on October 23, 1916.
Burton, Gordon Frederick (SN 184) Gordon was born in Yannathan, enlisted on July 5 1915 at the age of 23. He was grocer and his next of kin were his parents, Frederick and Elizabeth (nee Smith) Burton, of Wonthaggi. Gordon Returned to Australia April 13, 1919. Gordon came back to Yannathan after the War and was listed in the Electoral Rolls as a driver. In the 1936 Roll his occupation had changed to grocer and the next year he had moved to Northcote, where he was also in the Grocery trade. Gordon married Rita Priestley in 1943 and he died on September 18, 1946 at the age of 51. Gordon is listed on the Yannathan Honor Board, see here.
Keighery, Christopher (SN 340) Christopher was born in Dandenong and enlisted on May 13, 1916, Chris was 26 years old and a saddler and his next of kin was his father, Edward, of Lang Lang. He Returned to Australia July 5, 1919. I came across this interesting article (below) about Chris and Frank Keighery. Frank (SN 445) was Killed in Action at Gallipoli, but before the War contributed Nature Notes to The Argus, under the pen name Heron and was the first man to volunteer from Lang Lang. Chris and Frank were the sons of Edward and Annie (nee Elliott) Keighery. Edward and Annie moved to Lang Lang in 1903 where Edward had a Bootmakers shop. In 1920, Chris married Eva Emily Misson and they lived in Koo Wee Rup where he operated a saddlers and bicycle shop. (Source: Protector's Plains: history of Lang Lang Primary School No.2899, 1888-1988 and district compiled by Barbara Coghlan in 1988.)
In February 1917, Mrs Lineham of Yannathan received a letter from her son, William, who was serving overseas. William James Lineham was born in 1894 in Clyde to Benjamin and Eliza Maria Agnes (nee Knott) Lineham. They later moved to Yannathan. William (SN 2711) enlisted on July 19, 1915 at the age of 20 and he Returned to Australia April 13, 1919. In 1927, William married Ellen May Gilchrist and the couple farmed at Yannathan - it was a Soldier Settlement farm. He died June 30, 1974, aged 79. William is listed on the Yannathan State School Honour Board, see here.
The letter to Mrs Lineham was published in the Lang Lang Guardian on February 28, 1917 (see here)
Mrs B. Lineham, of Yannathan, has received the following letter from her son, Driver W. J. Lineham, who has been ill for some time -Dear Mother and Father,
Just a few lines to let you know I am about well again. I had a touch of bronchitis, but it was not very severe, also a septic toe, but it is quite well again. I am in the British Red Cross Hospital at Netly [sic] near Southampton. I have been in four Hospitals, and have had no letters from you for over two months, so I expect the letters are still chasing me from one Hospital to another. I expect to be back in France by the time you receive this letter. I had a letter from father's cousin in England this morning, and was pleased to have one. We are very busy to-night decorating our ward and have nearly finished. I am very lucky, I think, to be in England for Christmas, and have had a real good time in every Hospital, being treated real well.
There are only three Australians in the hut, and nearly every day someone comes in to see us. In the Hospital I was in at Rouen, France, there was one Australian nurse, and there are a few here. One came in to see us last night. On the way over from Le Havre to Southampton our boat ran into the mud twice, and the second time it took two days to pull us off. The boat had a hole knocked into front of her, but it could not have been very large as we got to port safely. It was very foggy, so I suppose that accounted for it.
Sources used in this post not already specified -
Indexes to the Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages; First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920 at the National Archives of Australia; Personal notices in the newspapers on Trove; Electoral Rolls on Ancestry.com; Soldier Settlement files at the Public Records Office of Victoria - VPRS 5714.
A version of this post first appeared on my work blog - Casey Cardinia Commemorates: Our War Years https://caseycardinia1914-1918.blogspot.com/
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