A young New Zealand soldier serving overseas writes to his family.
After fourteen months in France his hoped for leave in England is finally
granted.
Letter 50
France
30th July 1917
Dear Everybody,
Am on another job now. We have another officer while ours is away sick &
the former wanted me to be his groom but it didn't appeal to me so I
refused. He got another to do it for him however & so thats how I lost a
good job. The lad who took my place was up with the linemen at our forward
station so I took his place. It is the same place where we had our HQ
after we went in the line after the Messines stunt. I referred to it in
one of my previous letters.
There is an NZ mail in but I haven't any letters yet. They usually come in
alphabetical order so I usually get my letters amongst the last. I'll keep
this letter till I get one of yours.
I had several letters from England during the week & there is still no news
of Fay. I don't give him a chance.
The Ruckers & Aunt Maud both send me over parcels pretty regularly. I wish
you, Mother, would write them & say how much I appreciate their kindness.
I, of course, write and thank them every time.
There is a slight possibility of me getting leave in a month or two if our
rate of leave, 8 a week, still keeps up. They are on the 9ths now but they
are going back to the main body 2nd 3rd & 4th Refts. There are not too
many of them so there's a hope.
3am 3rd
No letter yet so I'll have to close without seeing yours.
Had a yarn to Lawerence (Captain) Chaytor today. He says Jack is in
hospital with a wound in his knee but apparently is not bad.
You might hear something startling about Jack Coote shortly as he has
patented something. If it proves any good it will be a great thing. If I
stated what it was the letter would be censored.
With best love to you all
from Alister
Letter 51
France
10th August (1917)
Dear Everybody,
Still no letter from NZ by last mail so its just as well I never held mine
back till I got one of yours.
I am still up in that forward possy of ours & am getting fairly sick of it.
Its a good place to save money at any rate. I had a letter from Hamish
today & he is still at the same place. He is a staff sergeant now so gets
a fair amount of pay.
That wet weather we had lasted for about 4 days so you can guess what the
mud was like & what a time the infantry had in the out posts & in the
trenches. This show leaked badly & it very nearly got us under when it
came to pumping it out. Luckily for us a Battalion HQ came in here & some
of their men were shoved on the pump. It took them about 12 hours to dry
the place. Since then "we have the menace well under" - official.
It was bad luck all that wet weather coming when we had just started that
big push in Flanders. Russia's trouble is apparently spreading now into
Roumania. It wouldn't pay to be a pessimist now would it? One would be
having a rotten time of it.
I ran up against Tristis Sadd about a fortnight ago. He is in our medical
Corps. He is just the same as ever.
This place is nearly as bad as the base for news. Do you remember the
"long" letters I wrote from there.
Well au revoir everybody. I am quite well & hope you are all the same too.
With best love Alister
Letter 52
France
August 20th 1917
Dear Everybody,
The long looked for letters arrived tonight - one from each of you & two
with 5/- in them which is gratefully received. There is a gap between
Mothers letters of 37 days - May 21st to June 27th. So no doubt there is
another - perhaps two - that ought to be arriving but might be at bottom of
sea. The Presses are arriving OK & the last one is late in July.
We are out of that dug out now & have respectable huts to sleep in & can
live in comparative comfort.
Had a letter from Don tonight from London so am putting in for special
leave to see him. He is over for a month & may be can have that extended.
He is also working hard to land a trip back to NZ. He will have all the
latest news about me. I hope he gets it.
I heard yesterday that Keith Duthie was killed - got sniped by the same man
who General Johnson was killed by.
We are having beautiful weather lately & the Frenchies are getting in their
crops with as much haste as is possible with their antiquated methods.
I wrote & told Aunt Maud that I would be probably getting leave within a
month (ie I wrote 10 days ago) & got a letter from her saying that I
wouldn't meet a dismal family but a cheery one, which seems to be different
to what they write to you. I don't think I will be going over soon now
unfortunately.
News is scarce again - news that I can't tell you. Never mind we'll win
the war yet - shortly I believe.
Am glad to hear that you are playing good golf this year Dad. You are
improving every year. I suppose you are coaching Nancy as well as Mother
with the same old hearth broom.
Am OK here & hope you are all the same.
with best love Alister
|
Alister Robison
|
Letter 53
Telegram
2 Sept 1917
Leave at forty three ten days
Robison
(43 refers to the address of the Pember Reeves family in London.)
Letter 54
43 Cromwell Gdns
Sept 9th 1917
Dear Everybody,
I hope you received my telegram stating that I was on leave. You are
apparently going to be inundated with letters from 43 & 31 & from the
Ruckers - all stating the same things & here you are getting my version of
it.
I go back tomorrow morning leaving London at 8 am. Altogether I have had 9
1/2 clear days in London. The trip from my unit to Boulogne took several
days because leave stopped for a day & I had to stay back two days & then
we were held up at Boulogne on account of rough weather in the Channel.
The weather was not too nice & the camps one passes through are very
different to home.
The morning we left Boulogne we were aroused at 2.30 am then had to go &
get our passes altered as we had been delayed a day. There was a drizzle &
there were about 3000 men lined up in one queue. Then we missed breakfast
& eventually arrived on the boat at 7.30 am. The trip across was fairly
smooth & we arrived in London at 12.20 pm where I ate several buckshee
sandwiches.
I then went to the bank & drew some money & found to my astonishment that I
had 51 pounds to my credit when I thought I only had 31 Pounds. Have you
been putting in any for me? None of them here have so it must be you. I
still have 26 pounds in the bank & 9 pounds in my pocket. I spent about 12
pounds in nine days because they insisted here that they should pay for
most of the theatres. I paid for about half of them. Of course I taxied
to most places. My motto when roaming about was "when in doubt take a
taxi " - a very good one too.
The weather was good - it only rained the day I arrived & the day I leftl
The first thing I did was to have a nice hot bath & Aunt Effie took me out
to afternoon tea. For me it was a huge dinner for I was really hungry.
Then we went round & saw Aunt Maud & Betty at Grosvenor House, The Duke of
Westminster's house - also the Ministry of food. I stayed home that night
& went to bed early.
It was lovely to be in a decent bed with sheets & eiderdowns. I wasn't one
of the idiots who can't sleep in "em" but go & sleep on the floor. Next
day I went & saw Nana & Georgie & then went off for a week end at the
Seymours - cousins of Betty. They live at about £10,000 a year in peace
time so believe me kid it was some place & also "some" meals.
On Saturday afternoon Mr Seymour & I did some shooting - rabbits & grouse
with the girls as beaters. The rabbits sit down & let one shoot them but
the birds "was" different - quite. My bag was 2 rabbits, grouse Nil. Mr S
got several birds. On Sunday I went to church at a pretty, old church in
Bedford & after Mr S shewed me an old Jacobean house (now converted into a
mansion by a Yankee, a relative of Carnigie(?) or Pierfont Morgans.) There
was a lovely rose garden & the old part of the house looked lovely. In the
afternoon we played tennis where of course I thoroughly enjoyed my self. I
had about 6 sets and thought that part the best of the lot.
In the morning I hunted up Don Harkness & eventually found him at another
hotel - the Regent Palace. I had been ringing for him at the Strand
Palace. I really got leave through him for I told the boss he was my
cousin etc. etc. & the stunt worked - but don't tell anyone. I found Don
very altered especially in speaking. We had a great yarn & he took me to
the Savoy to lunch & promised me a trip in an aeroplane.
He and I went round a fair bit during the day but at night I went to the
theatres with one of the family & he always had something else to do. I
went to 7 theatres in 6 days & enjoyed the lot. Some of the revues are a
trifle spicy in parts & one can't laugh with a lady can one? Its terrible
hard on the jaws though. Cheep - Bubbly - Zig Zag - A little bit of Fluff
- Round the Map - Chou Chin Chow & Topsy Turvy - were the ones I picked
out. They are all light stuff & you laugh all the time. Don & I went out
to lunch with Elsie Booth & we had her round here to dinner & a theatre
afterwards. She has a good position in the Ministry of Munitions. When I
had nothing particular to do I used to career off somewhere in a bus &
generally managed to get fairly lost for a bit - but I always managed to
get back to my centre & starting place - Piccadilly Circus.
Yesterday was my busiest day. In the morning I went out with Don to an
aerodrome & up we went in a plane & careered about for 1/2 an hour.
Everything looks so strange & every track is easily picked up. He did a
bit of this with me (/\/\/\) & when the nose went down first time was the
only time I felt 'not at home'. We went up 200 feet altogether &
unfortunately the weather was hazy & we couldn't see too far. In the
afternoon we went to the Chu C.C with Ruth & Betty & at night I went with
Betty to Round the Map.
During the week I went & saw Uncle Will & Beryl at their country cottage &
also had lunch with Nana & Georgie another day. (Georgie does ask one such
awkward questions.) We had a raid one night but nothing near our way.
In France we have been - as you probably know a little bit North & a little
bit South of Armentiers but where the Division is now I could not say. I
have what is considered a "good job" as far as safety is considered & the
infantry always like having a little dig at us whenever we pass them. So
don't worry about me. Since I joined the section we have had only one
casualty by shells & that by one of our shells - several have gone away
sicker. 2 of our corporals were wounded but they were in a forward possy &
not with us - a small list isn't it?
Don is trying to get back to NZ but hasn't heard any more news yet & if he
does get back he will tell you all about our doings. I do hope this letter
doesn't get sunk - as it would be such a waste. I go back tomorrow!!!
Best love to you all from Alister
Click to read Letters from World War 1 - Part 14
Click to read Letters from World War 1 - Part 16
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