CHEERFUL THOUGH WOUNDED

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2646, 17 December 1915, Page 4

CHEERFUL THOUGH WOUNDED

LETTER FROM A NEW, ZEALANDER Following are some extracts from a letter written by Corporal Hugh Andrews, of the Main Expeditionary Force, to his mother, at Lovin:—"We are in t'he Atlantic now, and within a couple of days of old England. We left Alexandria- on the 4th. Two days before, at Zeitoun, they held a final board and cullcd out all but six of us. There is one Canterbury chap, two Otago, two Engineers, and myself. We make a happy cabinful. Although you would not think so if you looked in .some-, time—nor would you think we were in-/ valids. lam second in command, of a, boatload. There is an officer in mand, but I'm the n.c.o. and call tare roll and fall .the men in, etc., for t>io boat. I will send the roll to you wfoen I havo finished with it. It is quij/a a curiosity in its way. AVe had a Tory calm trip through the Mediterranean and did not strike any 'subs.' A't first I was disappointed with the 'Hock' of Gibraltar, but the more you lr/ok at it the more you realise the povtfv of it. We stopped there all day cwling and left that night. The bloomi'ap; Atlantic is too rough for my fancy. I've managed to hold on to my rations so far, but it only wants a 'dinkum' storm to do the trick. We struck one protty decent one, but the wonc'ferful lightning effect mad© it well woiAh while. This is a pretty decent boat:/ She can carry 2500 men as a transport.. ■ We ha've orderlies to clean the Cabins for us, and do everything. ■ "October 15. —Wfc came into Plymouth this afternobn. It is foggy and we cannot see m'a,ch, but it maies a fellow feel good t» have even a glimpse of Old England. . We did not' get off the boat till 4 o'clc/ck, so it got dark before we had travelled far. However, with the Australians we made a pretty good trainloarj:. _ Wo let Plymouth, know it was a- colonial party, and we wero 'not downhearted' either, although we were labelled ' invalids,' and didn't they chcer;! When we got to Bristol there wera 'huge crowds waiting to give us a reception. They gave us supper before 'eft the station and then thoy cp.vried our kits out to cars that were waiting to take us to the hospital and till along the streets there were crowcVs cheering us. Lord! We must be heroes. Personally, I now measflre 26 "inches round the head. Yes, we are all blooming heroes. Wo must le after that lot, though wo don't look it. The sister has just put the clock on me. Verdict is, temperature 98 in the shade, .'pulse normal, but feeble, Ibarometer /rising rapidly, appetite unappeasable, but quite appreciable. The sister says she doesn't fliinlc I'll live through the winter, but will do her best for me. They had the X-rays on t'hree of us again this afternoon. I had a look at another chap's heart boating. "October 19.—Still in hospital, hut having a grand time.' The sisters are darlings, and as we do nearly all the work they are not worked to death like tho poor Pont De Robbeh ones were. They take us to concerts and pictures nearly every night, and we are getting so tired of girls smiling at us that wo aon t take any notice of theni. I can't write any more to-niglit because there is a row on between .the Australians ,and New Zealanders. .We haul one another out of bed as fast as the nurses tuck us n. Pillows fly in all directions when things pet going properly. "I have really loft out the most in?r^ ln S P ar ' ;s i s,lc h as a description of Gibraltar, etc.. but'l do not think that you would care foj thenf at present."