Prisoner of War

Levin Daily Chronicle, 6 April 1918, Page 4

Prisoner of War

TREATMENT IN TURKEY. NEW ZEALANDER'S EXPERIENCE. Such details of life in a Turkish camp for prisoners of war as are allowed to be given by the men are contained in a letter received from a New Zealand soldier, Private W. K. Surgenor, of Otakeho, Taranaki. Pte. Surgenor, who was a member of the Main Body, was wounded on August 8, 1915, and was for some time in Turkish hospitals. He has written in previous letters of the good treatment he received in the hospitals. The following letter was written at Adabazar on October 25, 1917:— "Just a few lines to lot you know we are still here, and getting along fairly well. We get half-day off every week now, besides Sunday, and get our game of football. I play soccer with the rest. We arc trying to get up a game of Rugby soon, but Rugby is not very well known amongst regular soldiers. At all our previous games we have had a certain number of spectators, with fixed bayonets, expecting every minute to see someone making a break for free air, though here we have a lot more liberty, owing chiefly to our isolated position. Also, the hills around allow of a little latitude; we can go into the bush any evening with a sentry and gather our supply of dry wood. Our messes are made up of twos mostly, owing to the inconvenience of cooking for a larger number. Where no cooks are allowed, as I mentioned before, we have three Turkish meals a day, cooked for us by two of our Owr cooks, though I would sooner have , good plate of porridge than any of these. The meal consists of a handful of crushed wheat, flavoured with a little salt, boiled for two or three hours. A little boiled olive oil is added to taste, and the dish is served hot for five or six hungry men. Our menu now chiefly is:—Dinner —Como in from work and fry a couple of eggs to eat with bread after wheat soup; for tea we boil a small pot of potatoes and pumpkin to eat with our soup; for breakfast we always leave a few cola potatoes, and if we get tip early fry them and eat them with onr Boup. On Sundays we usually buy a ilttle flour if any money is in the "firm," and fry a few sultana cakes. Carbonate of soda is greatly used here as a substitute for baking powder. A lot of tobacco is grown around here. I am still a very moderate pipe smoker, and do not smoke cigarettes at all. I have not seen a cigar for months. We used to get a very small issue of tobaceo, also some from the Embassy. Now we get neither the High Commissioner's parcels nor money, and must find all these luxuries. X have learned to speak Turkish fairly well, also a little French. I can also pass the time of day to many nationalities. X can use the bakehouse if I work on Sundays, but I am not doing anything now until Christmas, when I can make it wOTth while. If anybody wants to know how I am let them write. Letters are to us as cheques ere to farmers. I break as much stone here a day as would earn me Is 9d a day at home. I do it for love here. I do not think I will ever feel like an honest day's work again unless I have something more kindly to coax me than fixed bayonets.