"SPLENDID FRANCE."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 179, 2 June 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

"SPLENDID FRANCE."

A BRAVE PEOPLE

AX AUSTRALIANS TRIBUTE

/'Somewhere in France —29-3-16, is the date-line of a letter just received by an Australian mother from her soldier son. The letter is from Corporal .las. Henry Dunn (an Anzae), son of Pte. Arthur W. Dunn (who fought at Lone Pine) and of Mrs Dunn, of Leiehhardt. Corporal Dunn writes: "After we disembarked we entrained, and were billeted right here 'somewhere in France.' ' 'Billeted' means that so many men are told off to each house in a village, according to the size of the house, and are provided with floor space and straw to sleep on. Since my arrival here I have not seen a man of military age or physically fit who was not in uniform. ' The villages and towas are populated by old men, hoys, and the fair sex. The welcome and hospitality meted out to us by these homely and beautiful French women is superb. Right from the moment we arrived here, from the moment we got in the train until we got out, it was nothing but kisses (thrown to us) and waving of hands: and at the stations we stopped at en route, we were given baskets of fruit, cordial waters, cakes, and hot tea and coffee. Th<*e lovely French folk could not do enough for us. The sombre black costumes worn hv the French people tell too truly the story of the terrible suffering caused hv the war. Everyone is in black. Everyone mourns the losn of someone thev'held dear. We seem to fetch sunshine to their homes, for they meet iK with an ever-welcome smile. In the fields may be seen boys pluoghing; girls in their teens working in railway vards, swinging the shovel in the ash pits, on duty in the signal-boxes, and coal-lumping. You will hardly believe it, but I have seen it. But with all their hardships they greet you with their smiling welcome. No doubt they realise that we have come 12,000 nn.es to give a helping hand; but over m Australia von cannot realise what war is or what it means. Australia cannot do too much. She should shed every drop of blood, if need be, in this fight for liberty and right. Mother, if you were here you would gladly say 'Go to every son you had if he was of military age. even if it meant death, and death is nothing to the individual when the cause is considered. Oh, if you could only see the ravages wrought in Belgium and France. A little Belgian girl (refugee, of course) looks up with her curly hair, rosy cheeks, and smiling face" and savs: 'Hello, Australia! Welcome, Australia !' It makes yonr blood tingle- Yes, her father has been Idled in the great fight. What is death, then, to us. if we fire a shot and have done our host in the came of right ? Boom ! boom ! I can hear the rumble of the big guns, but we are too far awav for any damage to be done to us. I cannot say how long it will be before we are in the trenches; but I can tell you it is very bleak here, cold and wet.' Yon might think the writing is bad, but it is caused by the cold. My fingers are number', and can scarcely'hold the pencil."