A TAIHAPE BOY'S LETTER.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 319, 16 October 1915, Page 3

A TAIHAPE BOY'S LETTER.

FROM GALLIPOLI PENINSULA. A WANGANUI OLD BOY. The following is a letter received by his' parents from R. MacDonell, written only a few clays before he was wounded, and had to be taken to a base (hospital: , Anzac Cove, Turkey, August 10th, 1915. It has been almost impossible to write you sooner on account of our letters being so strictly censored; even now it is very difficult not to overstep the mark. I don't know now whether these letters will be sent straight on to you or whether they will be delayed, At any rate I shall write you once a week in hopes that you will get them. We landed in the Dardanelles three months ago, May 10th, since then we have ■ been taking turns in the trenches fortnight about. Just at present we are down on the beach for a fortnight's holiday. We all live in dugouts—holes dug in the ground. These dug-outs protect you from shrapnel. Some of these holes are big enough to hold four to six men, wjaile others are only big enough enough for one to camp in. At present there are two of u s in tlhe one, Bivy, Cobb and myself. It is great sport to see everybody dive for their dug-outs when a shell bursts in the neighbourhood. At present shell s are bursting on both sides of us but they are pretty harmless and they are not likely to get at us. I think they are trying to get tlhe battery just beyond

I suppose you heard about Bill Overton, Clapham, Eric Ljynch and Neil Campion. I was close handy and saw all four hit and saw Bill and Neil die. We were all sitting down having tea on the 26th May; all dog tired after a hard day's sapping- Suddenly, without giving any warning, a shell burst overhead. Altogether it i'nit eight different men. two of which were Neil Campion and Eric Lynch. It only wounded Eric, but Nil died about ten minutes later. Two of the others that were hit also died (Gange and Somerset). At the time the shell burst five of us were sitting together, and it was a miracle how we other three escaped; pellets hit the bank all round us. The following day only three of our men were hit (Short, Robiesc-n and Cooper) but none very seriously. On the 28th May, Bryant was shot dead by a sniper. MacF. and myself went to dig a grave for him but the snipers made it too hot for us and we had to retire to cover; but we succeeded in finishing our job that night. On the 30th May, we (W.M.R.) took a group of trenches on what is now known as No. 3 Outpost. The 6th Squad held the trenches until the following night, wjhen the'y were relieved by the 9th Squadron. During 'he next day and night the W.M.R. had to fight to keep the trenches but it was no use, tine Turks got the upper hand and forced us to retreat back on to the next spur. During this little skirni-

ish, the casualties amounted to 62. I will give you the names of the killed and wounded in our troop up to the present. When we left Alexandria the full strength of our troop was 3G. Lieut. Charles Watt, shot dead on edge of Turks' trenches. Sergt. Kebbell, Old Boy, slhot dead while looking over the edge of the trenches. Sergt. Mcthes, wounded in shoulder. Corporal Clapham, wounded seriously Corpl Daubin, wounded serial'sly. Corpl Bourke, wounded serioisly Corpl Rolston, wounded f.erijutsiy. Corpl Cole, wounded seriously Corpl Lynch, wounded seriously Corpl Robieson, wounded .-eriousiy Corpl Short, wounded seriously. Corpl Somerset, died of wounds.

What with killed, wounded and sick, the troops' strength worked down to j 13 men and two non-coms. It was afterwards made up to 30 and is now down to 1G again, so you will see that there i s very few of the first Jot left; about 10 I think; therefore, 72 per cent, of the original troop have left us. I saw Mac. yesterday, and he is just a little thinner, but looks quite well. Jim, I don't quite know how he is, he stopped behind with appendicitis, but. I shall drop him a. note. Capt. Kelsall, Lieut. Somerville, Morrison, FultFulton and Tuke are all well. By the way it seems to me that there are a lot of the boys who could come but. evidently don't want to. Lionel has, I believe, gone back to New Zealand. Roy Lambert was found dead outside our trenches—l wonder if his brother heard about it. I still have that penny ai) d champagne cork. 1 also have a, tortoise that I caught two months also down on the beach. He weighs about 4czs.. and lives on bread and water. I am going to try and bring him home. 1 am just craving for a decent feed, so you can send stacks of cake and chocolate. Glad you got first parcel, but can't, make out where set of Egyptian spoon s and jar have gone to I 'just like my absent-mindedness, have lsct both Register tickets. Thanks for sending en the Auckland Weekly, and I will be only too glad to receive any papers. INot everybody takes the trouble to write— they can't be bothered, and yet they expect me, under the most difficult circumstances, to write them

Hoy JoUin said lie would send me the Collegian, but it lias not arrived yet T suppose-some Old Bey has nmped it. Salmond has gone to Lemnos clck. Let Roy read this letter, there are one or two names he would like to see. Tell him I was next to Keh. when he was hit and I must say he was same rfglht up to the last. Ho ,lay, half conscious, from 30 a.m. to 10 p.m. in a narrow trench exposed to the burning beat of the sun. It was impossible for us to get him away, as the Turks bad practically surrounded us. We got him out that night, when we were relieved, and the stretcfier bearers carried him 2£ miles to the landing, where he was put on the Hospital boat. The next morning they operated but he was too far gone to live and about 24 hours later he died. Several other

i Old Boys have been killed, but they

were before my time. They tell rne Bernan is oil his way here with the Field Ambulance.

I am writing- this letter so that everybody can read it, and .so that everybody can reply to it. I have still got the watch and compass, althougjb. they are both out of action; and some honest person grot down en that big green rug of mine. How is everybdoy keeping? There cught to be a mail before long—l don't know when we shall get out of Turkey. I suppose we won't be relieved until we reach Constant. 1 see we have just captured Bagdad. (Sgd.) R. MACDONELL.