FROM THE FRONT.

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1915, Page 6

FROM THE FRONT.

LETTER FROM A COASTS LAD. Private Percy Hawkins, who went to t'he front 'With, the main body of troop*, and who lias 'been in hospital at Uairo, suffering from pneumou.a, is now recovered and lias been f..r several weeks at the Dardanelles. Last week's mail brought letters from him, ami liis father , (.Mr. \V. H. Hawkins, of TataraimakaJ has kindly allowed us to publish the few .following extracts, which may prove of interest to some of our readers:— '•I have been five weeks in hospital with pneumonia, and the likelihood of another three or four. It was extremely hard luck to he knocked out just as my mates were starting for the Dardanelles and glory. Instead of marching with t'heni shoulder to shoulder, I was lum'bered in here and left behind. There are a good many of us in the same box. A goodly number have been stricken down with pneumonia, and the Australians have lost a good many men through it. We have a tine hospital here, liverything is up-to-date. The nurses are ail Australian girls (qualified sisters) ami are awfully good to us. I shall keep their memory green, for tney nursed me with the greatest care and anxiety. . . There are. also a few local ladies who attend the hospital and lend a helping hand. T'he orderlies, who do most of the work in the wards, are Lancashire Territorials from the Ii.A.M.C., who are stationed here. . . The "tucker' is a vast improvement on tae tamp-cooked provender, and we get as much as we can stow away. Since being allowed up 1 have been 'browsing' 011 chicken diet eggs and porridge for breakfast, chicken and pudding for dinner, fish and eggs for tea. How's that for war-time, dad? Furthermore, I am eating like a horse. . . It is getting very hot licrt now, and the (lies nearly drive one mad. We kill and kill and still kill them, but the supply is not diminished. . . A goodly nnm'ber of visitors look in 011 us anil keep us .well supplied with English weeklies and other literature. Lady Godlev took three of us out for a trip round' Cairo in the motor, which, I may add in passing, belongs to the forces. She was awfully decent to us, shouted t«a and loaded 'us with fruit and cigarettes. She is a good sort. The local people here are more than good to us. A number of them are finding homes for convalescent troops and treating them as their own." . ■Writing on .May 13 Private Hawkins, in another letter, says: "Ere you get this letter, no doubt you will have heard full particulars of the magnificent work I done at the Dardanelles by the Australian and Now Zealand hoys. They have made a name for themselves—a name that will never die. lam leaving tonight for the front. Have just got orders to pack the old 'bluey and hit the trail. I don't suppose I'll have a chance to write again for some time, as I 'have a fow accounts to settle with the Turks. .... For the past fortnight I have been doing Red Cross work in hospital here. Alexandria is full of wounded. Every available building has been transformed into a hospital, and men .fit to travel are being shifted to Cairo. There is a terrible dearth of nurses, which should not be, considering the number of women who volunteered in the colonies. The Australian 'girls who have been here all along are heroines every one. Tliev are working day and night. The stay-at-home 'fashion plates.' for the protection of whom, among others, these brave chaps are suffering, could justify 1 their existence if they wcie to send a few hundred of their 'cult out here to nurf'e <the boys back to health and the trenches. . . . All our mounted troops have gone to the front. The horses are here. There is a great assortment. of troops here, regulars from the front in France, Australians, New Zealanders, Indian troops all mixed up, all the happiest and ' ; l>c<t of comrades, and wearing each other's uniforms and equipment like one big family. . . • Tho casualty lists so far have been very incomplete, and naturally so. iMv battalion 'has been cut up badly. Two of niv mates are hack: here, both wounded, I luit I will run one of their flags to the | masthead in a day or two, and will try and keep it there till he gets back. . . Don't worry about me. lam feeling well again and back practically to iny normal Wright."