Vic – Mother: 26 Jul 1917

Walton on Thames
No 2 NZ General Hospital
Thurs July 26th 1917
Dear Mother
I am still at the same hospital and I am getting on all right.  The wound is healing up quicker than I thought.  The stitches are all out and I can get up every day.  I think I will be fit to leave here too soon as everything  is so comfortable that I don’t mind how long it lasts.  When I left the trenches I had all my kit in another dugout and things were too hot to go back,  I lost everything except my money and pocket book  So that I will have to have everything issued over again.  When I left I was told my wound was worth £50 to any man.  I thought they were stretching it, but I am satisfied now that they were right, as this is a gentleman’s life with the best food in the country and everything that I can possibly want.   The only drawback too it is that it wont last long enough, but I will have two weeks leave, with free railway to anywhere, before I go back to camp. I think I will go for a trip through Scotland, but have not made up my mind yet.  No letters have arrived yet, and I have only had three since leaving NZ, two from you and one from Gorrie.  They may be following me round, unless the ship has sunk.

Vic