{"id":8,"date":"2013-04-30T05:06:32","date_gmt":"2013-04-30T05:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/warletters.falkor.gen.nz\/?page_id=8"},"modified":"2014-03-20T19:47:30","modified_gmt":"2014-03-20T19:47:30","slug":"neil2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/warletters.falkor.gen.nz\/?page_id=8","title":{"rendered":"Neil – Mother 11 Mar 1917"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trentham
\nSunday 11th
\nDear Mother,
\nI thought I’d drop another line because you might like to know
\nas soon as possible anything definite about Vic. He is going finally on
\nboard the Ruapehu<\/span><\/a> tomorrow but it is unlikely that he will leave for
\nsome time yet perhaps a week or more, owing to the fact that there is no
\nescort available and there is a German raider in the Indian Ocean. We have
\nbeen seeing Vic pretty frequently. We had to set things working the other
\nnight and change beds etc, with chaps in another hutment because all in our
\nhutment were going to be transferred to the 26th. We fixed it all right and
\nthe six or so of us are all together and still in the 27ths. It took some
\nworking though. Roy Neeley<\/span><\/a> is in the 26ths. A chap in the Prisl Church this
\nmorning remained seated while they sang God save the King, and that led to a
\nbit of a fight during the singing
\nThe Sgt-Major the other day was yarning us about saluting. He explained
\nthat when you saluted a commissioned officer it was not the man you were
\nsaluting but the authority he held from the King. “In fact”, he went on,
\n“its the King you are saluting”. One hard case chipped in from the back,
\n“well who the ruddy hell is he, anyway. So there’s a bit of what is termed
\nRafferty rule here all right, but there is a very fair sprinkling of
\npatriotic chaps like myself who waited only about two and a half years
\nbefore enlisting<\/p>\n

Amen (church this morning)
\n49123, Pte N H Smith
\nA Company
\n27th Reinforcements
\nTrentham<\/p>\n

On fatigue duty yesterday. But all I and another chap did was to walk round
\nthe camp in the morning for half an hour as insanitary inspection of huts and then
\nburn one sack in the afternoon. No one else got out of it near so well
\nyesterday.
\nTrot and Charlie navvied. I rather like this sort of life took house
\norderly to-morrow. I shall have to use my ingenuity to see if I can dodge
\nonion pealing.
\nLet us know immediately if any letters arrive opened or censored. All
\nletters posted in camp (not those to camp) must bear name etc of sender on
\noutside.<\/p>\n

P.S.
\nThe 27th are quite famous down here for the time they gave Gunson when
\nleaving. The hutment next to us have been christened (and accordingly named
\nin whitened stones on coal slack garden beds in front of the huts) GUNSON’S
\nCATS. On account of the fact that the camp has kindly assumed from the look
\nof them that most of the hissing came from them. The hutment I am in, of
\ncourse got the P.M.O. prize of extra leave for cleanliness and tidiness. So
\nthey have christened us on our garden bed MOTHERS DARLINGS.
\nVery little hope of transfer of anyone to Ambulance.<\/p>\n