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Articles published in Jerilderie Herald - Gallipoli

I was feeling as right as rain until I saw my first sight of the harvest of war. I saw blood oozing from beneath a tarpaulin and a sailor told me there were four dead men under it...killed by shrapnel on the destroyer before they even landed.   
When the boats got into 3 ft of water, we all jumped out & waded ashore feeling mighty thankful that we'd got so far...after a short spell we marched off. Hills! They're awful. We simply had to pull ourselves up hand by hand, & to improve matters we had 50 rounds of extra ammunition, three days rations, & some firewood. Presently we got to a plateau with a lovely trench in it that the Turks, with commendable foresight had provided for us. 

We landed in a bad place, and it's just as well. The Turks were expecting us at another place, and had we gone there we would never have got ashore. They had guns and machine guns, splendid trenches, obstacles, and even barbed wire entanglements and mines in the water to welcome us with. Where we actually did land was not very strongly guarded and we sort of surprised them, and we had got ashore and established ourselves before they could bring sufficient troops to prevent us. Once we got ashore it was just a matter of holding on...Finally we got on top of a hill with a pretty good trench in it. The fact that it was a Turkish trench didn't worry our consciences in the least. We just took possession of it and inwardly thanked the Turks for saving us the trouble of digging one... Every few seconds a shell burst, sometimes near us and sometimes a bit off, and they kept our nerves on edge all the time. Shrapnel looks very pretty. The shell bursts up in the air and makes a pretty cloud of white smoke, and when several burst near each other at the same time the effect is very striking. But when the shooting is good it is very nerve racking. The shell can be heard some distance off coming with half a scream and half a hiss, culminating in a deafening report as the charge in the shell explodes, and drives 300 bullets in a steep angle to the ground with great velocity... The Turks will go to any length to gain their ends. Several were shot dressed in the NZ uniform. Some of them were very brave and actually got into our trenches and were giving orders as cool as cucumbers: but they invariably got discovered and paid the penalty. They'd get up and order us to charge, and all sorts of other dodges... A concussion shrapnel landed right in the trench fair opposite us and buried us up to our necks in dirt. I scrambled to my feet to see if I was hurt and was mighty thankful to find I wasn't... Whilst having tea a bit after dark I had to take an officer to a trench he did not know! Only expected to be away 10 minutes so I left haversack, water bottle, rifle and all behind me. While away the enemy suddenly threatened us with a bayonet charge so we all rushed to the front line. I grabbed a rifle - a broken one too - fixed the bayonet and hopped in with them... Later we had to cross over about a hundred yards under fire to reach safety at the rear of a hill so we rushed over. About ten yards from the safety trench I stopped to walk when I got a knock in the shoulder like the kick of a 12-inch gun. I didn't want another, and tumbled into the trench mighty quick. Got the wound dressed and was led back to the rear. I'm hanged if I know where the beggar could have been. He must have been almost under me, and the valley beneath us was full of our own boys. The bullet went in at the back of my armpit and came out near the top of my shoulder in front. Had the good luck to see Vernie near the Ambulance Hospital. He was O.K. and made me a cup of tea and it quite put me in a good humour. I then had to report to the ambulance and they shipped me off to the hospital ship before I knew what was doing. Did not get another chance to see Vernie and haven't heard word since, so I am rather anxious about him... Had a fairly good time on the hospital ship on the way to Alexandria, but got a bad dose of fever of some sort, but I am pretty right now though the fever took a lot of the flesh off me. My wounds are healed externally, but I can't for the life of me lift my arm up sideways yet... We arrived at Southampton, Sunday 16th May. They put us in a lovely hospital train. You ought to see the English scenery. In Spring - well words can't describe it. Lovely green fields fringed in almost every case by either beautiful hedges or trees... We got a great reception at Birmingham. As soon as we got off the platform there was a long line of motors waiting for us, and an enormous crowd and they cheered us all a treat. It was the same all the way to the hospital. Everybody we passed waved to us and gave us a smile of welcome. It was particularly cheerful after being outside of civilisation since we left dear old Australia.   

But this hospital takes the bun. Why it's a blooming gaol. The things we mustn't do that we want to do are only exceeded by the things we must do that we don't want to do. Practically all of us have been kept in bed though we are all able to potter round. Lights are out at 8 pm. We all have to get up at 5 o'clock so that the beds can be made, and then we have to get back into bed. There are 44 beds in this ward, which is known as "B4". I asked the nurse if we'd be put in the "after" Ward next week, but she didn't even smile. That's the worst of these nurses. They don't smile enough. They all get about as sober as a captured spy. I've been working overtime making them smile whenever they come near. Drew absolute blanks at first, but things are improving now. Got one of them to look quite happy for 10 secs. It makes me feel quite desperate. Good news! The quack has just been around and he says that I can get up, so when they bring me my gaol suit-coat and trousers of blue fleece lined material - I'll do so. They have all my other clothes so of course I HAVE to stay in bed. The regulations only allow us to wander in certain parts of the grounds so even our liberty outside is curtailed. As for getting out and looking over Birmingham, I believe the nurses would have a seizure if you mentioned it to them.    
I haven't had a shave for a month. You ought to see me. I lost everything but what I stood up in when I was shot including my razor etc

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