Letter from Roy Bruce to Maud Bruce

I got your letter
dated April 5th & written just before
you left Ada, yesterday, and I
was glad to get it. This is the
first mail since we landed on
these inhospitable shores & great
was the joy thereof amongst all
hands.

For the first time since
we landed there is peace around
us. All firing has ceased, bullets

cease to whiz & ping over us &
shells to drop round about.
There is talk of an armistice
for a short while to enable
the Turks to bury their dead.
They have lost very heavily of
late. The calm of the place
is almost uncanny, it is
raining slightly & the sea is
like glass.

My troop had its real
baptism of fire the other day.
I was sent out to an outpost
on a hill about a mile away
for 24 hours. We went out in
the evening, were sniped at on
the way out and were blazed
at furiously from 11.30 till day-
break. We lay doggo & no one
was hit, but I think everyone
was glad when daylight came

& we could see what was
what. We got three snipers
before breakfast - "A fine morn-
ing, let's go out and kill something
sort of style." At 10.30 am
one of the warships in the
bay mistook us for the enemy
& landed 3 shells on our hill.
One burst close to me & the
concussion knocked me over,
again by some miracle no-
one was hurt. We accounted
for some of the enemy in the
afternoon & got back to the
lines safely at 9.30 pm.

Had some experience of wet
weather in clay soil trenches the
other day. It rained rather
heavily in the morning & in
half an hour things were in

an awful mess. What those
people in France must have
suffered during the winter
I cannot imagine.

I am keeping a rough
diary in the back of a field
correspondance book, how long
I shall be able to stick to it
I don't know.

I can quite realise your
feeling of restlessness & desire
to do something, & I think
it would be a very good thing
if you could find something
to do to help in this ghastly
war. I don't quite know
what to suggest. I suppose
nursing is quite out of the
question? I know so little
here of what is going on or

what possibilities are open
to women now, that I am
afraid I cannot help you
at all.

We are looked after
very well here, plenty of
bully beef, jam, cheese, tea &
biscuits, & we make all kinds
of weird mixtures.

Have just heard that
the armistice is on till 4.30
t his afternoon, I suppose

merry hell will break lose
again afterwards.

Had breakfast in bed
this morning! Can you imagine
it in a dug out, in a sleeping
bag & the rain coming in in
several places. We had a
fresh meat issue yesterday &
made an excellent stew with
compressed vegetables. We also
get an issue of tobacco &
cigarettes occasionally.

The rain has stopped &
the sun is out & I also have
come out of my hole & am
sitting on my sleeping bag in
the sun.

There is an excellent story
told of some Australians & New
Zealanders in Cairo recently.

There were two parties in a
cafe at different tables & the
A's Arabs began to cheek the N.Z's New Zealand
saying "You think yourselves
'it', "finest country on earth"
etc etc. Our fellows stood it
for some time, at last one
got up & said I'll settle
this lot, went over to them
& said "You Australians consider
yours the finest country in the
world I suppose & your people
the best people in the world?"
"Well, yes," said one, "we don't
deny it, perhaps we are"
"You ought to be, if you are not"
said the N.Z r New Zealander , "considering
the best judges in the world
sent your forefathers there!!"
Chaos in the café. After all the Australians can
fight, they have made a great
name for themselves & deserve
it all.

Great excitement in the
bay the other day, a German
submarine was reported - all
the transports & small fry
skedadelled & half a dozen
torpedo boats went round
like scalded cats, I believe
they rammed her in the end.

The little photo I slipped
in the letter I sent from
the ship was a picture of
myself paying "old frizzle
face," who did my washing
at Zeitoun .

You may remember Wilson

the little dark boy in Bowies,
he looks after me now &
cooks & washes etc. He is not
bad, at present he is
making porridge out of
army biscuits. He puts them
in a bag & pounds them with
a bayonet till they are more
or less ground up, then they
are cooked like porridge &
eaten with sugar for breakfast & jam for lunch, because
it is pudding then. We
get a rum ration every night
in the trenches & it is very
acceptable.

It is extraordinary the
facility with which every one
settles down to primitive
cave dwelling again & quite
enjoys it. Truly these fellows
are good. I defy any country
to produce better soldiers.

I am always thinking
& wondering how you & Helen
are getting on & what every-
thing is like. Sometimes I
go over the house or round
the links on Sunday after-
noons, or down to the Bay

in the morning, we had
happy days old girl & I hope
there are happier ones in the
future.

I am very anxious to
hear from you how N.Z.
is taking her list of casual-
ties. It will be an
awful shock & hard to
realise for a time. Poor
little Timaru has suffered
a good deal.

Please don't tell M rs .
Hay anything about Harold ,
Guthrie is getting his mother
to relate the facts. I have
simply written to M rs . Hay
that her son was killed in

action.

By Jove the coffee you
sent me is coming in now.
One cannot buy anything here.
The cocoa I gave to the men.

Dinner or lunch or some
meal is ready & afterwards I
am going for a bathe & a
probable look at the Turks.

So long for the present dear
one. Give Helen my love
& a humbug, tell her I may
be home before long & then won't
we have some games. God bless you both my dear
ones, you have all my love.
you have every blessing.
Roy