4106 20th Battalion 2nd ADB

C/o- AP Office Sect 17B France 1916

Dear Mother,

I received quite a budget of letters today including one from Gert & you and received one from Lil a couple of days ago consequently I’ve been elated.

Some of the poor dogs in our lot have not received any since leaving and makes them feel a bit out of sorts when they don’t get any letters when we do and non-com Off can generally howl himself hoarse trying to fall the company in for a parade. When there is a mail call he nearly gets killed in the rush. I’ve not yet received anything in the way of papers or parcels and have received about 14 letters from people including this 4 addressed on April 12th.

This camp is a fairly good one and we are getting a lot of instructions from competent NCO’s who know their jobs. I can tell you it is quite satisfying to get some competent instruction over here. We see a great variety of troops. It is rather interesting to watch the various types of Tommies some are short and fat and some are long and thin and on the whole I think the Australian’s can beat them easily as far as size goes but when it comes to drilling and discipline they can beat us easily. In the matter of fighting I think that we work about the same by all accounts. We are regarded as great jokes by some of the Tommies because of our natural untidiness and the way we shuffle and slouch at parades and we reckon they are rather funny because they salute like blazers and wouldn’t get out of step for worlds. They have some rather peculiar sayings and dialects etc which Australian’s don’t understand. The Tommies all round I have found them very decent, quiet chaps without any of the bragging manners like some of the Australians have.

The discipline here is very strict and comes a bit hard at first but we have been used to. They try cases of drunkenness by court marshal here and in Australia I know of a case where an officer put a drunken soldier to bed in his own tent. You get 28 days hard labour here for being absent without leave. In Sydney it was the usual thing to be Absent Without Leave but they have to be severe here because there is so much at stake in France in the matter of keeping a firm hand on the men.

We received our first pay in about 6 weeks about 7 days ago and it was like the breaking of an Australian drought. Twelve of us all threw in 1 1/2 franks a piece and had a real good feed, for a start including strawberry jams, Cambridge sausages, French rolls, butter and preserved fruit etc. I can tell you we enjoyed it too. We received a weekly issue of four packets of cigarettes while in active service so we don’t as a rule go short of smokes.

Not so far from where we are there is fishing village and a lot of the work is done by women.

I don’t think I ever saw a lower harder faced lot of women in my life that are the French fisher-women. They can carry as much weight as a man and swear and say filthy things worse than most mad men. I think on the whole the French people have a smaller excuse of decency than we have. I have seen them do things in full view of the public that would set all the wowzers in Sydney writing to the press etc. When we go swimming we undress and go into the water naked in full view of the road while women come along and mix it with us and sell chocolates & cakes etc. Here one can say things in French that we would be prosecuted for in Australia. I was always under the impression that living was cheap in England and France. In fact it seems to be as hard to live here as in Australia as wages are lower, for instance oranges are 2/6 a dozen, 3D chocolates 4d, eggs are l/9 a dozen, cakes which I have bought in Sydney for a 1/- are 1/6 each here and are smaller. We paid 10/- for a loaf of bread coming along in the train but it was a bit long about one yard long like this ((( Insert drawing here ))))

The echo of the Liverpool trouble is heard here but those of know of it as a rule can’t talk too much because they are not spotless themselves. It is quite easy to push these norms onto everyday. Everyday brings us nearer to ‘der-tag’ bur I can’t say exactly when. In any case I will write until I can’t write anymore so don’t looking down the casualty lists yet for a while will you.

You will not notice that the address is slightly altered. It will find me quicker on all future letters. Please put on the envelope. If not claimed please return to Miss Elkington, St Michael’s Road, Worthing. And I will know where to get them save having them saved up all over the place. You see Aunt Clara knows where I am from day to day and would forward them to me.

I am pleased to know Hilda is being kept in good nick. Get father or someone to go to Victoria Barracks and enquire giving my name, number, battalion and date of sailing re: my allotment. If you find any difficulty in drawing it. The money should be drawn at the nearest pound and every day by the agent.

Will close now with love from your affectionate son.

Walter Elkington (in France 1915)