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160742 Tpr. G. R. Hore 13/12/43 Dear Margaret and Cecil,Many thanks for your letters received last week. Also the ones from Jimmy, Mervyn & Phyllis. They were nice wee letters. I've had quite a lot of mail recenly & it takes a while to cach up with it all. However, I am gradualy catching up with it. Anyway you will hear all the news from the letters I write home. There hasn't been much else happened since I wrote to Mum & Dad. We have moved on a little further and Jerry has moved back a little so I am no nearer the "boundary" yet. Well Cecil, I suppose you will have heard about poor Bert before you get this. I made enquiries for him yesterday of some 6th Field chaps, just down the road here & ... 2 |
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... they told me how it happened. He was very unlucky if their story is right. I'm getting out of the road of a bit of straffing - two of them jumped on top of a mine. One has to keep his eyes open over here. He plants them pretty thick in places but the engineers do a good job & there are not many that they don't find. I have been doing a bit more road marking this last few days too. By jove a chap gets pretty soft. I had to have plenty of spells. It's pretty sticky clay here & takes a bit of picking out. One carrys about 10 lbs around on each boot too for a few days after each rain & there are plenty of wet days here. Too many for my liking. I've just received an airgraph & a letter from Lucy & also a letter from Mum. The letters were written on 11/10/43 & the airgraph 26th Oct. They certainly take a while even airmail, but it is good to get them & hear all's well at home. Mum was saying that the ... 3 |
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... weather was still very rough, especially for lambing. I hope you don't lose too many out there. You'll have to get "cracking" on those deer & pigs or they will start & get thick. Don't know that I can tell you much more about this land that I haven't already told them at home in previous letters. No doubt you will all have a read of them. I wish I were a good correspondent - I could certainly write some good letters. I could tell you what all I do but that would only take up about two lines & the censor may think I should have another position. It gets a bit monotonous at times but I don't say very much as there may be a worse job coming up. I've always said that 99% of one's time in the army is spent on waiting. I'm quite sure I'm right now. We find it a bit hard filling in some days & the nights are often very long, especially ... 4 |
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... just now. We have tea about 4:30 p.m. as it gets dark fairly quickly. The night before last there was a mobile picture show here & it was very good. Luckily the weather kept fine & we filled in an enjoyable two hours. Theatre was nothing flash. Ploughed field you know & for seats we used petrol tins etc. & the mud was nearly up to our ankles. Looking out one side from here the country reminds me a bit of the land behind your place. Only there is no tussock. There is a fairly high range with a good deal of snow on it & looks as though there is plenty of rock & shingle lower down. The land is cultivated up to a fairly high level & olive trees everywhere. They seem to grow wheat everywhere. Roughly put in too but it is looking very healthy just now & by the look of the straw stalks about they must have good average crops. They have some very crude ... 5 |
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... methods though. Up round here where the ground is a bit steep they hoe the land with an affair like an adds with two prongs on it. Then scatter the seed broad-cast. I think they beat the grain out of the straw, in most cases, just as they wanted it for use. I looked round a flour mill the other day where people take their grain to grind it. It was as ancient as the hills. Water race round the side of a hill & it drives each little wheel separately. There are some farms on the lower country that are more modern & use tractors & have their own threshing outfits. Even there the ground is only scratched over. It must be marvellous soil to keep on producing good crops all these years & only worked the way it is. Back further there were quite a number of sheep farmers. They were a poor type though. Although they appear to get two crops of lambs off them each year. I think they ... 6 |
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... kill their lambs very young though. They were still lambing when we were there & it was fairly cold & wet then. The coarse ewes were all hairy & the fine ones had very little wool on & plenty of bare bellies. They shepherd them all the time & bring them in to the "folds" at night. There are no fences anywhere. Their dwellings are very poor & dirty. In a lot of cases pigs, hens, rabbits & goats are kept in the same buildings, so you can just imagine what it is like. The smell etc. There's no such thing as a lavatory or bathroom. One has to watch one's step not only for mines. I've seen women washing their clothes in the creeks & they are not as clean as they could be. Just about as bad if not worse than the average "bogs" & God knows they are bad enough. Yes! we are fairly modern back home & may we keep it so. I have seen quite a lot & hope ... 7 |
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... it won't be too long before I am able to relate it all to you people. Still you would hardly believe it all unless you saw it with your own eyes. Well I thnk this is all just now. I hope you are all well & that it won't be too long before I see you all again. Cheerio just now & best of love to you all. Your affectionate brother, George. |
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