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Letter from Edward Packe to "Sis" (his sister)Diary entry15.X.14 (15th October 1914) My dear Sis Thank you very much for all the packets for 50 received also for your letter I got this morning dated 3rd. Please thank Pen very much for her letter dated 5th which I got yesterday. We are on the move again & the mails are very queer. I don't know when I shall be able to post this & it is awfully hard to remember who you get letters & parcels & when you are on the move it is also very hard to write letters. I am sitting on my pack by the road side writing this & we are very nearly having bully beef for breakfast now. We spent last Sunday in cattle trucks, 39 in ours again, & we came within 30 miles of England which seemed so near & yet so far. I got another packet from J.P. from James the other day, but one day is so like another especially when you are sometimes marching half the night, one absolutely loses count of the dates. My diary is very slippy too & I often have to make up for 6 days at a time. Things have been progressing very favourably with us except for the weather which has lately been very horrid the last 2 days but has cleared up a bit today. The soles of my feet are hard as iron & when I get home & go to the bath in the morning it'll sound as if I've got hobnails (boots) on! Colonel Swayne our C.O. has gone sick. Mrs. Inglis knows Mrs. Swayne very well, I believe. Dolby's pal Major Prowse is now in command of our battalion, do tell her. I'm glad your Scouts are getting uniform as it shows that they must have been doing well & of course they'll be awfully pleased. The only way I can keep my pieces of shell is to put them at the bottom of my pack which very seldom sees daylight, because if I was to see them every day I should realise how much extra weight I was carrying & be tempted to chuck them away. Will you thank Gay & Ronnie both very much for their letters. I still hope to write to them sometime. I am still looking forward to keeping Christmas in England, with any luck I think we shall. You might say in your next letter the general opinion in England of how long this is going to last. Ellen's friend, old Moore, I believe gave it till the 9th of this month, at least that was the rumour we got, & it was extraordinary how much it was believed. 16.X.14 (16th October 1914) We moved off before I could finish this & we had rather an exciting reconnaissance which lasted for us until about 1.30am & for a long time we were kneeling in line each side of the road with fixed bayonets & loaded rifles expecting a charge, in spite of which we were half asleep. I dropped off once or twice, but seeing that we had been on the move since 4am. The farm we eventually slept in had been occupied by the Germings only about 2 hours before & they had actually pinched the stockings off the old woman who kept the farm. The barn we slept in was the domicile of hens as a rule, & in spite of the straw it was a bit messy. Three old hens spent the night close to my head, they were too frightened to move & I was too sleepy to move them & at about 4 am I felt one walking over my chest, so describing a circular movement with my right arm I dealt it an almighty blow in the region of its left wing, & I heard it go like an aeroplane across the barn, also one or two remarks from the people it trod on when it landed. Another mail has just arrived with a most beautiful helmet from Bay & Beats, which will make an awful difference, & I am very thankful for it. I also got a p.c. from Beats (Oct 7th, same date as helmet was sent off). A letter from Pen (the same date) & a letter from you of the 6th. For all which many thanks. There is a huge mail waiting to be given out still but they hadn't time to give out any more this morning. I haven't seen any Indian troops yet, but we may do sometime soon. I suppose these letters are sent round the family & I try & answer all the questions & then send the letters to you in turn, James will have the next one. I have not got Beats' tobacco & pipes yet but I expect it will arrive with the next mail & very many thanks for it in prospect. There was no time for anatomy lectures on the chicken which I helped skin, it was on the fire within five minutes of being caught, as we didn't know when we might have to move off & leave the lot. I have been meaning to write to Mrs. Wiseman & Nurse Butler, but it is really almost impossible. Please thank Ethel Bannister very much for me. You get used to any blooming thing out here, even to stripping equipment of the dead which is a job we always have to do sometimes they aren't missed. Night sentry is also quite an ordinary thing now, the first two or three times it is unpleasant but if your pal is a nervous chap it sort of makes you show how much you don't mind. Please tell Pen that mittens & a belt will be lovely as it is jolly cold at nights now & it will get colder still I expect. No more now. Post is just going. I will try & continue a sort of diary & send to James. Best love - ever loving brother E A Packe Written to E.M.P (Sis) Oct 15th & 16th Received by E.M.P Oct 25th Posted Army P.O. Oct 19th 1914 Signed I H Buckworth (?) Passed by Censor No.105 |
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