1 9. 4. 1916
2.30 a.m My dearest Mother, A thousand thanks for your
two very nice long letters dated March
23 rd & 27th which I received on Friday. I would
have answered by return only I heard of
a man out of Charlies Reg: who was up
at St David's Camp & I thought I
would see if he had any further news
before writing. I was not able to
go yesterday owing to a lecture in
the morning I did not get to bed till
after 10'ck so was not able to get up
early to wlak up and see him but got up
this afternoon & had a long chat with
him (Pte Ferguson) who has been in P. Comp
ever since the beginning. His story is the division sign
On the morning of the 8th Charlie stood up
on the parapet to say something to the
men & they all called to him to get down
& keep undercover but from what I could
gather he seemed to get a little excited
& they say he had a terrible responsible
position, he was wounded shortly afterward 2 right through the shoulder, he says he was
badly wounded & unable to carry on, so
they sent him up to A Company
& very shortly afterwards they all had
to retire both to C & A Company & Charlie
manage to get down with them about
15 miles when he & 30 others were captured
by Bulgarians, they were unable to dress
Charlies wound as there was no time
but he says that is the 1st thing the
Bulgarians did when they took wounded
prisoners . I hope you will have heard
something from W.O by then if now I
suppose we must only trust in Our
Divine Lord that he is safe somewhere &
being well looked after he spoke very highly
of Charlie & he said the reception Charlie
got on his return after being wounded
the 1st time was a great sight, he said he
never met anyone so popular & thoughtful.
This man says it was disgraceful
the way they were treated never getting
any support & they were absolutely left
without any artillery to support them
of course they did not know this at
the time, infact they were told when they 3 were retreating that the Artillery was there
supporting them but on going down they
found they had retreated a good while
before — these two companys got down. He
said when they left Charlie & found all
their Officers either killed or wounded
they took their lives into their own hands
& every man for himself & as he says
he was very lucky & every one who escaped
were lucky — He is very depressed because
he is not getting home, he had dysentery
& now has to have all his teeth removed.
I shall of course send him up cigarettes
etc. I am still on night duty as you will see
I may come off tomorrow when I will
have been on a month or perhaps if
it suits Matron I shall stay on, it
is really such a short time before I
start for home, 5 weeks & we might
be in London, I shall in a way find
it very hard to leave here as I really
love the work, but at the same time
I am just longing to see you all & get
home even if it is only for a short
time. I bubble over with excitement 4 sometimes & just long to kiss you all once
again & as for my little bed & room
how I shall appreciate it, for the last
week I have been sleeping 3 in a
much smaller room than mine but I
hope there will be only two tomorrow.
Night duty is not so bad really especially
now as Matron has put on another
V.A.D it was horrible when Sister Travers
went off I* was the only V.A.D left
on, I used to sit down & have my
meals all alone which was preferable
to having with the company, now the
two of us meet and have it together
We are just after getting a terrible
fright as we heard a terrible loud
cry for the orderly & as we have
several bd heart cases & one who
had had an attack about an hour
ago, we were sure something had
happened so tore round our wards
to find all sleeping & none calling
so we said it must be another
block so went across to find
all sleeping & then went on to G to
find it was a patient calling for 5 a drink this Block is about 200 yds
away so you can guess how he called —
I was delight to get Tommy's letters, he
writes in great form I hope they
will keep him there some time, I
do not know that I would not rather
have him go to France than Mesopotamia
I am glad to be able to say my
feet are better, the one days massage
did them a lot of good but unfortunately
I am unable to get the supports here &
It is not worth sending them out I
would be nearly gone before they
arrived & also the size is difficult
I think I shall have them massaged
when I get home for a bit if they
are not better.
Certainly the holidays are very early
this year I suppose they will
all have returned by the time I
get back — I was talking to Matron
today she is very upset when I told her
I was going home but really I do not
feel I am not playing the part as there
is really absolutely nothing to do out
here just now . The day staff are having 6 every second day off & half on the day
they are on & still there were too many
for the work there is to do. That is the
one good thing about night duty one
has a lot to do — I believe I shall
get 2 days off as I have been on a
month so shall have nice long rests.
It is beginning to get very hot out here
& the flys & mosquitoes are starting
again. I hope nothing has happened to Gerald G
as I have not heard since he went
back from him. I see in the papers
there has been a fair amount of fighting
near him so perhaps he has been too
busy to write or perhaps his letter has
gone astray — I am very glad to hear
Gerald is getting on so well, it must
have been hard on him going back.
Beatrice writes in great form I read
a letter to A Lily from her yesterday.
Se seems so happy at Hannton now
every things seems to have blown over.
I had a nice long letter from Aunt
Sissy, I so glad to hear from 7 her & that they all are well at Clyde
Rd. I hope this letter will reach you quickly
they always seem to take such a
time, there was a mail in today
but as yet I have got no letters, it
is very soon after the other.
I do not think I shall wire you
when we are starting as it will
only worry you but shall wire
when we arrive at Southampton
or elsewhere & really we never know
till the last minute when we go
Now, I shall end this long & silly
epistle. With every loving thought, good
wishes & the best of luck.
I hope we will hear something about
Charlie soon. Give Andrew & Desmond my fondest
love & a big kiss X X X Also take
a big one for yourself . I am so
glad to hear Violet is looking so
pretty & well — she must be one of
the star turns by now . Who is the artist on the list! With love — Your loving & grateful daughter Marie 8 On Active Service Mrs Martin
Greenbank
Monkstown
Co Dublin
Ireland