Wednesday, July 6, 2011

France 6/12/16

My Dear Gwen,
Here I am in London at last on ten days leave. We came over a week ago today and since then I have managed to see a good deal of the place. Every where there are Overseas Clubs and similar institutions which are run entirely for the convenience of the Overseas troops. While in Edinburgh I met Linus Walker, he was on furlough, and I had his company down in the train yesterday as far as Leeds where he was going to relations. He has a bit of a limp and expects to be sent back to NZ soon.
Scotland is a fine country and the people are very hospitable, if I have the luck to get more leave I would spend most of it up there, for by the time you have seen the sights of London you begin to long for some fresh air and sun and the north seems to be the place for that even at this time of the year when everything is white with frost both day and night.
Enclosed are some views of Armentiers, the place in which we have spent most of our time since coming from Egypt. It is an ancient town substantially built, but now for the most part in ruins. I am also enclosing a Hun Field Post Card, which is their equivalent of the ones we use. I got that in the last bit of trench we captured before leaving the Somme. We took the trench with the assistance of our artillery and liquid fire at two o'clock on a Sunday afternoon and I had to put my gun in a part of the trench that had previously been held by four german guns. We got the guns their teams were for the most part dead. Fritz tried to bomb us out of that twice. I had quite a collection of curios at this place but of couple of Maoris got down on them so that all I came away with was a telescopic sight for a machine gun that will post if I can from here. Now I must go and see if I can get some (illegible).
Goodbye for the present,
Love to all, Rawei