France, 24th February 1917

My Dear Dad,
Your letters of 12th Nov and 17th Dec arrived a few days ago and I was glad to learn that all was well with you. The papers you send come to hand alright. My photo certainly makes me look thin but the fact that I was wearing a tunic made for a six foot two man has something to do with that. I am far from being thin now.
Enclosed is a photograph which first appeared in the London papers. It was taken on the morning of the 15th* in Switch Trench which the 2nd Brigade had just taken from the Huns. The Rifle Brigade had just gone on to take more trenches in the direction of Flers. We had just dumped our gear in this shell hole and were having something to eat while the officer in charge discovered where he wanted our guns put. There were nine of us there with two guns we had only lost one man getting there but it was at a spot about two hundred yards to the right that four of us got hit next day. The men in the photo are Pvt. Coup (afterwards killed) Cpl. McQueen (a 4th reinforcement now sergeant) and Lt. Hayhurst (our section officer, now Capt. Second in Command of the Coy) the infantry man walking behind went up in the air before he went many yards further. The war correspondent who took the photo was a cool hand, big shells were landing all around him, earlier in the morning he had taken the first photographs of the tanks in action. The sector we are in just at present is very comfortable as far as we are concerned. The trenches and dugouts are dry and as we have a trolley running close by we do not even have to carry our gear in and out of the trenches.
Until a few days ago it was freezing hard here but now a thaw has set in and I suppose we may say that winter is over now and must look forward to a month or two of mud before the weather finally clears up, and then the push.
We have just heard that our NZ mail has been sunk in the Channel, hope it is not true.
Trusting this finds you all in good health and spirits.
Your affectionate son,
Rawei

*Rawei is referring to the 15th of September. The operation he is talking about is now known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette.

The photo referred to in the letter was lost, but a nephew of Rawei's, Peter G., found this photo (from the Imperial War Museum website) which fits the description and dates.


"Troops of the 2nd Canterbury Battalion, New Zealand Division, rest in a shell hole, Battle of Flers-Courcelette, 15 September 1916 Catalogue number: Q 184"

France 28/1/17

My Dear Gwen,
Just a line to let you know that I am still going. I am at present down at a school on a three week M.G. course, we return to our units in another five days or so. It is some time since I wrote to you, as a matter of fact I have been waiting for some letters to arrive. Since the Somme my letters have been going to England and wandering through the hospitals before reaching me and since coming down here I have of course received no mail as they hold it for me with my Coy.
I trust you got through your exams all right, and are having a good time. There is not much to write about here unless it is the cold which is fairly severe. We are much warmer up in the trenches than we are down here however the climate does not seem to prevent me from putting on weight.
I hope this finds you all in good health.
Love to all, Rawei


[Note]. I've added a page with a photo of Rawei's family, taken around the time he went away to the war. Click on the link on the side bar or go directly by clicking here]

Trenches 26/12/16

My dear Mother, I have just received your letter of 29th Oct and am sorry to learn that you had not then received my letters of 16th Sept. I did not at first think that my name would get as far as the casualty lists. I have not come across Gordon since the Somme and did not know how he had fared until I saw Stan Green in London. We are having a quiet time here for Christmas, plenty to eat and a house to live in. The house it is true is somewhat the worse for wear, but keeps out the weather which at present is not bad at all. We have had a few light falls of snow but do not seem to feel the cold somehow. Before coming into the trenches this time we were inspected by Sir Douglas Haig. He looked very much like the photos we see of him in the papers.
Well there is not much that we may write of here so I will close. Trusting this finds you all in good health and spirits, love to all,
Your affectionate son,
Rawei

France 18/12/16

France 18/12/16

My Dear Dad,
I received your letter of 31st September yesterday. The cable you sent on 28th arrived a few days later having gone to different hospitals in England and France before reaching me here. I did not reply to it as you should have received my letters long before this. I was really not much hurt, my steel helmet stopped most of my share of it, so that beyond a jolt on the head and a small piece in the thigh which is still there I escaped. Two others who were with me then are still in hospital. The fourth man was afterwards killed.
We are at present having a very quiet time. This is low lying country here and things are very damp, but we are well provided for and do not feel the cold much.
The papers you send arrive fairly regularly as do the parcels I receive advice of.
I returned from England three days ago and have been putting in the time since then at a gas school. It is in the charge of Dr Borrie who is Divisional [illegible] as Officer. You will know him, he is the one that played football for Otago.
It is quite likely that we will not spend Xmas in the trenches.
With best wishes to all for a Happy New Year,
Your affectionate son, Rawei

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

France, 20/10/16

My Dear Mother,
Here we are back at the same old spot we left two months ago. Things seem to be very quiet here after our experiences in the last place. We expect a mail in any day now but have had nothing for a week or so. I am now a corporal and if leave is not cancelled should have leave to Blighty in the next fortnight.
This place will do us for the winter if we only have the luck to be left here. Plenty of comfortable dugouts and nothing much doing. Each gun team does its own cooking. When in the trenches we have have a mess fund and what with the tucker issued and what we buy we live very well. One chap shot a partridge the other day but when it was nearly roasted poured some rifle oil on it in mistake for fat, another one fried his bread in dubbin. What with dubbin, grease for our feet, and rifle oil we have to be careful what tin we dip into when cooking. I am in good health and trust you are all the same.
With love to all,
Your affectionate son,
Rawei

France 31/8/16

Dear Mother,
We are now a good many miles behind the firing line having a spell after three months in the trenches.
Since coming out of the trenches a few days ago we have travelled a good two hundred miles by rail and road for the most part through land that we passed on our way into the trenches the first time. The place is now a picture. Despite the lack of men to work the land it all seems to be in crop and everywhere old men, women, and occasionally French soldiers are busy harvesting.
The fields and roads are all unfenced here and one can march for days along the roads without seeing a fence except in the villages which lie along the roads every mile or so. Even the smallest village has a big stone church and at most of the crossroads there is a crucifix or wayside shrine of some sort. The spires of these churches jut up above the trees which line the roads and surround the villages and so make excellent marks for artillery fire.
I do not know whether I told you before but I was made a lance corporal two months ago. Not very rapid progress for nearly two years in the army but I had to start again when I joined the machine gun.
We are training hard while out here. Today we were to have taken part in some field operations but rain stopped that so we did a ten mile march before midday and are now in our barn writing, sleeping, playing cards.
Well, I hope this finds you all in good health.
Love to all,
Your affectionate son,
Rawei

Somewhere in France, 25/7/16

My dear Mother,
Just a line to let you know that I am still in good health. I came out of the trenches yesterday and am now in billet in the town here. We had been about eight weeks in and I am now out for four or five days spell but expect to have a much longer spell shortly. We are in a fairly big town here which has once been a very busy place, now however most of its manufactories have closed down and only those civilians remain who cannot afford to leave. There are soldiers clubs and canteens here, a picture show & baths all run for our benefit so that we are fairly well off.
Your parcel containing the vermin proof shirts, socks, etc. arrived all right a week or so ago. I came across Jim Fleming, Bob's brother, the other day he is in one of the ambulances and seems to be getting along all right. I intend to have my photo taken before I return to the trenches, but am waiting to get a new rigout before doing so at present I am a bit ragged.
A New Zealand mail is expected in any day now, no doubt there will be letters for me and I will write you again. Thanks for the presents & goodbye with love to all at home.
Your affectionate son, Rawei

France, 22/4/16

Dear Dad,
Just a line to let you know that I am still going strong. You will probably know our whereabouts before you receive this [censored] and are now billeted out in farmhouses, in barns with plenty of straw, and are very comfortable despite the weather. When we left Egypt a midday temperature of 110 in the shade was not uncommon so that you can understand us shivering a little when we landed in [censored] with the glass at about 45. We have had a drizzly rain ever since arriving up here but the weather should improve now and I dare say we will become used to a little mud. This appears to be a wonderfully rich country and except for the absence of men the effects of the war are not very apparent to us. In case you did not receive my last letter my address is now 6/1917 2nd Company N.Z. Machine Gun Corps N.Z.E.F. We are only just within sound of the firing here but will no doubt be into it soon.
Best regards to all at home,
Your affectionate son,
Rawei