LETTERS FROM CHUNUK BAIR
On the eve of Anzac Day, Tina White recounts the letters home written by two brothers from Bunnythorpe.
It’s Thursday, April 15, in Bunnythorpe in 1915. It’s a windy autumn day on the country property of Henry and Alice Argyle.
But far away in Cairo, Egypt, it’s hot.
Ninemonths into the Great War, Henry and Alice’s sons Percival (Pat) and Len are members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
They are assigned together in A Company, Wellington Infantry Regiment.
Pat Argyle is 25, Len is 21.
On this day, Pat is writing to his parents, as he and Len have done nearly every week since they arrived at Zeitoun Camp, in Cairo.
Pat remarks that their letters seem to take a long time to get to New Zealand from the war zones.
‘‘None of the mounted men have gone away yet; they are very disappointed at not being wanted, at least, some of them are. Jim Scheidt was over to see us last night, and we had a yarn, all about Bunnythorpe.’’
He tells his parents about other signed-up friends from home.
Jimmy Lankshear is in the hospital with measles; Jimmy’s brother Victor, with George Muldrock, is away at the front.
‘‘Bill and Vic are left behind; they are in the Mounteds. We received our pay alright... of course we have not been out to the city much yet.
‘‘Our leave has been stopped lately on account of riots in Cairo, but I believe we will soon get some. We have not been to see the Pyramids yet, so we want some more leave before we go away from here.’’
Meanwhile, back in New Zealand, Colonel Gibbon, chief of the General Staff, introduces in Parliament a memorandum about ‘‘reinforcement drafts’’.
It states that reinforcements sent by New Zealand ‘‘are not intended to increase the size of the expeditionary force in the field ... but to maintain that force at its full fighting efficiency at all times’’.
The colonel declares: ‘‘ Reinforcements must be available and ready to replace wastage before casualties occur. The scale of wastage calculated from the experience of past wars has proved to be an under-estimate, and New Zealand has had to increase her efforts accordingly.’’
July 14: The brothers’ next letters are sent from a new location; Gallipoli, in Turkey.
Pat Argyle writes to his younger brothers:
‘‘Dear Hector and Leslie, I had a letter from each of you the other day and I was very glad to hear from you again. We have your photo alright... I am glad to hear you can ride one of the bikes, so they are not quite useless!
John will have to have one when he gets a bit older. I have had several letters from [sister] Doris, but do not know if I can answer hers this mail. I hope she will not think I have forgotten her. Writing material is more precious than gold here now. We are quite unable to buy any.
‘‘Leslie seems to be getting along alright at school. Hewill be quite a learned chap by the time we get back. We have been under continuous rifle fire now for 10 weeks, let alone bombs and shells, and think it would be a great relief to get away from the noise for a while now. But I have not heard anything about us being relieved yet.
‘‘We are all hoping the Turks will have had enough soon, and that the trouble will be over here; but they are holding some very strong positions here, and they know it, and intend to make the most of it.
‘‘We have had no rain for a long time now. I think this will be a very cold and wet country in the winter... I think all the flies must have followed the troops from Egypt, as the country is swarming with them. It is very unhealthy, as the poor dead men lie out between the trenches sometimes for days and days, neither side being able to fetch in their dead.
‘‘I must not shock you, so will not say any more now. Your loving brother, Pat.’’
In August 1915, the demands of war lead to the forming of a national coalition government. Conscription becomes the only way for New Zealand tomaintain its supply of
Soldiers, likely of the Wellington Mounted Rifles, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, occupying a trench on Table Top, Gallipoli, during the night of August 6. 1915, in preparation for the attack on Chunuk Bair.
troops.
Len Argyle writes how pleased he and Pat are to have had a ‘‘big mail’’ from everyone.
‘‘You were talking of sending socks or something like that. We have plenty, aswe have just had two pairs given us...’’
Back home, there’s a popular little rhyme: ‘‘ Knitted in the tramcar, knitted in the street/ Knitted by the fireside, knitted in the heat/knitted in the sunshine, knitted in the rain/may whoever wears them, come back safe again.’’
Len writes: ‘‘I wouldn’t mind a packet or two of cigarettes, if you think of it. We got the papers alright. Also the photos of Hector and Leslie.
‘‘Dad must be busy with all the ploughing to do. I’d like to be home, helping you to pick those apples you wrote about... I am writing this in the trenches. Things are quiet today, though the Turks shelled them to the right of us last night and put some of our chaps out.’’
It will be November 1918 before the ‘‘war to end all wars’’ finally ends.
That’s too late for Pat and Len Argyle, the brothers from Bunnythorpe. They die at Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli. But their written thoughts remain.
The wartime letters of Pat and Len Argyle can be read on the Palmerston North City Library’s Manawatu¯ Heritage website.