HAPPY ANZACS

Otago Witness, Issue 3245, 24 May 1916, Page 65

HAPPY ANZACS

FROM DESERT TO ORCHARD. (By Captain Q E. W. Bean, Official Correspondent with the Australian Imperial Forces.) ' IN FRANCE, May 7. In accordance with the promise given by Lord Kitchener to the Australian and New Zealand troops 18 months ago, before the first arrival in Egypt, Anzac troops have at last been brought to France, where they are now fighting in the line. I do not know what will ,bc their impression when they become familiar with country which is at present altogether new to them, but it is worth recording that arrival here to troops who have just experienced three sweltering months' digging trenches in desert sand, is like coming into fairyland. Divisions which for months lived in dazzling canvas camps on shimmering sand, with no civilian population except Arab camel drivers and Egyptian platelayers, find themselves split up into little communities—a battalion here, a company there, inhabiting villagvs and farm houses amongst green fields, and hedgerows, which come straight from the picture-books of their childhood. Some days ago I travelled through mile upon mile of beautiful country just breaking into spring, in which the whole population appeared to have been transferred from Anzac. In the orchard of every farmhouse were Australians, boiling tea, yarning, peifectly happy. Outside the barn was a company drilling. On every doorstep seemed to be an Australian, playing with children. A British officer at the port of disembarkation assured us that these troops passed through with as little trouble as any he had yet handled, and their demeanour in the country in which they were quartered was said to have been exemplary. The first impression they have made on the inhabitants has been excellent. It may bo added that the troops in Franco—French, British, and Canadian—made an equally favourable impression on all those Australian and New Zealand officers whom I have yet heard remark upon the subject. "SPLENDID FRANCE." "Somewhere in France—29-3-16" is the date lino of a letter just received by an Australian mother from her soldier son. The letter is from Corporal James Henry Dunn (an Anzac), son o; Private Arthur W. Dunn (who fought at Lone Pine) and of Mrs Dunn, of Leichhardt, Corporal Dunn writes: "After we disembarked we entrained, and were billeted right here 'somewhere in France.' 'Billeted' means that so many men are told off to each house in a village, according to the size of the house, and are provided with floor space and straw to sleep on. Since my arrival here I have not seen a man of military age or physically fit who was not in uniform. The villages and towns are populated by old men, boys, and the fair sex. The welcome and hospitality meted out to us by these homely and beautiful French women is superb. Right from the moment we arrived here, from the moment we got in the train until we got out, it was nothing but kisses (thrown to us) and waving of hands; and at the stations we stopped at en route we were given baskets of fruit, cordial waters, cakes, and hot tea and coffee. These lovely French folk could not do enough for us. The sombre black costumes worn by the French people tell too truly the story of the terrible suffering caused by the war. Everyone is in black. Everyone mourns the loss of someone they held dear. /We seemed to fetch sunshine to their homes, for they meet, us with an ever welcome smile. In the fields may be seen boys ploughing; girls in their teens working in the railway yards, swinging the shovel in the ash pits on duty in the signal boxes, and coal-lumping. You will hardly believe it, but I have seen it. Buf with all their hardships they greet you with their smiling welcome. No doubt they realise that we have come 12,000 miles to give a helping hand; but over in Australia you cannot realise what war is or what it means. Australia cannot do too much. She should shed every ounce of blood, if need 'be, in this fight for liberty and right. Mother, if you were here you would gladly say ' Go ' to every son you had if he was of military age, even if it meant death, and death is nothing to the individual when the cause is considered. Oh, if you could only see the ravages wrought in Belgium and France. A little Belgian girl (refugee, of course) looks up with her curly hair, rosy cheeks, and smiling face, and says: ' Hello, Australia ! Welcome, Australia !' It makes your blood tingle. Yes, her father has been killed in the . great fight. What is death, then, to us, if wo fire a shot and have done our best in the cause of right ? Boom, Boom! I can hear the rumble of the big guns, but we arc too far away for any damage to be done to us. I cannot say how long it will be before we are in the trenches; but I can tell you it is very bleak here, cold and wet. Ybu might think the writing is bad, but it is caused by the cold. My fingers are numbed, and oan scarcely hold the pencil."