A Fortunate Life

by A B Facey

  The Corporal and I didn’t have any idea about where we were going or what was going to happen to us. After about a twenty minute drive through thickly populated towns, passing thousands of local people walking and riding donkeys, we crossed a large river and arrived at a big military camp. I was fascinated at the way the driver of our car could drive through these intensely crowded streets.

  The car stopped at a large tent and we were ordered to get out and stand at attention. The three officers went into the tent and the Sergeant-major told us to stand at ease. I asked where we were and was told that this was the Mena Camp. There was a large pyramid close by, some hundreds of feet high – it looked huge.

  Mena Camp was the main base for the Australian Imperial Forces in Egypt. There were hundreds of Australian soldiers in the area surrounding the tent and they all seemed to be looking at us in wonderment. They no doubt thought we were in some kind of trouble. At last one of the officers emerged from the tent. We came to attention and he ordered us inside. We marched in and were halted. Sitting at a large desk was an Australian Colonel and two officers. We saluted and they returned the salute, then asked us to take a seat at the table. The Colonel said, ‘Now, tell me exactly what happened from the time you reached Abbassia up to now.’ I looked at the Corporal. He seemed dumb. The Colonel noticed how nervous he was so he said to me, ‘You, Private, can tell the story.’

  I explained what had happened and noticed that a Corporal was writing down all I said. When I had finished they asked many questions and then finally the Colonel stood up and we came to attention. He said, ‘Thank you boys. We will get onto this at once. Sorry you have been treated so badly, but I assure you, you won’t be left like this again.’

  Without any further delay we went out to the car, and were ordered in. The officer who had driven us to the camp had been instructed to take us back to our unit. I sat in the front with him on the way back and he became very talkative. He told us that the Colonel was a staff officer and a very understanding and fair man; he would start things moving and it wouldn’t be long before we were eating a good meal. The Lieutenant pointed out many places to us on our way back – the river was the River Nile – and he showed us the big pyramid near the camp.

  We arrived back at Abbassia at about five o’clock in the evening and already there were a lot of Egyptian cooks and assistants busy in and around the mess huts. The men asked a lot of questions about where we had been and what had happened. While this was going on several donkey-carts and cars arrived with supplies, and cooking arrangements were well under way. We had our first meal, and believe it or not, it was fried steak and eggs with plenty of bread and butter and a large mug of good tea.

  The next morning our own officers and sergeants came into camp. Our Captain ordered all troops to fall in as soon as the bugle call was sounded. We lined up into our proper formation and a sergeant of each platoon called the roll. When this was completed the Captain addressed us through a microphone. He said, ‘I want to apologise about your being left here without food and without command. I feel very sorry because it was partly my fault. Before I left you the night we arrived here, I left an order with a sergeant to be given to an officer, authorising him to supply your general requirements and take care of the camp until I arrived back. The sergeant got drunk and lost the order – he is being dealt with. I had been called away to a conference in Cairo. I will be leaving you again now for a fortnight because my officers and I have to attend a briefing school. While we are away you will be under English officers. They have been doing service in Ceylon and we expect them here tomorrow. I want you to co-operate with them. They will teach you all the latest about trench warfare, how to use a hand-grenade, and extended order attacking.’

  51

  BEFORE THE STORM

  The next day the English officers arrived and took over. A lot of amusing things happened. The officers were hard to understand and very regimental; their high-faluting way of speaking and giving commands was something new to us. We got into a lot of strife laughing at their commands. The punishment they ordered was usually the stopping of evening and weekend leave. I feel sure that they regarded us as inferior to the Englishman.

  We proved this untrue – at least on the sporting field – when the British and Australians held a sports meeting. Any soldier could take part in the sports which included running, high jump, hop step and jump, broad jump, boxing, wrestling and many other events. I won the high jump – clearing six feet – and the hop step and jump with a jump of forty-nine feet. I also won the heavy-weight boxing contest on points over four rounds. Our unit was also successful in the one hundred and two hundred yard sprints and one of the hurdle races. The sports were held on the Cairo sports ground.

  The English officers left us near the end of February when our own officers returned. From that time we were put on very rough training. Three days each week we had to march right out into the desert with an eighty-pound pack – a full battle kit. We marched ten miles out, had about one hour’s rest, then marched back again. This used to make us very tired. We also had to do drill and attend many lectures on diseases of all kinds, and what we must do if captured. This went on for almost a month. We were given leave passes to go into Cairo, especially at weekends, but had to be back in camp by eleven o’clock each evening. I was always glad to get back by about ten o’clock.

  Cairo was a dirty city after what I was used to. The Egyptian people were ragged and poorly clothed. Those who could speak English told me that they were paid paid five piastres a day (equivalent to an English shilling), and the living conditions of the poor were terrible. I saw a married couple with several children, eating and sleeping with the house goat, all in one room.

  We had to keep a close watch on our clothes and equipment or it would be stolen. I had one of my tunics taken, and as soon as I missed it, I reported it to our Commanding Officer who informed the military police. The next day an Egyptian (‘gyppos’ the men called them) came to our camp wearing my tunic. It was about four sizes too big for him but he didn’t mind. He told the military police that he was an Australian soldier. It didn’t seem to occur to him that he would be arrested for stealing.

  A lot of lads from our unit used to visit Cairo every chance they got. I would get a mate and go around sightseeing. Cairo wasn’t very interesting to me. I was shy where women were concerned and we had been lectured several times about the bad women who had come to Cairo when it was known that the A.I.F. was there. One lecturer told us that it was estimated that there were some thirty thousand women doing a roaring trade as prostitutes, and the authorities were trying to make them submit themselves for examination for venereal disease. Many soldiers had contracted this dreadful disease. The lecturers didn’t pull their punches when describing what could happen if you got a dose of venereal disease. So I completely refused to have anything to do with these women.

  The Egyptian religion permitted one man to have as many wives as he could afford to keep. On one shilling a day many were battling to keep one wife, but the rich had many. The sheiks had harems. I saw several sheiks, at different times, taking their families for a drive in donkey-carts. Each cart could carry from four to six adults. They used to take these drives on nice sunny days and I have seen as many as twelve donkey-carts travelling along, one behind the other loaded up with the wives and the children of one man.

  I often walked along the Nile, looking at bridges that were built to carry all sorts of traffic, and at the hundreds of women and men doing their work along the banks of the river. The women all wore hoods and veils – the married women wore black and the young girls wore white. These people had me fascinated. Some of the things they did seemed strange to me. For example, they never used soap to help get their clothes clean. They just kept dipping them into the river and out again, squeezing and wringing them. Some of the people whacked the sopping garments onto flat rocks.

  While I was watching these people one day, a very old Egyptian man spoke to me in go
od English, and asked what part of Australia I came from. I told him and then he wanted to know all about Australia. He was amazed at its size and prosperity. He told me that he had lived in Egypt all his life and that Egypt was a very poor country. Before British protection his people were in constant danger from raiders who would come from the many surrounding Arab tribes. The raiders were of a different breed, and killing and stealing was their way of life. He said that before the Suez Canal was built they had all lived in dreadful fear.

  I explained to the old man that the trip over here as an Australian soldier was an eye-opener to me – the bridges and the pyramids were wonderful. I had climbed to the top of the pyramid near the camp and I was amazed how those heavy stones got all the way to the top. (We could see a pyramid from where we sat on the bank of the Nile.)

  He was quiet for a few minutes and I was wondering if I had hurt his feelings. Then he said, ‘I can tell you something of the building of the pyramids. My father’s fathers lived all their lives in Egypt and in their younger days the raiders were very bad and fighting was by sword or knife. The raiders took food, stock, chickens and valuables and also young attractive women or girls for their convenience, and to work. So the pyramids were built for protection, for storing food and as places for women, girls and children to go. The entrances of the pyramids were made so that they could be easily defended against any raider. A few could hold back an army. There were many more pyramids then but not as large as the ones you see left here now. They were pulled down and the stones were used for building in and around Cairo.

  ‘Now, how did our forefathers get those stones to Egypt and up onto the top of the pyramids? This is what my father told me,’ he said, ‘you can take it for what it is worth. Many years ago, when the pyramids were being built, in this place and in many surrounding countries there were large lizards. They were dinosaurs. They had four legs and were very big, with a long thick tail, long neck and large body. When standing on the ground the full-size ones were from ten to twelve feet high and weighed about six to eight tons. They were very strong and could carry huge loads strapped onto their backs. They lived on many things – all kinds of vegetables and fruit – and could go long periods without food or water. They were an African animal, very quiet and were easily tamed and trained. My forefathers used them to cart the stones you see in the pyramids. They were carried many miles to the River Nile, put on large barges and floated down to the pyramids. The dinosaurs would crawl up the pyramids with a large stone on their back. They were very intelligent and quiet – much like horses to handle.’

  I asked the old man what had happened to these lizard-like animals and he said that his father had told him that they had been the victims of an incurable disease that had affected their young. As the older ones died there were none to take their place and the whole species died out.

  I visited Mena Camp near the big pyramid. Two mates and I paid a guide to take us into the pyramid to see the place where the ancient kings were buried. We followed the guide down the steps for what must have been hundreds of feet. It smelt awful – a musty stink – and made me feel sick.

  The guide showed us a large candle that was burning near the entrance to the tombs. He explained that it had been burning for over one thousand years and had never been allowed to go out. One of the soldiers who was with me became very interested. He asked the guide (he was a little worse for liquor), ‘What about when the candle is burnt down to the end. What do you do?’ The guide said, ‘We light another before it goes out and stand it alongside, so that when the first is spent the other keeps on burning.’ With that, to the surprise of us all, my mate gave a puff and out went the candle. ‘There, it is out now,’ he said.

  The guide went crazy and grabbed him and started to shake him. My other mate struck a match and lit the candle again. I grabbed the guide and made him let go. I said, ‘There you are, it is alight again.’ He was too upset to listen. He went down onto his knees and prayed to Allah. When he got up he said in English that he would not guide us any longer. He walked away and we followed him up and out of the pyramid. He never bothered to get his guide fee but just walked away, mumbling something in broken English. We were on pins and needles for the next few days, expecting something to happen, but nothing came of the incident.

  During the rest of the month of March we went through the same routine of marching and drilling. Then, near the end of March, we got word that the Australian Forces had left Mena Camp and sailed from the Port of Alexandria for an undisclosed destination. The next day we were ordered to move to Mena Camp and this is where we finished our training.

  At about eight p.m. on the eighteenth of April, an urgent message came through that men were required for replacements to the battalions. The officer in charge came in and rounded up twelve of us and one corporal, and the officer on duty for the second reinforcements just over from us, also nominated twelve. We were told to be ready for action with full marching dress and to report back to our orderly for further orders in one hour. There wasn’t enough time to bring any of the men back from leave. This left sixteen still at camp on guard duty.

  We were taken to Cairo in army cars, put on a special train and travelled through the night to Port Alexandria where a ship was waiting for us. We had no idea where we were going. We asked several sailors if they knew our destination but they said they had no idea either and that the Captain was under sealed orders. We were all making guesses but all we knew for sure was that we would be sailing into the submarine-infested Mediterranean Sea.

  The ship was a large one and the only distinguishing marks were the numbers painted on both sides of the hull. The name had been painted over in the same colour as the body – a watery grey. We were told by the members of the crew that the ship’s name was the Sussex.

  Although we had been rushed away from camp, the ship didn’t seem to be in a hurry to sail and we didn’t leave port until late on the nineteenth of April. On board were replacements for the Australian Forces (approximately three hundred and forty), some New Zealanders and two companies of English troops – in all, some nine hundred men.

  The crew told us all about the submarine activities and the large number of ships that had been sunk. This didn’t make us feel too secure. The day after we sailed we had rescue drill – and every day after that – and we were lectured on submarine attacks. The sea was very rough and the crew said we were less likely to be attacked by submarines in the conditions. So, although I was the worst sailor in the world, this was one time I didn’t mind how rough the sea was. And a most peculiar thing about this was I didn’t get seasick.

  52

  GALLIPOLI

  After the best part of a week we arrived at a place called Lemnos Island and entered a harbour. At first sight it didn’t look much, but as our ship sailed in we were all surprised at the size and beauty of the place. Some of the ships anchored there were enormous – there must have been at least sixty vessels of all sizes and kinds: transport ships, battleships, cruisers and many smaller craft, but there still seemed to be plenty of room for movement. My brigade – the Third – and other troops were already there in their ships.

  Some time after we arrived motor launches began to come alongside and take off troops. Finally the Corporal who was in charge of us (the twenty-four replacements for the Eleventh Battalion) ordered us to get into full battle dress and fall in, as our turn to be taken to our battalion would be soon. We got ready with our full kit and then climbed down into a motor launch and were taken to one of the transports.

  When we had been put aboard, an officer called us to attention, and from a list of names, assigned us in small groups to the various companies of the Eleventh. Seven, including me, had to go to ‘D’ Company. A sergeant said, ‘Follow me men’, and took us to the Major in command of our company. The Major told us that he was glad to have us in his command, and that we would be going into action soon. We were then taken to the sections that were in need of replacements. I was attached to N
o. 4 Platoon ‘D’ Company.

  The men in my section were from different parts of Western Australia. Quite a few came from the seaport of Bunbury, south of Perth. They were all strangers to me and were anxious to know how things and the folks at home were. I told them all I could but it wasn’t much more than they already knew, as I had left Australia only about six weeks after they had. Then a sergeant came and called my name, and took me to the top deck where all the replacements had assembled. We had to wait a few minutes, then an officer told us to gather around and lectured us on what was expected of us when we went into action. He told us that he didn’t know at that moment when or where that would be but it was likely to be soon. We were then examined by the battalion’s medical officer before returning to our units.

  While we were waiting in our troopship the main topic of conversation was where we were going and who we would be fighting. We were nervous now that we were so close to going into battle, but glad too that the time had finally come.

  It was very calm in the harbour and there was a peaceful kind of feeling, at least to me. Many of the men settled down to write letters but I had written already to the only two people I wrote to – Grandma and Laura.

  In the harbour there were French and British ships and several of these had brass bands aboard. While we were there, as if someone had given the signal, all the bands commenced to play ‘Sons of the Sea’, then followed this with some beautiful waltz tunes. This was a wonderful thrill; it was simply beautiful.

  We left the harbour – Mudros Harbour I had found it was called – on the afternoon of the twenty-fourth of April. We were nervous and excited, knowing that we were finally on our way into action. We sailed all afternoon through a calm sea. That night we turned in to sleep in hammocks. I was very tired and despite the excitement, went to sleep.