MENA HOSPITAL – Fri 11 Jun 1915

“It was just like having at tooth drawn,” writes Private E. H. Ely, of Harcourt, from Mena Hospital, describing the extraction of a bullet from the top of his head.

I am keeping the bullet as a memento. Bert Biggs got a bullet in the shoulder, but it is not serious. We have not heard how the other boys got on. The officers were nearly all wounded, and some killed. I was wounded about 10 o’clock, and Bert about half-past 1. We came on board the hospital ship Gascon about 3 o’clock, and, after staying at the island of Lemnos for a day, sailed for Alexandria. We are now back at Mena, nearly 1,000 miles from Turkey. –‘s 6/ a day tourists made a name for themselves. I would like to have had him with us when landing. A man was lucky to come out of it alive. We are getting looked after grand here. I cannot say enough, about our Australian nurses; they are worth their weight in gold, and too much cannot be done for them.