Page:Letter from Maurice George Delpratt to Nell - December 1918 - p3.jpeg

we all went mad. Within five minutes some Scotchman of the Lowland Field Coy had a large Union Jack floating from the tower of the Armenian Church in which we were living, & the camp broke through the scared guards & marched into the bazaar. Next morning the rep. of Dutch Ambassador Embassy sent up 8RT. & the Red Crescent (illegible text) gave up the parcels they had been sitting on for such a long time. I forgot to say that before the armistice came about we were examined by a Medical Board (two Turkish doctors & one English]. I failed twice with malaria & debility but tacked on ‘home-sickness’ for the third try & was put down for exchange as a ‘mental-case’. However it made no difference as the last forty were cut off on account of lack of transport. We had a good trip to Smyrna ― seven special waggons for 150 of us & the Union Jack floating on top all the way. A week later we stepped off a tug, flying the Turkish Crescent onto the S.S. Empire & took our hats off & cheered her ‘White Ensign’. I was very sea-sick coming over & was glad to step on the very same wharf (Alexandria)
^ we embarked from for the Dardanelles.