L/Cpl Frederick Bunt (Wandin), 2nd Light Trench Mortar Battery: Is admitted to hospital in France suffering from epididymitis.
Trp Bert Hutchinson (Lilydale), 4th Light Horse Regiment: In camp in Tripoli. In a letter to his future wife, Jessie Mackenzie of Yalca, Vic –‘It was nice for the Anzacs to get home for Christmas and what a gay time they must have had. Sorry to say it does not appear as if we will leave here in a hurry but all good things come to those who wait. If we could start a war in Aussie we would soon get home but that is out of the question. War ruins the whole country.
The weather has been rather wet so far this year but the winter will soon be over. We left here on Tuesday and arrived there on that evening. After looking after my horse and having a good meal we retired. Had a good night’s rest much to my surprise as this was the first time I have slept between the sheets and on a good bed since I left Aussie. On Wednesday had my breakfast at nine and left to visit the famous Cedars of Lebanon. After a long climb we reached the snow clad area and had some snow fight. I had my ear filled with snow. We visited the cedars and arrived home in time for dinner.
The afternoon we were fairly quiet after the climb in the morning but we had a good look at the town. We visited the Blow Hole. This hole is like a huge well and 900 feet deep in the side of a gorge with a small stream of water rushing over the side. It was well worth the climb to see. We had a good ride home arriving just in nice time for tea and we were glad to be home. But I did not fancy the daily routine after being away and I wish I could forget all about the routine for a while’.