Smith, Albert Percival (Driver, b.1891 - d.1966)

Collection relating to the First World War service of 972 Driver Albert Percival Smith, 4th Field Artillery Brigade, Broadmeadows, Egypt, France, Belgium, England, 1914-1918.

Wallet 1 of 1 - Consists of 29 letters, postcards and cards and two photographs Smith sent to his family between December 1914 and October 1918 during his service in the First World War. The majority of the letters Smith wrote to his sister, Maud, and her husband. Smith writes of the living conditions and his training as a light horseman at Broadmeadows camp in Victoria, of waiting to embark overseas, of the news of Australians fighting at Gallipoli, and the issuing of equipment prior to embarkation. From Egypt, he describes sightseeing at the Cairo Citadel and other religious sites, of seeing wounded men from Gallipoli, of his own hospitalisation for typhoid and, later, with the mumps, and training in the desert. He also writes of rumours of conscription in Australia and the latest news regarding the war. From the Western Front, Smith writes of his positive perceptions of the French, of gas attacks and gas masks, aircraft dueling in the air, the tough conditions and fighting at Ypres, and the entrance of the United States into the war. Smith also discusses his periods of leave in London, the food shortage in England, and of staying with the family of a friend at Helstone Manor in Cornwall.