Harrogate Herald - 1st December 1915
Among our correspondents this week is Lance
Corporal Walter Palliser, of the 9th West Yorks Regiment, whose
portrait we also reproduce. He was a clerk at Messrs Marshall and
Snelgrove's, James Street, Harrogate, before joining the Army.
Harrogate Herald - 1st December 1915
Photo Page
Local Lads on Active Service
Lance Corporal W Palliser, 9th West Yorks
Harrogate Herald - 1st December 1915
Lance Corporal Walter Palliser, of the 9th
West Yorks Regiment, who was clerk at Messrs Marshall and
Snelgrove's, Harrogate, before joining the Army, and whose portrait
we publish today, has written a letter to his sister, from which we
take the following extract :
October 27th, 1915. Dear Eva, Just a line or two to
say that I am all right at present, and hope I shall remain so. I
hope you are all right. Of course, we get it a bit rough at times. I
got a shrapnel bullet through my bayonet scabbard, but a Miss is as
good as a mile, isn't it? I wish you would send me some writing
paper and envelopes, as, of course we can get nothing here. Do not
send any tobacco, as we get it issued to us. Wish you would also
send a small notebook, Eva; also a box of white precipitate
ointment, as it eases the face after shaving. I think that is all I
require. PS - I wish you would also send a magazine and a newspaper
or two, as it passes the time away when we have a bit to spare. Also
please send the enclosed pc to Mrs Russell, who sent some cigarettes
to us. She used to come to Marshall and Snelgrove's a great deal, if
I remember rightly. Another inspiration, Eva. Would you mind also
sending a small tube of toothpaste or powder, a pipe, and a small
mirror.
Harrogate Herald - 22nd December 1915
Lance Corporal W Palliser says :
As one who lived in Harrogate for some time prior to
enlisting, I thought I would venture to drop you a few lines which
may interest your readers. At the present moment I am in the
trenches and the terrible Turk is not far away. I have been out here
about six weeks and am settling down to it. "Familiarity breeds
contempt", they say, and I think that saying applies to
shrapnel and other shells. Taking him all round, I think the Turk is
a cleaner fighter than the German. He is a "foeman worthy of
our steel". The contrast one finds here is vividly striking.
The first night I was in the trenches I looked over the trench and
the beauty of the sunset was positively alluring. It made a perfect
picture with the ????? heights of the peninsula and adjacent land
silhouetted boldly against the red sky. A few minutes passed and the
shadows ???????? and suddenly the ground shook with the shock of the
explosion of a shell on the Turkish trenches. It was from one of
Britannia's watch-dogs. It was the forerunner of many more, and the
earth trembled with successive shocks, and gradually old King Sol
sank in the West, as if anxious to hide his face from the scene. But
it is war, and the watch-dogs will watch and the earth will tremble
until Britannia emerges triumphant. Now I must close. Perhaps you
think it presumption on my part, but I would so much like you to
send a Herald now and then if you could. It is refreshing to read of
doings in the beautiful town of springs. With best wishes.
[We have put Lance Corporal W Palliser on our list to
receive the Herald weekly]
