Private Harold Costello, 18th Battalion, 5 August 1916

Nepean Times (NSW)
14 October 1916

Following are extracts from letters received by Mrs Costello (Lemongrove) from her son, Private Harold Costello (reported wounded in the leg):—

County of Middlesex War Hospital, Napsbury, England, August 5th. 

I suppose you would like to know where and how I got wounded. The 18th Battalion were sent out to dig themselves in about 150 yards this side of the German trenches. We managed to dig sufficiently to cover ourselves from rifle fire by daybreak. It was very strenuous work — rifle fire all around us, and no cover until we had dug ourselves in. I can tell you, every man of us "worked for our lives." There was no time to argue — that's if one valued his life, as I think everyone of us did — for you know life is sweet when one is away from the trenches. It is worse than hell. I am convinced now that there is a hell. You can't imagine what it is like, and a bombardment is a thing that one cannot explain. I may be able to explain to you more fully when I come home — that's if God spares me to come through another bombardment. I think that anybody who came through the one on the 29th July can go through anything. There were some very brave men crying, with shell shock. Some pitiful sights were seen — that can never be forgotten. 

In a recent letter I mentioned that I had met Tom Lee, an old resident of Penrith. Just after daybreak on the 27th July he was walking along the sap that we had been digging all night, and he came to a place that had not been dug deep enough; but not thinking to keep down low, he got shot through the heart. I met Jack Newman just before I left for the trenches, at a town called Albert (in France), about two miles from where our trenches were in a once-upon-a-time town called Pozieres. There are only a few stones in the latter place to let you know that it was once a town.

Goldings, Hertford, Convalescent Hospital, England, August 19th. 

You will see by the above that I am getting along favorably — the leg is doing well. This is a splendid hospital — a private house. There are only 14 of us, so we are a happy family. We can just sit around the one table, and the nurses (two) are very homely.

Soldier Identified: Private Harold William Costello, Service No. 3997, 18th Battalion, A.I.F. Returned to Australia, 11 December 1918.

Allied troops and nursing staff at Napsbury War Hospital, England, during World War I (Courtesy: State Library of Queensland)

Sources:

1. Soldiers' Letters (1916, October 14). Nepean Times (Penrith, NSW : 1882 - 1962), p. 5. 
2. Allied troops and nursing staff at Napsbury War Hospital, England, during World War I. State Library of Queensland