Letters from the hospital ship 'Maheno', No 1.

A postcard of the 'Maheno' prior to service as a hospital ship,
from the Herbert Lomax postcard collection held at the State Library of Queensland.

A small series, of unknown length, highlighting letters from the hospital ship, 'Maheno'.

Part of my ANZAC Commemoration in the year 2020.

Name: Sergie Alexander (Nicholas) Rosenberg
Enlisted:19 Mar 1915
Unit: 19th Australian Infantry Battalion
Fate: Returned to Australia, 4 Nov 1915
Source: Australian War Memorial


Letter as it appears in Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Saturday 4 December 1915, page 6

SOLDIERS' LETTERS.
"HIS LITTLE BIT."
A WAGGA BOY'S REGRETS. 

Private Sergius Rosenberg, son of Mrs. Jourdain, of Baylis-street, Wagga, who has been invalided home, and is returning by the hospital ship "Maheno," writing on October 2, says:— "I do not like leaving my company, as we have worked together through thick and thin and shared all the privations, but maybe in time I will rejoin them. Looking over yonder (to Gallipoli) from the hospital ship, it looks like a huge miners' camp. The rattle of the machine guns and the crackling of the artillery in the distance sounds like a fireworks display. I had six solid weeks on the Peninsula, and in that time our battalion lost 50 per cent. of its men, so it means double work for us all. " 'Tis only while the war lasts," the lads would say, and go on with their work cheerfully. We had a severe time, but I stuck to it as long as I could until the old trouble robbed me of the chance of doing my little bit. Constant fatigue and long hours soon located my weak spot, and although the doctor did his best for me, I was sent to the hospital ship, unfit to renew my task, lacking energy and feeling "beat." Private Rosenberg was previously operated on for appendicitis.