The 1915 Hardtack Message Poem by Paul Warren

One of the scarce things on Gallipoli
Was writing paper for letters you see
And so the AIF was obliged to send home
Letters written on anything that was found or known

So in November 1915 Driver Percy Gordon Hendy
Sent home a letter to Victoria Australia across the seas
The only material he could find
Was a hard tack biscuit
So he wrote his message on the back of it

It was processed with a service field postcard attached
Marked by the censors with their marks matched
It read wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
The family framed and kept it as a Great War souvenir.

© Paul Warren Poetry