109 year old message in a bottle found in Australia. WWI Aussie Soldiers on a troop ship to France.

[underpants]

Good read. Can only post 4 paragraphs. Pic of one of the letters below.

WWI soldiers' messages in a bottle found on beach 109 years later

Her husband Peter and daughter Felicity made the find during one of the family's regular quad bike expeditions to clear the beach of trash


Inside the clear, thick glass were cheerful letters written in pencil by Privates Malcolm Neville, 27, and William Harley, 37, dated Aug. 15, 1916.

Their troop ship HMAT A70 Ballarat had left the South Australia state capital Adelaide to the east on Aug. 12 of that year on the long journey to the other side of the world where its soldiers would reinforce the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion on Europe's Western Front.

Neville was killed in action a year later. Harley was wounded twice but survived the war, dying in Adelaide in 1934 of a cancer his family says was caused by him being gassed by the Germans in the trenches.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/messages-bottle-world-war-i-soldiers-found-australia-beach/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17

[hlthe2b]

1. So amazing. So poignant...

I heard this story this morning and was just amazed, but sad, thinking of those who would never receive the messages.

But, WWI! WOW!

[underpants]

2. No kidding. Think about a troop ship from Australia to France.

I know there were stops on the way. I’ve seen some that were just packed on the deck.

BTW Newport News Va was a big point of departure in WWII. Ship and plane. Big runway there.