Part of a letter written to Ben, probably by Lt E L W Fox of the Garhwal Rifles
I wonder if you have really heard the true yarn of the “Persia” – I don’t fancy you have, so I am going to write it down here in just a few words. “A certain officer”, after jumping overboard a few seconds before the ship sank saw a woman floating about face upwards, and on close inspection discovered she still had room for a few more pints of salt water, so he took compassion on her and towed her about for 20 minutes & eventually got into a boat about ½ a mile away.
I daresay you can guess who it was, and I feel quite sure you will feel very proud of a member of the family who can do a thing like that, anyhow those of us who know about it, and there are not many I am sorry to say, recognise that the Huns havn’t got much of a chance so long as we have lads like this to see this show through-
It’s no good asking Ted about it, as he will of course say it was nothing, or a lie, but I got most of it out of him by degrees & you can take it from me that he gave up 80 per cent of his chances of getting to that boat simply to save someone whom he had never even seen before because she was one of your sex. It doesn’t sound much here & I am afraid I am no good at descriptions, but when it is a matter of everyone for themselves it takes a bit of doing-