11 April 1916 Flanders

This letter from Harold has been damaged and the bottoms of 2 pages are missing.

Dear Father, Mother and the rest,
Your letters, papers and parcels have all come to hand in good time. Also a letter from Bill who reached London O.K. He reported having a dandy trip across and they did it in 9 days.
We are having an easy time this week as our section is supposed to be attached to one of the new Fd. Ambulances that have just come out for instructional purposes. We are not doing anything in reality and have a chance to write letters and come into town and go to the movies. I got Norma’s parcel a day or two ago along with a few bundles of papers and …….
…….orgy for nearly everyone in our hut seemed to get a parcel. I got one from Bill posted in Toronto and one of the boys had just come back and was loaded down with things. Norma’s cake was fine and so were the caramels and maple sugar. The jam-jams in the other parcel were good too and soon disappeared once the boys got a taste of them.
No one knows what we are going to do when we shift from here. There is a possibility of several things but we do not know anything for certain. All leave has been cancelled and those on leave in Eng. have been ordered back. That puts me further back than ever. I am thinking I’ll be lucky to get away on my leave by next Easter.
i have not heard anything from Col. Weir yet. I suppose there is a lot of red tape attached to it and that it will take a long time ………
……boys have gone back to take out Commissions all in the Imperial Army. There is also some word of some more of the Meds. who are with us going back. Their names have been taken (3rd year men).
Sorry to learn that Geo. was sick again, Mae. How is he coming along now? How is the Prohibition Campaign coming? Heard rumor yesterday that the Legislature had passed the bill. Have not seen any mention of it in the Eng. papers.
Well have you been getting any warmer weather over there yet? This week has been pretty cold here but the leaves are beginning to come out on the trees and the Belgians are getting their……..
……. seem to be about the most important crops over here. What has Father decided to do about going west? Was Will down very long? I saw Norma’s piece of poetry on the Bruce Battalion in the news that came yesterday. It was pretty good. I don’t know whether I mentioned getting  Vern’s letter or not. It came to hand some time ago.Is the term at school being made any shorter thru’ the lack of farm help? How is the school going Vern?
Well, must ring off as my stock of news is about depleted and I want to get some more letters written while I have a table to write on. I don’t very often get a chance to have a table. Hope everyone is well. Love to all.
Yours lovingly,
Harold

8 February 1916 Somewhere in France

 Dear Mother,

Received your ever welcome letter January 16 with Norma's enclosed. Also had one from Mae and Bill.

I am not going to write to Bill just now as he will no doubt be leaving Canada before the letter would arrive there. However I'll get into communication with him just as soon as I find out where he is going to be stationed in England and then I'll try and make arrangements for us to have a few days leave together. We are sending about five or six away every week now, but as my number is 191 it will be a long time before I get mine. However the number of men going on leave will doubtless be increased shortly. I am looking forward to getting away by the end of April or May at any rate.

If at all possible I am going to transfer into Bill's Brigade when they get here. The 7th Brigade I believe came out last week so as the 8th Infantry Brigade that Bill will be with is here already, so he should not be long coming out after they reach England. I am not sure whether I can transfer out of the 2nd into the 3rd Division or not, but I am going to make inquiries just as soon as I have something definite as to when Bill will be here.

There is very little doing up around here these days except artillery and air fighting. Number VI Field ambulance had a German patient the other day but he didn't talk much. He was a Sergeant. There was also an officer captured the other day. He seemed to think that all the Germans had to do now was beat the Canadians and then walk over to Paris and London. He had come from the Russian front and had been in 37 engagements.

What is Archie Gillies in? I didn't know he was over here at all. Mrs. Button would sure be the one to buy to good advantage but she would be apt to quibble too much over a cent or two and get the Patriotic League in wrong with the trades people.

Say that was a good drubbing the hotel people got and it will make them sit up alright. Are they making very good progress in their Temperance Campaign for prohibition by July next?

Does Bill expect to get home before he comes away? He said he was going to try for a four day leave and also a pass to Stratford for a week end. They are a hanged sight more liberal with their passes this winter than last. All I could get was a single day last March.

Say everybody has been going to send me a program of the school play but I never received one so far.  The news has been coming quite regularly and I received the issue of January 13 sometime ago. I also got the letter from Miss Howie and am sending her my address. I got Maude's two bundles of papers although they were a month old.  They had been held up somewhere I guess. Say I would not bother sending the Sunday World and Star Weekly because they are sent to nearly everyone who comes from Toronto and so I can get a chance to see it often. Send the Globes though for no one else gets them and I can get more news etc. out of them than any other Toronto paper.

I suppose you think these are nearly useless letters but they are is there is so little going on that would be of interest to write about that I have quite a job finding material for letters.

Mae was asking me to tell of some of the cases we have to deal with. I haven't seen a badly wounded man since I left LaClytte.  All we have here are "sick" officers. This is the kind of a job that makes me sick of the Field Ambulance and I am going to get out of it the first chance I get. We have had so few as six patients here and it requires 50 to 60 man to keep the place in running order.  I don't know why they can't give us a little more leave. Of course every part of the service is inactive now but we seem to get the worst deal.

Tell Vern to write and tell me all about the hockey team etc. How is the drilling going with the Teeswater platoon of the 160th?  Well I must ring off now and get my dinner. Hoping everyone is real well. I am feeling fine.

Lovingly, Harold

24 January 1916 Somewhere in Flanders

Dear Mother, Father, Norma and Vern:


Harold Skilling (rt)with the Lickley Brothers


Received a big consignment of Canadian mail last Thursday and it was the first decent batch I have had since a long time before Christmas. The letters had all come through in good time and it just seemed like Christmas all over again even though it was 20th of January. Everyone was full of Christmas news and I was so glad to know that you all had such a good time. You would have nearly as big a crowd at home as ever and I guess you would be all tearing around as usual. I was sorry to learn that you were sick on Christmas day, Mother. I was in the hospital then too, but not very sick. Santa Claus was as good as usual I see and he certainly was to me. I sent a card to each of the ladies who packed my box from The Patriotic League thanking them for their part in preparing it. Also to Mrs. Hughes, Colvin etc. who put things in the parcel you were sending. Everyone must have been very busy at home with so many entertainments and dinners coming off. So the school play was "some ripper", eh?

How is the (160th ) Bruce Battalion coming along? I hope they get it going well and make a success. Be sure and let me know all about it when you write. Are Norman Farquharson* and Donald Stewart** going to be in it? Surely they are not going to give those two youngsters commissions! They will have the time of their sweet young life over here if they ever get them.

I am glad the skating is going alright. Tell Vern to write me all about the hockey team etc.

I was out this afternoon to get some photos that four of us boys had taken together and when I could not get them because they were not done, we went over to see Billy Redburn. It is the first time I have seen him since last October. He looks fine and is having a pretty fair time. The good spell of weather we are having is materially decreasing the sick list and neither our place here or there are very rushed. He has some very nice souvenirs that he makes in his spare time. I have not been able to get very many but I guess there is lots of time yet before the war is over.

Say Mae was telling me about some wonderful cures she had for constipation. I wish you would send it. Maude was saying that Bill expected to be leaving for England by the middle of the winter. I hope he gets over here before I get my leave, for then we might possibly arrange to get our leave at the same time. Tell him to let me know when he expects to get over here. Billy Redburn is number 17 on the leave list and expects to get away shortly.

Say I wish you people at home would have some snaps taken of yourselves. I believe Bill had some photos taken. I guess I'll see him in England before long. There has not been a Canadian mail in for almost a week and so I have not had any letters to answer except those telling me about Christmas and there is really nothing in them to answer and there is absolutely "nil doing doing around this joint". I think I'll keep this letter until tomorrow and and enclose those photos of the boys and perhaps there will be a mail in then with some letters from home. The news comes regularly and I like to get it. Say Orville, write and tell me all about the "biz" . They say there is all kinds of demand in England for Canadian eggs etc. How did you make out on your storage stock? Have you much difficulty getting men? If you get time, write and tell me all about things. I must write to Floss so will ring off for tonight and get it done.

Photos are not finished so will not wait for them. Ask Orville if Dr. Fish has joined the Army. He can tell me where to write. I am real well and hope everyone at home is.

Lovingly,
Harold R Skilling

*Norman William Farquharson, a friend of my father-in-law Edward Ray Jackson, died in France March 22, 1918 on his first night night in the trenches. See photographs and more on Ray's blog www.lettersfromww1.blogspot.com
**Donald Wilfred Stewart joined the Bruce Battalion in August 1, 1916 and later served in the Royal Flying Corps; in 1941 he joined R.C.A.M.C. and served on the hospital ship "Lady Nelson" (M.D).

16 January 1916 Somewhere in Flanders

Dear people at home,

I got mother's letter of December 19 several days ago and should have answered it sooner but I'll get it done now. The mail coming from Canada is very irregular and it takes at least three weeks for a letter to come through. However I guess it is about the best we can hope for just now as nearly all the fast boats have been commandeered by the government for transports and only a few of the old slow boats are left to make regular trips across.

In your letter of December 19 you spoke of getting the first of my Christmas mail. I guess in the next letter you will be telling me all about your doings at Christmas. Things have been plugging along here just the same. An occasional artillery duel is all that ever happens and they do not bother us much. You spoke of our hospital being shelled. Well it wasn't exactly our dressing station but only the village where it is situated. There were three men killed but they were artillery men who were where they should not have been. There was very little damage done and their marksmanship was very poor. They have the built a big shell proof dugout for the patients who might be in the hospital if it ever was shelled again. It is about as safe place as we could get for unless a shell dropped right on to it (which is practically impossible), nothing would be hurt.

Well we are going to get our leave at last and the first batch started yesterday. There were only three went but I expect after a few weeks it will be increased. They had decided to run it alphabetically but after the first batch had gone it was decided that lots should be drawn. Well they did that and I got number 191 out of 210 who drew. I think I'll go up to Scotland for a few days. We get six clear days in England eight days altogether, two for  traveling, and a free pass to wherever we want to go. I think when I get away that I'll get my pass made out to Greenock and stay a few days in London. While I am there I can get some decent clothes out of my kitbag at Jeff's and also draw some money which is not allowed us till we get to England. It is a little far ahead to make plans yet since at the rate they are going now, I will get my leave in approximately 100 weeks ha! ha! In drawing lots, the fellow who came after me drew number 13. He was a Smith.

Last Sunday when we were coming back from a bathing parade, a small squad of us stopped at in at the house by the side of the road and got a woman to take our pictures. She had gotten hold of a camera somewhere and she makes a pretty good job of it. She took two exposures but I could only get one kind. I'll try and get some of the others sometime soon and send them too. I didn't look quite such as simpleton in the other one as I do in this. You will notice those straps I have coming over my shoulders. They are not from my braces but are the straps of my waterproof cape.

I sent a box of souvenirs the other day but more as an experiment than anything else. There was a casing from an 18 mm shell nose and a shrapnel bullet also and a French bullet. The rod with the disc on the end was part of an anti-air gun shell and fell close to where I was working one day. The shell fragments are pieces that came from high explosive German shells that bombed our village that time I referred to in the first part of this letter. I sent my diary to England by a fellow who borrowed my haversack and he is going to mail it from there. I did not like to trust it to the mail here.

There is a patient here in our hospital who comes from Kinkardine I believe. His name is Major (?) Commerton and he is in the 18th Battalion. Do you know him?

Monday morning

Just got the start of another Canadian mail this morning. There were news came up to December 23 but no letters from home. I expect there will be more next time and as we only get mail once a day it will likely be along tomorrow.

I see by the news that the 160th Bruce Battalion is nearly an accomplished thing now and when it gets over here I think I'll try and get a transfer into it.

I'm glad they soaked to the hotel keepers at home and am anxious to see what they got. I also see that Jim Little and Bill Hiscox are Captains now. I wish I could get into the infantry or some other corps than the ambulance for there is such a petty bunch of NCO's here that they are continually stirring up trouble. One sergeant what even went so far as to have another up in the orderly room for a very trivial offense. They just seem to be itching to get one another up on the carpet every chance they can get.

Well news is about the scarcest thing around here just now and I only wish we would get out of this château. I think probably we shall next Saturday and I hope by then we will have our new Webb equipment with packs etc.

Well I guess I better ring off for this time and get at my work. Hope there is a letter tomorrow to answer. I am feeling fine and hope everyone at home is too.

Lovingly,
Harold R.Sk.

PS I See by the news that the school play went off fine. Tell Norma to write and tell me all about it. H.R.S.