19 October 1916 1st Northern General Hospital Newcastle-on-Tyne

Dear Mother and Gert:-

Well, things have been in a muddle at home, haven't they? I hadn't an inkling as to what was going on until Bill came up to see me on Saturday last. He brought up all the recent letters he had rec'd from everyone and read me all about the happenings.

I hadn't had any mail from anyone for about a month. So I was wondering what was going on at home. Today I was fairly overwhelmed with mail. It had all been sent on from France. I got 19 letters & cards and a regular armful of papers. I was most of the day at reading them and have only finished. It is now nearly 6 pm and, as we have our tea at 4:30 pm and supper at 7 pm, I can get a letter written to you before supper.

Well, I'll not go into details of how I got to 1st Northern General Hospital for by the time this reaches you, you will have rec'd my others and also the one Will (Bill) wrote when he was here.You would likely be en route for Calgary when Will sent the cables. I wrote a letter to Floss a few days ago telling most of my trip across. Probably she will have sent it on to you also.

Well, I have been getting along nicely and have been allowed up and about for three or four days. They are crowded for room here so any who possibly can go to Convalescent Homes are being sent. I go tomorrow. I'll likely be there for 2 or 3 weeks but I am going to try and make it spin out till Bill has finished his Gunnery course at Salisbury then we can have our leave together. He will be finished at Lark Hill by November 20th at the latest. I'll likely have to " swing the lead " a bit for I'm getting better far too quickly. That's the worst of being healthy. I have a small fragment of shrapnel still in me. It jags against my ribs when I twist or stretch but the doctor here says the x-ray people could not find anything definite. I was x-rayed in France and they found it but of course they could not do a second operation there. If it gives me much trouble, I'll report sick and see if I can't have it taken out.

Well Gert, how are you feeling these days? I'm sorry I neglected writing for so long. Since we started our long trek from Ypres to the Somme, I haven't had time for much of anything. They even objected to letting us eat our meals in peace and sometimes hauling us out of bed in the "wee small 'oors" was another favourite stunt they indulged in. We were worked to death when we got down to the real thing. When an action was underway, it was slave like mad, and when the Division was out we were all in and could sleep our heads off. The first trip in for the 2nd division the weather was fine except for the last two days. It takes just about 20 minutes of rain to make a morass out of the ground down there. A water-soaked ploughed field isn't a patch on the ground there. Carrying stretchers over that kind of ground is the most tiring thing you could imagine. Just to walk from our advanced post to where we slept ( about 2 miles) was enough to make me feel "all in".

Bill wants me to take out a commission and try for the R.F.A. I have not decided. I can't do much until I get discharged from hospital.

Write me at my old address until I let you know differently. Well, I have a batch of letters to answer so will ring off for now. Hope Gert is ok and yourself.

I'll soon be fit as ever again.

Lovingly,

Harold

20 September 1916 France

** Blacked out by censors

Dear Folks,

This is Wed. afternoon and I have just a few minutes to write during a lull in the business. I have been working in a dressing station exclusively for slightly wounded and we have been so busy that we have not had time for anything else but work & sleep since last Friday. I guess you will have seen the reports of the Canadian's work in the papers. They have been very successful in their attacks and especially the 2nd Division. We have had 100 stretcher-bearers up in the "scrap" clearing wounded during our Division's turn in the trenches. Our boys were very **........................and .............................................................................................................. one shell and all of my section and my pals. They were all killed instantly except two who died soon after. One patient they were carrying was not hurt at all.

The artillery fire was terrific and they were caught in a barrage. The next day one other fellow was killed and 4 wounded. The fellow who was killed the next day was waiting for a commission and his papers came for him the day after he had "shuffled off".

The casualties in the infantry were heavy but we are not finished yet and we are going to get some of our own back that we lost at Ypres.

Prisoners are common and are put to work helping to clear wounded or any other job that comes to hand. They surrender freely when it comes to a showdown but fight and snipe when they think they won't be caught.

About 25 men were left in charge of the dressing station when the bearers were sent on the advanced work. With just that many men we handled, fed & treated as many as 800 in hospital and dressed and sent on an additional 500 making 1300 that passed through our hands in 24 hours. Fortunately, they were all only slightly wounded and shell-shocked.

Rec'd your letter of Sept 4 yesterday. So Vern is going to the city eh! Has Norma a school yet? Saw Billy Redburn yesterday. He came through alright.

Must ring off. Will write more fully later on.

Lovingly,

Harold Skilling

11 March 1916 France

Dear everybody:

It seems an age since I have written home or received mail from home either but there ought to be a Canadian mail along today surely. I have been so busy since we moved here that there has not been much time to write anyway. Last Saturday we moved from the Château over here. This is the DRS for the 3rd division and it will not be very bad here when we get settled. As the weather gets better we will not have so many patients. We have room for about 120 or so but at present we have only about 15 patients here. We only keep them for seven days and then either discharge or evacuate them to some other hospital. It is quite a change here from the Château. But I suppose we will soon get tired of it here just the same as it gets monotonous at all the other places. 

There is a village here and a railway but not very many troops. We are the only Canadians here and when the other section first came here they were considered quite unique by the French but they will soon stopped showering us any favors when they find out that the British Tommies do not like it.

When we were at the Château we got a bunch together and started to learn a few songs but when we came here we were lost without a piano. The other day however one was discovered in a house at the other side of the town. They were only too glad to let us use it and whenever we can we are going over there for an hour or so to practice. She sets out coffee for us when we are through and won't accept pay for it.

We can only stay for an hour as there is a rule that all soldiers must be in their billets by 8:30 PM. We get nearly got pinched by the MPs the first night we were up. We were making too much noise in the streets after hours. We bluffed him out however.

Our billets are pretty fair but not as good as at the Château. We are in a loft over a driveway and it is pretty draughty. It is dry anyway and we can pinch enough blankets from the hospital to keep us warm. It is not necessary for us to be there very much so we do not mind if they are not very elegant.

The hospital is in an old factory with most of the machinery taken out. It has all been nicely whitewashed inside and looks real clean and bright. I am working in the surgical ward and have considerable bandaging to do. We occasionally get a real serious case and these are immediately sent down to the casualty clearing station (CCS). I think quite a percentage of the accident cases are incurred when the patient is drunk. We have 35 here now who were hurt when they were drunk. One fellow was run over and we thought for a while that his leg was broken. Another was riding a bike when he was pickled and fell off and broke the bike and hurt himself. He was taken away this morning to court-martial. Any cases like that do not get much sympathy from the medical officers and they are sent back to their unit as soon as they are able to do light duty. Very often they get punishment besides. I think that is one reason why they do not pay us anymore than (£ or $ ?) 6 a month.

I am writing this on Tuesday p.m. and this makes it two weeks since there has been a Canadian mail and I guess it's about the same length of time since I have written home. The weather has been splendid this last few days but there is very little to do just yet. The artillery still keep banging away at each other. I suppose you have seen before now that we have had one death. One of our farriers had been so badly wounded that he had to have both legs amputated and died the day after he was hit. He was working in a civilian blacksmith shop next door to the hospital at LaClytte, not here and a shell came along and wrecked the place. It just missed the hospital by a few yards.

I suppose Bill is in England by this time and I am looking for a letter from him every day. I have written care of Jeffs so he will get my letter just as soon as he arrives in London.

I am enclosing a few snaps of the village here. I would not even attempt to spell it myself it is pronounced 'God wears velvet' and at couple of Bailleul. There is a place downtown where they have a camera and I am going to try and get some photos taken. They do a pretty good job in postcards. I'll have one taken with my new equipment on.

Well there is nothing startling to write about so I'll bring off. I'll write you when the mail comes in and let you know if I get any. 

Your loving son and brother,

Harold Skilling