28 October 1916 Holeyn Hall Wylam-on-Tyne

Dear folks:-

Well, I've put in a week at the Convalescent Home now and am getting along nicely. Have just come in from a walk down to the village 1 1/2 miles away. It makes me pretty tired to walk that far but I've not noticed my side get sore this time so I guess it is going to come along alright.

I got Mother's letter from Calgary and Father's from home on Oct. 1. I guess there was some flying around at our house for a few days getting everyone ready to get away. It was nice that you had company all the way. I'll bet you were loaded fit for a winter's campaign, and tried to carry it all.

Had a letter from E.R. (Etta Redburn) Oct. 5. She mentioned Father receiving the first cable from Bill. I thought that there was a quicker service than that with the official casualty list. I was hit on Sept. 28 and it had not appeared by Oct. 5.

Had a letter from some of my chums in the ambulance corps since coming here. They had quite a smash after I left. Two horse ambulances got smashed up. The horses were killed and also 1 man. The crews were all wounded. It is lucky that they were not full of wounded when they were hit for they can hold as many as 12-14 sitting cases each.

Bill is still at Lark Hill and it is beginning to look as if we are going to make our "leaves" coincide. Had a letter from him yesterday. He was in charge of the gun detachment that made a record. From the time of unlimbering the gun till reporting ready to fire & firing, it was only 35 seconds. I have sent a letter to my C.O. in France to see if he can recommend me for a Commission in the R. F. A. I'm not sure whether he will do it or not because as soon as I finish my leave, I'll be struck off the strength of the 5th Fd. Amb.(automatically). I'll see what he'll do and if he won't do it perhaps the C.O. of the base depot will.

There is not much to write about here. We get up at 7 am and all we have to do is eat our meals and lounge around till 8:30 pm when it is bedtime. The weather has not been very nice but when it is fine we all generally go out for a stroll. There are lots of books and magazines here so I spend most of my time indoors reading or writing letters.

That part of my old letter, Pa, that had to do with my assignment pay: That $15 is an amount equal to a month's assignment, which is kept out of the remaining $18 of the month when the first assignment was paid. That is for April 1915, $15 was paid to Orville, and $15 was kept to my credit at the pay office; I could draw the other $3 the next month ie I could draw the $18. they still keep the $15 of April 1915. I'll draw that "apres la guerre". (after the war, Pa)

I reported my throat here on two occasions and they only give me a gargle. The head Sister told me to report it to the throat specialist at 1st Northern General Hospital when I report back there for my uniform and pass. (I wear hospital blue now).

There is a concert here tonight. I think they put on something like that every Sat. night. We had some fine singers here last week.

Well, I think this is about all the news just now, so I'll ring off.

Lovingly,

Harold

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

21 October 1916 Holeyn Hall V.A.D. Hospital Wylam-on-Tyne

**out of sequence

Holelyn Hall V.A.D. Hospital
Wylam-on-Tyne

Dear Father:-

Well, how are you making out batching it? I guess you will be away most of the time.

I have been getting along far too satisfactorily to suit me. I could only stick the hospital 10 days before I was considered well enough to be sent to Convalescent Home. I am not sorry to leave the hospital for it was not particularly nice there but of course was quite tolerable. this place seems much better. Most of the patients are up and sit down to the table to eat. a staff of voluntary aid nurses wait on us and do all they can to make things nice for us, The food and recreations are much superior to those at 1st Northern General Hospital. they have a much better chance to do it here for there are only 50 patients.

The "Hall" is a country house given over to the government for the use of convalescent soldiers. It is mainly supported by a man, Balliol Knott (known as James Knott), who lives close to this place. He is President of Prince Line of Steamships. He has donated several things to this place in memory of his 3 only sons who have all been killed in the war.

I am feeling better all the time and the only thing that is worrying me is how I am going to stick here long enough to enable Bill (Bill Skilling ) to finish his Gunnery course. He will be finished in about 4 weeks and then we can have our leave together. We each get 10 days or so at the end of my hospital term & he is at the end of his instruction course while he is waiting to be gazetted. If we manage to work it so that both our leaves will come at the same time, we will likely take a trip to Scotland. By the way, I had a letter from Charles Munroe (a cousin) and a small volume of Burns' Poems came to hand today. He wishes to be remembered to you.

Bill came up to visit me when i was in Newcastle hospital. He brought along all the letters he had rec'd recently. I had not heard from anyone for over a month and so I was glad to hear all the news. I hadn't heard that mother had gone to Calgary or that the kids had gone to Toronto. Are you considering the trip out west. There won't be so much to keep you now.

Bill wants me to apply for a Commission when I get fit again and try to get in the R.F. A. I think I'll give it a try anyway. The only thing I am fishy about is getting a recommendation from my old O.C. I would have no difficulty in obtaining that if I could be paraded before him personally but he might be inclined to quash it if I wrote him. He is so inconsistent that a person never knows how to take him. A lot depends on the humour he is in at the time.

I suppose you got the two cables Bill sent. He also wrote after he had seen me and sent word to Bert Mitford who was leaving for Toronto last Sunday. He will phone the folks at Toronto.

I only came here yesterday so will write and tell you all about this place when I find out more about it.

Your loving son,

Harold

24 October 1915 Somewhere in Belgium (near Ypres)

Dear Father and Mother,

Sunday noon and I have just come off of a 24 hr. guard over a prisoner and had to stand or lie on a stone floor all the time with a draught that nearly blew us along the floor coming in under the door.

As you will see we have crossed back here again although we are not in the same village as before we went across the border to that rest camp at the chateau. That was supposed to have been a rest camp for us as well as the patients who were there but it wasn’t very much like it and so while we are here we are not supposed to do too much until we take charge of the dressing station.

It is a beastly cold and cheerless place here. We are crowded 25 men to a small hut without a fire or windows. If we want any light we must open the trap doors in the wall and then it is so damp and cold that we have to close them to keep the wind out. I am propped up against the wall on my bedroll of blankets trying to get this written before dinner. I am afraid I am not going to get it done. My fingers are so stiff that I cannot write very fast.

Some of our men went up to a ruined city last night and were to bring back some bricks to use as a pavement to keep us on top of the mud around our huts. They got into a sculptor’s yard and filled their waggons with marble slabs in a few minutes and then searched around the ruins for a couple of hours. It was very light (on account of a full moon and clear sky) so they brought back quite a few souvenirs. Some of them even got going through the ruins of the famous ‘cloth hall’. I guess you have heard of it and where it is. I am going to try and get on the next fatigue forty that goes up. It is only about six miles by the main road.

There is not very much doing here these days and only a few cases are brought in every day. A man of the RFA whose battery is attached to our division had one of his legs amputated in our dressing station night before last. It seemed too bad for it was only an accident. There are a pretty large percentage of the wounded men who come in who are only hit by accident and some of them are maimed by themselves purposely so they can get back to the hospital.

I got your letter and parcel of sox. They are sure dandy sox and the brown pair are just fine. They fill up my big boots to perfection. The film was in the other ones ok but I guess you have my other letter saying not to send any more as my camera is in the custody of the Col.

The mail has just come in but there was nothing for me. I think it is the advance part of another Canadian mail.

Dinner is all over now and I am going out for a walk so I’ll ring off and get this posted so that it will go on tonight’s mail. Have not got the parcel Mae spoke of sending. Probably it will be on the mail that just arrived. I am feeling fine and am getting fat as a porpoise. Hope everyone at home is well. Tell Verne and Norma to write.

Lovingly,
Harold