Harold writes his last letter of 1915 to his mother in Teeswater.
Dear mother,
Well, I am back at the Château again and busy from the time I get up till I go to bed - in fact I have a 24 hour duty shift to commence at seven tonight, and I am just trying to get a line or two written this afternoon.
I got my discharge from the hospital on Tuesday after being transferred to our new divisional rest (station) ( D.R.S.). I was among the first batch of patients to go there. It was a pretty draughty place when I was there - only two days - and I was not a bit sorry to get back to my section again even if it is to be a general "flunky" at the Château.
I will not get very much time to write while I am here and it seems an age since I have written any letters. I have a big bunch to get done too, for the people who have sent things to me at Christmas all have to have an acknowledgment sent and there are quite a few of them.
Parcels have been very slow in coming and I have only gotten two that I had any notification of so far. The one from Mrs. Rumble which arrived on Christmas day and the one from the Teeswater Patriotic Society which arrived today. Everything in both of the parcels was okay and the sweater is just dandy and fits like a glove.
I have not tried on the shirt Mrs. Reid sent but it came at a very opportune moment. I'm crummy and I've had to burn an undershirt and it was the last clean one I had, as I lost another while I was in the hospital. I had taken it to a woman in the village before I took sick to be washed and she moved away before I got better.
I'll try and write each of the ladies a card anyway and thank them for their part in the parcel. Oh yes, I got Gert's while I was sick too, and have not written to her yet. Ettie's and Bathurst Church's came during the first week. Mrs. Rumble's apples have not arrived; they were reported to have been sent about November 1. The chicken has not arrived either but surely none of the rest will be long now.
I suppose you will be getting ready for New Year's celebrations. Was Bill home for Christmas? I guess you would always have a big crowd during Christmas and New Year's. I got Maud's papers and also the Teeswater News are coming along OK and the last I got was December 9th. Where did you get the idea that I got those clogs while scouting for wounded in Ypres? When I was up there I was scouting for firewood etc. We used to have to depend on that place for our firewood to supply our cookhouse and huts; also that was where we got the stones for the huts. That was how I got access to the houses hunting for stones and pipes etc. I got those boots in another village though, made on the premises.
I guess you will be wondering what kind of a time I had at Christmas. Well, I was sick all day and things were not very bright. But we had a fairly decent day all the same. A Christmas stocking was given each patient in the morning from The Toronto Patriotic League and then we got a turkey dinner with a Victrola concert in the afternoon. Mrs. Rumble's parcel came Christmas night and was transferred to D.R.S. on Sunday morning and came over here on Tuesday morning. On the car I came over here on last Tuesday, Charlie Scott a member of "B" section came along and was on his way to Canada. He is going on with three others to finish their courses in medicine and come out with commission in R.A.M.C. when they get their degrees M.B. (M.D. ?). The others are Bill Scott, Walter Barnes and Harold Irvine who was in London with me. I told Charles Scott, who is son of Rev. Dr. Scott of Toronto, to phone Orville when he gets there. I had no chance to see any of the other fellows before they left.
I didn't get time to finish this last night so we will try and get it away on the mail tonight. I am off the latrines (?) job and I'm holding down the desk today. I hope I'll get a chance to catch up with my correspondence here. I think I'll stop trying to write to very many and confine myself to about two or three letters a week. A whizbang will have to do any others that want to hear from me.
I just got out of the hospital in Bailleul (?) in time, as the village was shelled on Wednesday and over 100 shells were dropped around the village. One fell about 50 yards from the front of the hospital. There were 18 casualties but only three killed, 2 soldiers and a civilian. None of our boys were hurt. P.P.C.S.I. were just marching through at the time and had to lie in the ditches for a couple of hours.
Things are pretty quiet here now however after the big cannonade (?) we had the Sunday and Monday preceding Christmas. It was north of our lines and none of our brigade was hurt except that the gas the Germans sent over, drifted over part of the line. We were coughing away back at the hospital and were getting pretty husky throats before it cleared away. It was not bad enough back where we were for us to put on our helmets, but up at the front line they had to use theirs and they say they worked like a charm. When the Germans started to charge behind their gas, they didn't get a hundred men over their parapet. The artillery had the range perfectly and just blew them back - and up - so quickly that it was the only attempt they made to come over. Our guns kept at them though and from all accounts will take some few work parties to make their trenches habitable again.
Be sure and write soon and tell me all about your Christmas etc.
Your loving son,
Harold
Friday, April 19, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
20 December 1915 Somewhere in Flanders
Harold writes to his parents from somewhere in France on his father's business letterhead.
Dear Mother and Father and the rest,
Here I am a patient in our own hospital but I'm not very sick, just stiff from lying down. I came in late Tuesday night and have been here ever since. I will be out in a day or two however and I will be good and hungry so that I'll be able to enjoy my Christmas eats. If I get all the Christmas parcels that they say they are coming, it will be a miracle if I don't get sick again. It is lucky that I had not been indulging before or I would have blamed it on too much eats. But I was playing football last Monday and Tuesday for a while and I got a good sweat on and then caught a cold. I will soon be okay now but will write more fully about Christmas and answer your letters as well. I got Mae's and Mother's and one from Rose (his brother Orville's wife). I am glad that the picture got there but I hope the boots are not lost. I had them parceled in a strong cardboard box and of the two parcels, it was the more securely tied up. No I do not think I wrote any letter between those two dates not that I have any recollection of anyway.
Everything points to a pretty good Christmas here, as good as we can expect for active service anyway. There will be lots to eat and lots to eat it too. According to the description of the contents of my parcels, there is about enough stuff coming my way to start a young store. Don't send anymore clothes for goodness sakes till I get what are on the way and see what is in them. I expect a job doing rifle guard next week so maybe I'll be glad of all that yet. The trick is to carry it when we move. We had a slight sniff of gas yesterday morning (German), not successful though. I find this is the last sheet of paper I have brought in my pack so I'll have to ring off now and get this away on the noon mail. I will write more fully later.
Lovingly,
Harold
Dear Mother and Father and the rest,
Here I am a patient in our own hospital but I'm not very sick, just stiff from lying down. I came in late Tuesday night and have been here ever since. I will be out in a day or two however and I will be good and hungry so that I'll be able to enjoy my Christmas eats. If I get all the Christmas parcels that they say they are coming, it will be a miracle if I don't get sick again. It is lucky that I had not been indulging before or I would have blamed it on too much eats. But I was playing football last Monday and Tuesday for a while and I got a good sweat on and then caught a cold. I will soon be okay now but will write more fully about Christmas and answer your letters as well. I got Mae's and Mother's and one from Rose (his brother Orville's wife). I am glad that the picture got there but I hope the boots are not lost. I had them parceled in a strong cardboard box and of the two parcels, it was the more securely tied up. No I do not think I wrote any letter between those two dates not that I have any recollection of anyway.
Everything points to a pretty good Christmas here, as good as we can expect for active service anyway. There will be lots to eat and lots to eat it too. According to the description of the contents of my parcels, there is about enough stuff coming my way to start a young store. Don't send anymore clothes for goodness sakes till I get what are on the way and see what is in them. I expect a job doing rifle guard next week so maybe I'll be glad of all that yet. The trick is to carry it when we move. We had a slight sniff of gas yesterday morning (German), not successful though. I find this is the last sheet of paper I have brought in my pack so I'll have to ring off now and get this away on the noon mail. I will write more fully later.
Lovingly,
Harold
Thursday, April 11, 2013
8 December 1915 Somewhere in France
Dear Mother,
This is Wednesday morning and I am trying to get a small bit written at this while I can. It is a splendid morning and is a great one for walking. I had an easy time easy night last night and had intended going up to the next village to see Billy Redburn. However the S.M. put that idea on the blink by announcing a muster parade for inspection of gas helmets and of course everyone must be on that parade. Since there is no use going to bed and no time to go to see Billy I'll just try and get this written.
I hope you get the few little souvenirs I sent for Christmas. They are not very much but the choice of stuff here is very limited and it is hard to get stuff through the mails. I sent to Toronto and told Orville and the girls to get something for you and father for me. I hope it gets there by Christmas too. It no doubt will if it is not delayed too long by the extra rush. The parcel you sent on November 5 got here on Monday December 6, just a month from the time it was posted. The cake in the bottom of the box was in fine shape and is a dandy cake. Several of the fellows who sleep close to where I do, had a piece and ever since they are hovering around at meal time like flies around a tin of jam. The cookies were pretty dry but good just the same. I guess it is not very practicable to send eatables such as cookies and doughnuts so far, at least when it takes a month to get here. The maple syrup and nut candy and nuts were all fine and dandy. I have been about the luckiest fellow with parcels the last week or 10 days and have sure been living high. I had a great big parcel from "the Bathurst Patriotic Club" and it had nearly everything in it that you could imagine. There was not much to eat (except chocolate bars) but in a big pair of socks they had crammed two leather bound pocket diaries, a toothbrush, shaving powder, two pencils, envelopes and one bar of Ivory soap, a housewife with scissors in it, a towel. Each article was contributed by a different person and nearly all had a small Christmas tag on it. It was a good parcel for a soldier and I can tell you I appreciated it too. I had another one from Ettie the next day and it was peach. Two pair of socks one pair from Laura Haynes. They are dandy and both pair fit like a glove. They are the first ones that Ettie ever knitted too, a pair of wristlets and a couple of handkerchiefs. Say by the way, I have about enough of them. I also got your ? There were three or four in the Bathurst parcel and also a can of insect powder and a comb. ha! ha! Mighty handy stuff too for most of us are getting like a cage of monkeys now.
There was a lot of eats in Ettie's parcel too. Peanut butter, candy, etc. etc. and of course it was good. Aunt Aggie had one land along too and it was full of figs dates candy and nuts. I had a letter from Mae and she says there is another one from Toronto on the way and that Mrs. Rumble also was sending one. They are not to hand yet but will no doubt soon be here. Some of the fellows do not get very much and when it comes pouring in to me, it hardly seems as square deal. I try and divey up as best I can and they all seem to appreciate it.
We are not getting very much to do just now and we have only been having an occasional wounded man where a while ago we were getting from 5 to 15 a night. It is a pretty good record for the 4th Brigade considering that they hold the trenches (which hardly deserve the name ) that have seen some of the heaviest fighting of the war and where the Princess Pats made some of their famous charges.
You were asking in your last letter if I was getting fat. Say you would hardly know me. I cannot button my tunic when I have on a sweater and it is two sizes larger than the one I had last fall when I joined. If I wasn't getting fat I should worry because I am not doing enough work to take anything off me and with the parcels I get.
It is such a dandy clear day that the air is chuck-full of airplanes and au pom-poms and anti-air guns are busy. They very seldom seem to hit anything but I suppose they keep the airplanes from taking too many liberties etc.
Well this is Friday morning and if I get this away by noon it will likely leave England on the Saturday midnight mail and probably get home before New Year's.
I got a big Canadian mail yesterday and there will likely be more along today
but it is coming very irregularly now and will no doubt be worse as it gets near Christmas.
I think I have received everything that has been sent to me and I always try to acknowledge it. I guess I'll have to drop a "whiz-bang" (a field postcard) whenever I receive anything just when I get it and then you will know as soon as possible. In Mae's letter she seemed to think that possibly some things had gone astray. I do not think I have lost anything yet. Don't worry about me writing too many letters. I only write two or three a week. I try to write one home at least once a week and that will do for everyone. I might sometimes drop a letter to Ettie (and) to some of the others when I have time. By the way I'll enclose a letter I received from Mrs. Skillings of Scarborough. I got it sometime ago but have not answered it yet.
Oh yes the boxes I get are fine but do not weigh them down with fruitcake please. There will be lots of that and Christmas pudding etc. floating around here by Christmas -that is if it can float- and the hospital will likely be full of fellows with gout etc. they will all be calling it "trench feet" though. We get all the clothes we can possibly use or carry so any extra you have, send it to the Red Cross first and the fellows in the trenches will get it. If you have a good hot bath you might send it across. I haven't had a good one for nearly a month so possibly you will see how the insect powder comes in handy eh! I haven't had to use any yet but I have a "little 'itch in my arrangements".
Well I must ring off now and get this posted and then turn in.
Yours lovingly,
Harold
This is Wednesday morning and I am trying to get a small bit written at this while I can. It is a splendid morning and is a great one for walking. I had an easy time easy night last night and had intended going up to the next village to see Billy Redburn. However the S.M. put that idea on the blink by announcing a muster parade for inspection of gas helmets and of course everyone must be on that parade. Since there is no use going to bed and no time to go to see Billy I'll just try and get this written.
I hope you get the few little souvenirs I sent for Christmas. They are not very much but the choice of stuff here is very limited and it is hard to get stuff through the mails. I sent to Toronto and told Orville and the girls to get something for you and father for me. I hope it gets there by Christmas too. It no doubt will if it is not delayed too long by the extra rush. The parcel you sent on November 5 got here on Monday December 6, just a month from the time it was posted. The cake in the bottom of the box was in fine shape and is a dandy cake. Several of the fellows who sleep close to where I do, had a piece and ever since they are hovering around at meal time like flies around a tin of jam. The cookies were pretty dry but good just the same. I guess it is not very practicable to send eatables such as cookies and doughnuts so far, at least when it takes a month to get here. The maple syrup and nut candy and nuts were all fine and dandy. I have been about the luckiest fellow with parcels the last week or 10 days and have sure been living high. I had a great big parcel from "the Bathurst Patriotic Club" and it had nearly everything in it that you could imagine. There was not much to eat (except chocolate bars) but in a big pair of socks they had crammed two leather bound pocket diaries, a toothbrush, shaving powder, two pencils, envelopes and one bar of Ivory soap, a housewife with scissors in it, a towel. Each article was contributed by a different person and nearly all had a small Christmas tag on it. It was a good parcel for a soldier and I can tell you I appreciated it too. I had another one from Ettie the next day and it was peach. Two pair of socks one pair from Laura Haynes. They are dandy and both pair fit like a glove. They are the first ones that Ettie ever knitted too, a pair of wristlets and a couple of handkerchiefs. Say by the way, I have about enough of them. I also got your ? There were three or four in the Bathurst parcel and also a can of insect powder and a comb. ha! ha! Mighty handy stuff too for most of us are getting like a cage of monkeys now.
There was a lot of eats in Ettie's parcel too. Peanut butter, candy, etc. etc. and of course it was good. Aunt Aggie had one land along too and it was full of figs dates candy and nuts. I had a letter from Mae and she says there is another one from Toronto on the way and that Mrs. Rumble also was sending one. They are not to hand yet but will no doubt soon be here. Some of the fellows do not get very much and when it comes pouring in to me, it hardly seems as square deal. I try and divey up as best I can and they all seem to appreciate it.
We are not getting very much to do just now and we have only been having an occasional wounded man where a while ago we were getting from 5 to 15 a night. It is a pretty good record for the 4th Brigade considering that they hold the trenches (which hardly deserve the name ) that have seen some of the heaviest fighting of the war and where the Princess Pats made some of their famous charges.
You were asking in your last letter if I was getting fat. Say you would hardly know me. I cannot button my tunic when I have on a sweater and it is two sizes larger than the one I had last fall when I joined. If I wasn't getting fat I should worry because I am not doing enough work to take anything off me and with the parcels I get.
It is such a dandy clear day that the air is chuck-full of airplanes and au pom-poms and anti-air guns are busy. They very seldom seem to hit anything but I suppose they keep the airplanes from taking too many liberties etc.
Well this is Friday morning and if I get this away by noon it will likely leave England on the Saturday midnight mail and probably get home before New Year's.
I got a big Canadian mail yesterday and there will likely be more along today
but it is coming very irregularly now and will no doubt be worse as it gets near Christmas.
I think I have received everything that has been sent to me and I always try to acknowledge it. I guess I'll have to drop a "whiz-bang" (a field postcard) whenever I receive anything just when I get it and then you will know as soon as possible. In Mae's letter she seemed to think that possibly some things had gone astray. I do not think I have lost anything yet. Don't worry about me writing too many letters. I only write two or three a week. I try to write one home at least once a week and that will do for everyone. I might sometimes drop a letter to Ettie (and) to some of the others when I have time. By the way I'll enclose a letter I received from Mrs. Skillings of Scarborough. I got it sometime ago but have not answered it yet.
Oh yes the boxes I get are fine but do not weigh them down with fruitcake please. There will be lots of that and Christmas pudding etc. floating around here by Christmas -that is if it can float- and the hospital will likely be full of fellows with gout etc. they will all be calling it "trench feet" though. We get all the clothes we can possibly use or carry so any extra you have, send it to the Red Cross first and the fellows in the trenches will get it. If you have a good hot bath you might send it across. I haven't had a good one for nearly a month so possibly you will see how the insect powder comes in handy eh! I haven't had to use any yet but I have a "little 'itch in my arrangements".
Well I must ring off now and get this posted and then turn in.
Yours lovingly,
Harold
Thursday, April 4, 2013
6 December 1915 Somewhere in France
An incomplete letter to his mother in Teeswater.
Dear Mother,
Received your letter of December 12 yesterday and as usual was very glad to hear that everyone was okay. I guess you would be so busy at Christmas time that you could hardly turn around. I see that you expected your usual crowd at Christmas.
I got your parcel with Ettie’s, Mrs. Nixon’s, Mrs. Calvin’s and Mrs. Hughes’ contributions but failed to find your own. In its stead was a note from the postal authorities to the effect that, as the enclosed parcel of potted chicken was in a high-state of decomposition, it had been removed and destroyed and the remaining part of the former parcel repacked. So I guess it is not practicable to send stuff like that so far. Everything else was in good condition and I must write to them all and thank them. I have written to Mrs. Nixon and will drop a line to the others to as soon as I can.
We are at the Château yet but expect will be leaving in another 10 days or so for our D.R.S. I don't know for sure just how long we will be there but I guess it will be a month at least and from there we will go on to our dressing station where we were last.
Yes, we have been seeing quite a bit about Ford's peace expedition but I am afraid it is not going to be of much value. Oh yes, it was our own hospital that we were building the sandbag barricade for. It is not sand we put in the bags, only earth or anything else like that, that we can get.
Since we left our advanced dressing station there has been quite a bit of artillery firing around there and on one occasion two or three days after I had been sent on to our D.R.S., the village got quite a drubbing from the German artillery and the hospital handled 18 casualties in the afternoon. Our men got off okay and there were none hurt at all. I understand that since that bombardment (these were about 100 shells thrown over) there is a big dugout being built (bombproof) for the patients from the hospital to be carried to in case of a bombardment (say excuse this mixed up composition but I am writing this at the desk and people are continually…
Dear Mother,
Received your letter of December 12 yesterday and as usual was very glad to hear that everyone was okay. I guess you would be so busy at Christmas time that you could hardly turn around. I see that you expected your usual crowd at Christmas.
I got your parcel with Ettie’s, Mrs. Nixon’s, Mrs. Calvin’s and Mrs. Hughes’ contributions but failed to find your own. In its stead was a note from the postal authorities to the effect that, as the enclosed parcel of potted chicken was in a high-state of decomposition, it had been removed and destroyed and the remaining part of the former parcel repacked. So I guess it is not practicable to send stuff like that so far. Everything else was in good condition and I must write to them all and thank them. I have written to Mrs. Nixon and will drop a line to the others to as soon as I can.
We are at the Château yet but expect will be leaving in another 10 days or so for our D.R.S. I don't know for sure just how long we will be there but I guess it will be a month at least and from there we will go on to our dressing station where we were last.
Yes, we have been seeing quite a bit about Ford's peace expedition but I am afraid it is not going to be of much value. Oh yes, it was our own hospital that we were building the sandbag barricade for. It is not sand we put in the bags, only earth or anything else like that, that we can get.
Since we left our advanced dressing station there has been quite a bit of artillery firing around there and on one occasion two or three days after I had been sent on to our D.R.S., the village got quite a drubbing from the German artillery and the hospital handled 18 casualties in the afternoon. Our men got off okay and there were none hurt at all. I understand that since that bombardment (these were about 100 shells thrown over) there is a big dugout being built (bombproof) for the patients from the hospital to be carried to in case of a bombardment (say excuse this mixed up composition but I am writing this at the desk and people are continually…
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
3 December 1915 Somewhere in Flanders
Harold sends Christmas greetings to one of his sisters.
Dear sister,
Just a short line to wish you a very happy Christmas and all kinds of enjoyment and prosperity in 1916.
Was out on pass yesterday and did a little bit of shopping. Am enclosing a small handkerchief as small souvenir of "La Guerre". Everything over here is scarce and when we ask for anything that they have not got, they say, "Apres La Guerre".
Hope you have a big time at Xmas.
Lovingly,
Harold
Dear sister,
Just a short line to wish you a very happy Christmas and all kinds of enjoyment and prosperity in 1916.
Was out on pass yesterday and did a little bit of shopping. Am enclosing a small handkerchief as small souvenir of "La Guerre". Everything over here is scarce and when we ask for anything that they have not got, they say, "Apres La Guerre".
Hope you have a big time at Xmas.
Lovingly,
Harold
Monday, March 25, 2013
30 November 1915 Somewhere in Belgium
Dear Mother,
Received your letter of 7th inst. on Sat. and was glad to get it. It was a little late but it won’t be so long to wait for the next one. The parcels came along ok. I got 2 in 1 mail (the ones in the tin boxes) and they sure were a treat. Thank you ever so much. The doughnuts were pretty well dried out but the other things were in fine shape and certainly were good. The boxes were not damaged the least bit and there was absolutely nothing wasted. I used the cloths that the boxes were bound up with to clean my dixie (Slang for British Army camp kettle) and the tin boxes we hammered them out flat and nailed them over holes in the wall. The fudge and beech nuts were ok. Several fellows who had not been out to Canada very long did not know what they were and had never even heard of them before. Most of the old country fellows in our unit had always lived in cities in Eng. and so of course stuck to the large places when they emigrated to Canada. It is surprising just the peculiar ideas some of them have of the country in Canada.
I hope Geo. is coming along alright. It would be great if his eyes would get better now. There have been a few eye cases come in to us occasionally and they always cause the patients more suffering than any other wound. I remember at Dranoutre one fellow had a small piece of steel in his eye-ball, and we could not do anything for him. The poor fellow just wriggled around all night with the pain of it the whole night.
Since I wrote last we have been getting more sick than anything else. On Sun. night we had only one slight flesh wound and none at all last night. One slight (ly) wounded case in 2 nights and 13 killed is a good deal different proportion to what we have been used to. The 21st (21st Battalion) have lost 12 men killed and 1 other Batt. got only 1 in the same period. They were nearly all sniped too, as the artillery has been pretty inactive just around here this last few days.
There have been from 10 –16 cases of trench feet and colds coming in this last few nights and the sick ward of our dressing station was pretty crowded. No very serious cases came in, mostly colds and trench feet.
Don’t bother sending very many clothes because we are not very likely to need much more than what we are issued with in the line of scarfs etc. It appeared on orders that there was a shortage of sox in the division and asking that all the dirty sox be taken to the bath when we go. Some fellows have been getting clean sox from the bath and not handing in the dirty ones so the supply was running out. We have been issued with woolen gloves the other day, the same as we got last winter in Toronto.
You hit it on the head when you guessed that we would like the war to end. There are no soldiers over here but wish that peace would be declared to-morrow. Of course not peace on any terms. What I mean is that they are tired of the war. I wish the Kaiser could be stuck in a trench half-full of water and made to do duty there for a 6 day shift, same as a Private, and then when he is just about dead with cold and wet clothes making him so stiff that he can hardly crawl when it comes time to change battalions, and just as he is getting out of range, for a sniper to put a bullet through some place that is not vital for instance his thigh or shoulder and (if) he could be granted the pleasure of lying in the mud for about 12 hours before being dressed and treated. If he had to go through all that – and it is not an uncommon occurrence for it to happen – I think the rotter would want to sign pretty nearly anything they stuck before him.
I guess there will be skating at home by the time this reaches there. There have been some real cold nights here during the last week or 10 days but it has been comparatively dry till last night when it started to rain. It cleared up this morning again but us very muddy now. There is so little news to tell that I’ll have to ring off now and send this as it is nearly mail time. It is always collected at noon. I am not in bed this morning because I had a good sleep last night because there was no work to do in our surgery, but those in the sick ward were very busy.
I guess that you will be sending these letters on for I do not write to the others very regularly and I guess they look for them from home. Well I had better ring off now and shave before dinner. Hoping everyone is real well at home, I am
Your loving son,
Harold
Received your letter of 7th inst. on Sat. and was glad to get it. It was a little late but it won’t be so long to wait for the next one. The parcels came along ok. I got 2 in 1 mail (the ones in the tin boxes) and they sure were a treat. Thank you ever so much. The doughnuts were pretty well dried out but the other things were in fine shape and certainly were good. The boxes were not damaged the least bit and there was absolutely nothing wasted. I used the cloths that the boxes were bound up with to clean my dixie (Slang for British Army camp kettle) and the tin boxes we hammered them out flat and nailed them over holes in the wall. The fudge and beech nuts were ok. Several fellows who had not been out to Canada very long did not know what they were and had never even heard of them before. Most of the old country fellows in our unit had always lived in cities in Eng. and so of course stuck to the large places when they emigrated to Canada. It is surprising just the peculiar ideas some of them have of the country in Canada.
I hope Geo. is coming along alright. It would be great if his eyes would get better now. There have been a few eye cases come in to us occasionally and they always cause the patients more suffering than any other wound. I remember at Dranoutre one fellow had a small piece of steel in his eye-ball, and we could not do anything for him. The poor fellow just wriggled around all night with the pain of it the whole night.
Since I wrote last we have been getting more sick than anything else. On Sun. night we had only one slight flesh wound and none at all last night. One slight (ly) wounded case in 2 nights and 13 killed is a good deal different proportion to what we have been used to. The 21st (21st Battalion) have lost 12 men killed and 1 other Batt. got only 1 in the same period. They were nearly all sniped too, as the artillery has been pretty inactive just around here this last few days.
There have been from 10 –16 cases of trench feet and colds coming in this last few nights and the sick ward of our dressing station was pretty crowded. No very serious cases came in, mostly colds and trench feet.
Don’t bother sending very many clothes because we are not very likely to need much more than what we are issued with in the line of scarfs etc. It appeared on orders that there was a shortage of sox in the division and asking that all the dirty sox be taken to the bath when we go. Some fellows have been getting clean sox from the bath and not handing in the dirty ones so the supply was running out. We have been issued with woolen gloves the other day, the same as we got last winter in Toronto.
You hit it on the head when you guessed that we would like the war to end. There are no soldiers over here but wish that peace would be declared to-morrow. Of course not peace on any terms. What I mean is that they are tired of the war. I wish the Kaiser could be stuck in a trench half-full of water and made to do duty there for a 6 day shift, same as a Private, and then when he is just about dead with cold and wet clothes making him so stiff that he can hardly crawl when it comes time to change battalions, and just as he is getting out of range, for a sniper to put a bullet through some place that is not vital for instance his thigh or shoulder and (if) he could be granted the pleasure of lying in the mud for about 12 hours before being dressed and treated. If he had to go through all that – and it is not an uncommon occurrence for it to happen – I think the rotter would want to sign pretty nearly anything they stuck before him.
I guess there will be skating at home by the time this reaches there. There have been some real cold nights here during the last week or 10 days but it has been comparatively dry till last night when it started to rain. It cleared up this morning again but us very muddy now. There is so little news to tell that I’ll have to ring off now and send this as it is nearly mail time. It is always collected at noon. I am not in bed this morning because I had a good sleep last night because there was no work to do in our surgery, but those in the sick ward were very busy.
I guess that you will be sending these letters on for I do not write to the others very regularly and I guess they look for them from home. Well I had better ring off now and shave before dinner. Hoping everyone is real well at home, I am
Your loving son,
Harold
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
18 November 1915 Somewhere in Belgium
Dear Mother,
Received your letter ok on Tuesday & the tube containing the magazines came to hand on the same mail as well as a Teeswater News. I also got a Teeswater News again today again (Oct. 21) almost a month old but very welcome. I got the parcel from Toronto yesterday and yours containing the doughnuts etc. has not yet arrived. I had a letter from Gert on Monday and also one from a Mrs. Minnie Skillings of #1 Thompson Yard, Gorge Street, Castle Road, Scarborough, England. The address on the envelope was ok in every respect except she had Skillings instead of Skilling.
I made out from that letter that she was looking for a brother or brother-in-law whose address she did not know and she had written to the War Office for it and had received mine. I answered the letter and enclosed the one she sent. I told her about Bill being in a Batt. at Toronto and also that there were 2 other men in that same Batt. whose names are Skilling but of no relation to us that we could find. She did not seem to have a very good education and her spelling and writing were not very good. The letter was composed not too badly however.
Well, I was glad to get your letter and have been trying ever since to answer it but this is honestly the (1st) chance I have had to get at it. I have been on the sanitary squad ever since last Sunday and besides that work I have to work the rest of the day on making a barricade for the hospital. We had to fill 500 sand bags and pile them 10 high and 4 feet out from the wall & gradually sloping in to about 3 feet at the top and then fill earth into the space enclosed. It has taken nearly all of our spare time for nearly the whole week and none of us are very sorry because we have have been sitting around so long that we have been getting soft as clams.
It has been a fairly decent week as far as weather goes although it is muddy and I only got a new pair of shoes today. It was not before I needed them either for my feet were wet continually and it was mighty lucky for me that I had 2 or 3 pairs of sox. I had to take a pair of big 7’s as it was as they had not gotten any 6’s in but with a pair of insoles and thick sox I guess I can fill them. I can get my old ones fixed up and wear them if we have any marching to do.
There has not been very much doing here for some time. I got a few souvenirs from a few shell holes where a few shells had dropped a day or two ago and also a shell head from an anti-aircraft gun that fell close to the incinerator last week.
I’ll be in the hospital next week I expect (our section I mean) and will likely be there for some time probably a month. We not only have the wounded to fix up here but also the sick. Where we were last there were 2 different buildings for the sick and wounded. It will be a lot more work as it is now especially for whoever is on day duty.
This is on Friday night and I have just received a letter from Maude. She said there was one coming from Mae also but it has not arrived. But as there is a Canadian mail in again not doubt some more will be along tomorrow.
From her letter I learned that G.A. Mc. had been operated on for appendicitis and a time of posting was still in a critical condition. I hope that before now that he has recovered and is regaining his strength. He is certainly having his own share of troubles. I guess Mae would be pretty worried.
Say I think I must have been putting a terrible lot of emphasis on the “eats” for Maude says there is going to be a regular cargo of grub coming for me anytime now. I guess I’ll be able to get away with it alright but do not go to very much trouble about sending stuff for it is so expensive and it takes so long for things to get here. I only got the parcel on Tuesday and it was sent fully a month ago. There were a few of the apples enclosed that were spotted & one was all mushy. I was glad to get it however and there was nothing in it that was injured.
It came out on orders that we can draw 50 francs anytime between now and Xmas but did not say whether we could draw that much in addition to our regular pay or not. It is $10 in a normal money market but I do not think a franc is worth 20 cents just now. I do know that we cannot get 20 cents worth of stuff for it here – at present prices at any rate. Everything is an outrageous price here and our 30 francs a month does not last long.
I am pretty sure we will be taking charge of the hospital tomorrow and no doubt will be extra busy for a few days until we get used to things. I have been on the incinerator job all day and am grimy with smoke. We can only get cold water to wash in and it is so hard that it curdles the soap and we cannot get clean no matter how hard we rub.
Well say I think I’ll have to ring off now & get ready for bed as there is a big day’s work in the morning for me and probably all night tomorrow as well. We will likely have a better chance to write in the hospital than we have here so I’ll try and get another letter away by the first of the week.
I am real well and feeling fine. Hope everyone is the same at home.
Your loving son,
Harold
Received your letter ok on Tuesday & the tube containing the magazines came to hand on the same mail as well as a Teeswater News. I also got a Teeswater News again today again (Oct. 21) almost a month old but very welcome. I got the parcel from Toronto yesterday and yours containing the doughnuts etc. has not yet arrived. I had a letter from Gert on Monday and also one from a Mrs. Minnie Skillings of #1 Thompson Yard, Gorge Street, Castle Road, Scarborough, England. The address on the envelope was ok in every respect except she had Skillings instead of Skilling.
I made out from that letter that she was looking for a brother or brother-in-law whose address she did not know and she had written to the War Office for it and had received mine. I answered the letter and enclosed the one she sent. I told her about Bill being in a Batt. at Toronto and also that there were 2 other men in that same Batt. whose names are Skilling but of no relation to us that we could find. She did not seem to have a very good education and her spelling and writing were not very good. The letter was composed not too badly however.
Well, I was glad to get your letter and have been trying ever since to answer it but this is honestly the (1st) chance I have had to get at it. I have been on the sanitary squad ever since last Sunday and besides that work I have to work the rest of the day on making a barricade for the hospital. We had to fill 500 sand bags and pile them 10 high and 4 feet out from the wall & gradually sloping in to about 3 feet at the top and then fill earth into the space enclosed. It has taken nearly all of our spare time for nearly the whole week and none of us are very sorry because we have have been sitting around so long that we have been getting soft as clams.
It has been a fairly decent week as far as weather goes although it is muddy and I only got a new pair of shoes today. It was not before I needed them either for my feet were wet continually and it was mighty lucky for me that I had 2 or 3 pairs of sox. I had to take a pair of big 7’s as it was as they had not gotten any 6’s in but with a pair of insoles and thick sox I guess I can fill them. I can get my old ones fixed up and wear them if we have any marching to do.
There has not been very much doing here for some time. I got a few souvenirs from a few shell holes where a few shells had dropped a day or two ago and also a shell head from an anti-aircraft gun that fell close to the incinerator last week.
I’ll be in the hospital next week I expect (our section I mean) and will likely be there for some time probably a month. We not only have the wounded to fix up here but also the sick. Where we were last there were 2 different buildings for the sick and wounded. It will be a lot more work as it is now especially for whoever is on day duty.
This is on Friday night and I have just received a letter from Maude. She said there was one coming from Mae also but it has not arrived. But as there is a Canadian mail in again not doubt some more will be along tomorrow.
From her letter I learned that G.A. Mc. had been operated on for appendicitis and a time of posting was still in a critical condition. I hope that before now that he has recovered and is regaining his strength. He is certainly having his own share of troubles. I guess Mae would be pretty worried.
Say I think I must have been putting a terrible lot of emphasis on the “eats” for Maude says there is going to be a regular cargo of grub coming for me anytime now. I guess I’ll be able to get away with it alright but do not go to very much trouble about sending stuff for it is so expensive and it takes so long for things to get here. I only got the parcel on Tuesday and it was sent fully a month ago. There were a few of the apples enclosed that were spotted & one was all mushy. I was glad to get it however and there was nothing in it that was injured.
It came out on orders that we can draw 50 francs anytime between now and Xmas but did not say whether we could draw that much in addition to our regular pay or not. It is $10 in a normal money market but I do not think a franc is worth 20 cents just now. I do know that we cannot get 20 cents worth of stuff for it here – at present prices at any rate. Everything is an outrageous price here and our 30 francs a month does not last long.
I am pretty sure we will be taking charge of the hospital tomorrow and no doubt will be extra busy for a few days until we get used to things. I have been on the incinerator job all day and am grimy with smoke. We can only get cold water to wash in and it is so hard that it curdles the soap and we cannot get clean no matter how hard we rub.
Well say I think I’ll have to ring off now & get ready for bed as there is a big day’s work in the morning for me and probably all night tomorrow as well. We will likely have a better chance to write in the hospital than we have here so I’ll try and get another letter away by the first of the week.
I am real well and feeling fine. Hope everyone is the same at home.
Your loving son,
Harold
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