Letter to Mother from Somewhere in France
#782373
Somewhere in France
8-19-17
Dear Mother:–
Just a line tonight for I feel like writing you, now, I am siting in a trench my feet against the side of my funk hole my back against the other side of the trench, a foot to the right of me is my little fire place where I make small shavings and boil my water for tea. We make the shavings so there will be no smoke to draw attention of the enemy or hiney.
They feed use fine here a third more than we can eat each day so we try to clean up that third in lunching which I know I should not for I feel like a King if I don’t eat to much but yesterday, I ate so much that I had a head ack, but we got an order that make use get ready for activity and I brightened up and in a few minuits I was feeling like a knew man, to day I ate less and slept less and feel fine, we get an issue of sugar three times a day if we want it to make tea with.
That was to bad about loosing your calf for he was worth some good money by now but never mind Mother those are trivial things about life, Salvation is the thing that stares men in the face out here, and any place that should be there first worry.
I have no worry about any thing shells, the marches the chuck, the orders, the funk hole, the dug out, my boy comrades, I like them all and I have no worry in the world if a shell comes in here now I am ready to meet my saviour all I would do would be duck my head and close my eyes and go over the line to be with Jesus. It makes me laugh to see some of the boys and to listen to them talk, they are afraid of there lives of the shells, well they should be under these conditions in life but, They won’t change and what can be done they have to face the danger unprepared to meet there father above,
You know a bomb has a time fuse of some 4 seconds well one of our own boys was carry in some one night, he got between the two lines of activities and the m.g. fire behind him started, well he thot that the bombs on his back were detinating and he started to run and tore off his equipment, then the lapels of his coat were buttoned so he could not get free, then he pulled his tunic off and let every thing go, one lad grabbed him, he thot he had gone crazy, the lad very nearly got a poke so he let him go well he cleaned out of tunic harness and every thing and went down the trench like a scared cyote thinking that his bombs were going to hit him behind every step. te. he. The m.g. fire was not lighting within a thousand yds of him.
I suppose you will be buisy harvesting long before now I hope you will have a better crop than you folks thot at the time of your last letter of 22nd
bye bye Mother dear as ever your loving son
Laurie
[written upside down between the lines] 26th 3 P.M. Rest billets. Leeper got blighty a bone broaken by sharpenel in leg use other 5 Hazenmore boys are out safe and sound, and say Mother we all value each others freindship now as never before. I steped in to a cellar back and you could see how glad Bob Banks was to see me well I feel just as ancious or more so about him and young Pete come up and gave me such a hearty hand shake when we met Burns and I were each one looking for the other when we hit the billets manys the comrade did not get out at all alive but we know this happens each battle.