Letters From the Front

Dated:

Letter from Pte. A. Johnson
Belgium, Dec. 4^th, 1915.
Mr. George Wyatt.
Hello George:
Your letter of Nov. 13 reached me safely and I was very pleased to hear from you. Sorry to hear about your accident, but hope all is o.k. by now. Before I go any further I must wish you and all the boys at the W.I.W. a very happy Xmas and a prosperous New Year. Don't fret, George, no matter where we are out here, in the trenches or billetts, we shall spend a happy Xmas, for are not the boys always happy, although of course at times conditions are very trying for one's patience. As per usual the weather is wet and cold, but we are getting used to it by now, and all the boys are enjoying good health, with the exception of a few coughs and colds.
To-day there was a fierce artillery duel, between our own men and those of the enemy and some of our boys were hit. Fisher, from Haileybury, may lose his hand, his wrist was badly shattered by shrapnel, also his shoulder was cut Do you know him? He used to be a conductor on the street car between Cobalt and Liskeard. We still have hopes that on the 14th of this month, we shall be relieved for a couple of weeks and so get a rest away back out of the sound of the guns. By the 14th we shall have seen three months of trench life. It doesn't seem long to you, but just the same it is very hard, and one looks forward to a rest.
When we were in training in Toronto, and I used to read in the papers about the troops going to billets from the trenches, for a few days, I used to try and picture to myself what billets were like, but my ideas were very poor. A billet is anywhere under cover, as long as it isn't the firing line. A big barn, with a few feet of straw, will accommodate 200 men, and it is real cosy and warm sleeping in the straw. It beats all your patent feather beds. In fact all the boys are getting doubtful if they would sleep on a spring bed supposing even if they did get the chance.
I'm sorry I've no war news to give you. It will seem strange to to you, but we only know what is going on in our own particular frontage. Papers are very scarce, and the fellows with the bomb proof jobs get the first chance of getting them. In fact these bomb proofers can tell you more about trench life than what you know yourself. I heard a story the other day, a fellow out at Brigade Headquarters, was always bothering one of the boys to get him a souvenir from the front line so the lad brought one out. The next time he went to billetts he brought a tin of bully and a hard tack wrapped in a sand bag, and he said it was a souvenir from the firing line. There isn't any news to tell you, but don't get impatient everything is going alright out here, though of course I know you would all like to see the enemy on the move, and so would we, still we are kept busy, we are not idle, and you would realize that we are fighting although not advancing, if you could get a look over here and see the Red Cross ambulances and trains speeding along at all hours of the day and night.
I must now come to a close as my candle is almost done. With best wishes to you all, I remain
Your old shopmate,

A. Johnson.