Letters From the Front

Dated:

Letter from the Front

Corp. J. A. Carswell writing to his father the early part of April says:

Dear Dad:--Back to work again after a bit of a holiday in England, I enjoyed it, too, although I was only resting about half the time, as I had a touch of rheumatism. Had a bath or two and got some new clothes. A dirigible was shot down in the Thames while I was there and there were a couple of air raids, but they did not cause much excitement.

I saw the Red Deer boys again a few days ago. Phil Galbraith and I went down to see the Hives boys,¹ W. Richards, R. Trimble, E. Kershaw, the Smith boys, L. Nurcombe² and others, including Billy Scott, and we also went and saw Colin Broughton in the 5th. He looks very well, in fact, I think most of the boys look better after being a while in the army.

We went up through Ypres on a fatigue party a few days ago and pushed engineers supplies up a narrow gauge railway. Every few feet on both sides for a considerable distance there were shell holes. Shells lit near us half a dozen times, but we were immuned. The way some of the buildings have been knocked around in those quarters is something fierce. It is said we are putting over more shells than the Boches but it is hard to believe it sometimes since we see all the effect of their shells and none of the effect of our own. They were shelling the trenches at St. Eloi this afternoon and some of the boys certainly got their wind up, as we say here, and there isn't much wonder. They sound pretty vicious sometimes. Two of my friends from Edmonton were killed outright by a shell at Ypres a short time ago, Deitz³ and Bassit [sp]⁴ were their names.

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April 21. -- Dear Dad:--Just a few lines to let you know that we are still here after a few more days of the business and it was a none too pleasant time either. Such a mess as some of the land along the trenches here is in. It is almost undescribable - hardly a tree is left whole in some parts -- a long line of broken and splintered stumps shows were some of the roads run. The country is making a desperate effort to get green now and the hedges are coming into leaf.

There certainly are some sights to see in the town whereof I spoke in my last letter but one. The bombardment must have been tremendous. The roads suffer least of all as the hard flint stones seem almost to turn the shells, but in many cases they are awfully hard to walk on, especially with wet feet. This part of the line is more conducive to the use of bombs than some other parts. We were right in front of an old mine crater. It is now full of water and I don't know how deep --all kinds of rubbish is strewn about even dead rats and dead men--scrap iron, etc.

We don't get mail so regularly now. Sometimes a "News" comes along. I guess we get most of the letters alright though. Did I ever tell you that Horace Meeres' brother⁵ is in our platoon. He is a nice, quiet, and oldish man, but seems to take the hardships quite philosophically.

Some more of my Edmonton friends went under lately. Well must close. Best love from us both.

ART