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Trooper Louis J. H. Nurcombe, 117452, enlisted initially with the 12th Canadian Mounted Rifles, and was them moved on to the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles. A later update on Nurcombe was published in the Red Deer News on 21 June 1916, pg. 1:
Mrs. James H. Nurcombe has official word from Ottawa that her son, Louis J. H. Nurcombe, Mounted Rifles, was wounded between June 2nd and 5th. Louis left here with the 12th [C.M.R.]. Mr. Nurcombe1, the lad's father left with the 66th for the front.
Dated:
Letters from the Front
The following letter is from Lou Nurcombe, formerly of the 12th C.M.R., now of the 2nd battalion C.M.R.'s in the trenches in France:--
April 23, 1916
Dearest Mother: --Just a line to let you know all is well with me, and hope you are the same.
We are in the trenches again for eight days and the weather when we came in certainly was bad. Today is lovely. I did not think last Easter that I would spend Easter Sunday in the trenches, but then many things may happen in a year.
The Chaplain held a service this morning and I and a few others attended, I suppose you know it was Holy Communion he held. It was kind of a funny place to hold a church service, in between two dugouts, an aeroplane overhead, an occasional shot fired and a machine gun barking once in a while also our guns sending over "whiz bangs" to greet Fritz good morning.
I have often wished that I was tall, but now I am out here I am kind of glad that I am not tall, for instance when you go down a trench that is only waist high, that is the time when the short man shines.
Well, I haven't much more to tell you, or I should say, nothing more, so I guess I will close. Hoping to hear from you soon, I will close,
Your loving son,
LOUIS.
1James Nurcombe, 100530, was born in Woodscombe, England. He enlisted in the 66th Battalion C.E.F. in July 1915 at Edmonton, Alberta. He had previously served with the 35th in Red Deer, Alberta.
Transcribed by: M. I. Pirie