Letters From the Front

Dated:

Letters from the Front

R. J. Doran of the 5th Artillery Brigade writing to his wife in Red Deer [Alberta] says:

Somewhere-in-Belgium

My Dearest Stella: -- It is a little quiet this morning (Sunday), so I will try to hurry a page or two, before the music begins. Have escaped so far, but had, I don't know how many narrow squeaks, it is remarkable how close they can come and still miss you, we have had only one more casualty since I last wrote you, but we are fortunate as they quite often send them over pretty fast.

Well, dear, this is the next day, and since I left off above, it has been pretty hot, nearly met my Waterloo a dozen times, but still in the ring, and it has quieted down again to the normal, steady slow firing, and I go for another rest tomorrow, if all goes well. How pleased I shall be to get it as this place is getting us all as nervous as a watch spring, you jump at the least suspicion of a shell and get on your stomach, face down. It is getting worse and worse each day, but we give them just as much or more than they give us, so there is not much room for complaint.

It has begun to rain again after having been just lovely weather for two weeks, and when it rains it is so cold, they have taken one of our blankets away, so that leaves us with only one and it is pretty chilly especially at nights, but when the weather is fine, you could not ask for anything better excepting peace, but we do not look for that for some time yet for many reasons, which I will not write here.

We have just lost two more men since I begun this letter, and they were both nice fellows, one a mere boy and the other a South African [war] Veteran. I have not seen any of the Red Deer boys since I wrote you last, although they are quite near, I do not have time to see them, as it is not very comfortable walking on the roads in almost any part of the line. There are so many incidents, in our part of the line, that happen from time to time, but not caring to have my letter destroyed, I do not care to write of them, so you must have patience until I return.

Was it not shameful for a bunch of numskulls in Ireland to begin such a thing as that, when they should have thought of their brothers in France and Belgium fighting for their existence and who never say die, and so many of Ireland's brave sons have died on the battlefields of Flanders in defence of the Empire, why dear, I am almost ashamed of them, if I did not understand how it all happened, I would think that the Irish who were in it were traitors even to their own people. See the beautiful buildings in Dublin and in other cities which have been destroyed, hundreds killed, or wounded, women and children made homeless, all for what, just the insane idea, that Ireland was to be free, free under German rule which, if they only knew it, is worse than slavery. If they knew the Germans as we know them, they would never entertain such a wild notion of what they call freedom. I am thankful it has ended as it begun, just a cloudburst and all over.

We are in, or near, a most beautiful old Chateau, which must have been a "cure for sore eyes" in times of peace, we have part of the furtniture with us, parts of three pianos, and countless mirrors of all sizes, all the woodwork is hand carved, mahogany and birch, with great varieties of flowers and trees in the gardens, just like the old mansions I remember reading of many years ago. How I should enjoy a trip through this country after the war with someone who had never seen it, it must be so very peaceful and thrifty in ordinary times, but now the civil population have left all the frontier towns and nearly all of the houses are deserted excepting the farm houses, and some of the farmers live and work in the fields quite close to the line, but when the shells begin to come close to them they move out without waiting for any baggage, just beat it.

We had church service today in a barn back of the line and the preacher is a fine fellow, good as can be, and he gave us such a lovely lecture on preparedness, and on the trusting and having faith in God. Each one of us, I am sure, felt better, after having gone.

If you send another parcel, do not buy anything much, but make something to eat, you can make a cake or some cookies or candy and send it along, for they are cutting down on the rations in our outfit, and you do not get anything but the same old thing, day after day, so something made at home will taste so good and be a real treat.

We are getting tired of putting Belgium in sandbags and it can't last much longer, as we have it nearly all bagged up, been working on it since last winter, thousands and thousands of them, I often wonder whether they will fill sand bags in Germany when we get there. The nice summer weather we had before this rainy spell had the effect of raising the spirits of the men a good deal, for when it is nice here, it is extra nice.

Well, darling, I must be making you tired reading all this trash, but it is so hard to find anything to say, you are allowed to say so little, but maybe sometime soon I will get a chance to send you a long letter with a good deal of the news if I can get on the good side of the censor.

I shall try now to get a little sleep, so shall say good-night, and close, from your loving husband and daddy,

Your own boy "BOB"