Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 61 continued ... Dear Henry, High time for another letter, if I am to keep my New Year’s resolution, and I mean to. Since last writing, I have been through much varied experiences, the full tale of them I can only hope to tell you on my return to Canada – some pleasant – some unpleasant – some tragic and some so terrible as to beggar description, by my humble pen. Words – cold, hard methodical utterances that they are – do not seem to respond to the sympathetic tunings of my heart strings nor give expression to the wild thought which so often courses my brain. So many personal losses too, distress me. Besides I am now in command of a company and when we are hit it seems I have more responsibility than before. The hardest fighting I have seen was during the last couple of months, by this, I mean continually hard without any soft spots to rest upon. Some of the finest boys I have ever known went West during our last few tours. I can’t get used to casualties, and no matter how quickly the blank files are filled up, I still remember the old faces. At times the whole world seems upside down to me, when I try to figure out how the thing is going to end. I think, too, that, had I the power, I would stop the world in its flight and insist that all its people pause in their daily routine long enough to pay tribute to my illustrious dead. Vain thought, my dear Henry, but one that gives an indication of my feelings. But I must turn to the pleasant things of which I spoke. France is putting on her summer garments, and the countryside which was badly torn up, is becoming more pleasant to the eye. Flowers are blooming along the roads; leaves are green and warm sunshine throws a new light on the battle-scarred frontier. Of course, it is the time of year when all things breath of love and life, and so our ambitions and passions are naturally stimulated. If it were not for the war, France would not be such a rotten place, after all. A very pleasant experience, which befell me, was fourteen days leave in England and Scotland. “Fourteen days leave!” Copy of a WWI combined leave and railway ticket continued ...
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