Headquarters Coy

92nd Res Battalion

East Sandling

Kent – Eng

22nd Jany 1916 x 1917

My own darling Wife -

Just a few lines to let you know that I am getting along all right, I am still in Hospital, but I don’t feel very much the matter with me, as it is, I am quite content to stay here for a while as I have got a job as wardmaster, my duties are not heavy, they are just enough to occupy my mind, I have three wards to look after there are 36 men in each ward & 2 orderlies, all I have to do is to see that the orderlies look after the patients properly & keep the wards clean, I have also much more freedom, I have my own room & office all to myself and I eat with the Staff, the reason I took the job was because I did not want to go back to the lines just yet on account of the weather being so bad & besides I don’t feel altogether right just yet & I can still get proper treatment, all the Hospitals are so overcrowded just now that just as soon as a man is fit to move he is cleared out to make room for another one, I had every reason to think that I was going to be discharged very soon, so that when I got the offer to remain here on the staff, I thought I might as well take it, it is only for a short time any way, so that you might as well just address my mail as usual to the battalion, I am expecting a letter from you every day now, it seems such a long time now since I heard from you & I am most anxious to hear what you have been doing with yourself this past while back & I am longing to hear how the children are getting along, especially Georges eye, I suppose they are so big now that if I met them on the street I would hardly know them, how I do long to see you all again, dear, it seems a lifetime since I saw you last, but I am still hoping that my dream will come true & that I will see you all again very soon now, surely there will be no more dissapointments now, I am glad to say that I am putting on flesh again & I am now as stout as ever & as healthy looking as anyone, to look at me no one would think that there was anything the matter with me, but all the same, my nerves are in terrible shape, I cant stand any noise at all & the least bit of excitement sets me shaking all over, I am afraid they will always bother me, but that would’nt worry me if I could only get home again, I think that the Home cure is the only thing that will ever do me any good. I am sending you a Sunday paper, you will see in it that there has been a terrible explosion in a munition factory at London, the loss of life has been terrible, they don’t know yet how many have been killed & the damage to property is awful, it is things like this that bring the war home to people, if it was not for the war there would be no need for all these factories & then there would be no loss of life, after all, although the devastation is awful it is nothing to what the French & Belgian villagers have suffered in the battle area, over there there are thousands upon thousands homeless & friendless & depending altogether on charity, while even the poor people in this country still have their homes even if they are hard put to it to get the bare necessities of life, there is one thing that I am glad of & that is that the Zeppelins seem to have stopped coming over here, I guess the Germans found it too expensive to lose one or two of them every time they sent them over, they sure had the people here scared & not much wonder either, for they always came at night & no one ever knew where their bombs were going to light, fortunately they never did a great deal of damage, but they always did enough to throw a good scare into the people.

As usual, dear, my news seems to have run out, you see this is a very quiet country place where I am just now & the only news of any kind that we get here is from the newspapers, & they don’t always come regular & as I don’t go out or mix with the other fellows very much, I don’t get to hear an awful lot, of course there is always lots of talk about the war & when it is going to end, but I am sure you are like me in this respect that you are sick hearing about it, & then again we talk about the hard times in England & the awful prices that are paid for goods, the most talked of subject here at present is the new war loan which has already reached millions, but I know that none of these things would interest you, I know they don’t me, so you can see, dear, that I have not very much to write about that would be interesting, there is no place round here where I can get any postcards or I would send you some & it is a little too far at present for to go Folkstone or Hythe for them, in fact this place is as completely out of the world as one could wish, that is, for a quiet place to rest in. So now dear, I think I will close, I sure do hope that I will get a letter from you soon, as I am very anxious about you all & I am wondering if you are still in Vancouver & if so, if you like it as much as Vernon, do you ever hear from Vernon at all? I wonder how things are going on there, I would love to see a Vernon News again, & I am especially anxious about you, dear, I am always wondering if you are well & if you have everything you want, write soon & let me know, wont you, dear, & tell me all about yourself & the children, I would like to know what they say & what they do & if you are able to manage them all right, they must be an awful handful for you all alone, give them both a great big love & kisses from daddy, & with all my love & kisses for your own dear self I remain as ever

XXXXXXXXXX Your loving Husband – Jack XX

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