No 7 Company.

5th Reserve Batt.

Bramshott.

Hants.

20/2/17 Eng.

My dearest one -

Just a few lines to let you know that I have just received your letter of Jany 23rd also the parcel, the parcel was very acceptable & I enjoyed the good things you sent immensely, they were a treat, but you know what I said in my last dear, don’t send any more, for they cost so much & I know that you need the money at home just as much & more than I do. I was awfully glad to get your letter, & I was glad to hear that you love me so much, dear, I love you to tell me, it does me more good than anything else could do, I remember the ticklish spot all right & I would only be too glad to be able to get home again to let you work your will on me, you can do what you like with me when I come home, dear, the more you do the better I will like it, I can just imagine you lying in bed & cuddling into me again the way you used to do, I only wish it was true again, but dear love, I am afraid it wont be for some time yet, I have just had another board, & they have marked me fit & classed me as A2, that is, perfectly fit only requiring a months training for hardening purposes, this means that I will probably be transferred to a training company soon. As soon as I heard the decision I paraded sick before the doctor with rheumatism in my shoulder, he was surprised that the board should have marked me fit, & told me not to worry as I would not be sent to duty until he had marked me fit & that I need not worry about going back to France, I told him that I could not see why I was kept hanging around here doing nothing & that I might as well be at home where I wanted to get, be he said he had no power to send me to Canada, but would make it as easy as he could for me here, it appears now that it is easier to get back to Canada from France than it is from here, that is for men who have been there any length of time, I hear that several wives have claimed their husbands home by writing to General Currie, at Canadian General Head Quarters in France, but I don’t know what kind of a letter they wrote, the only thing I know is, that he is very partial to B.C. men & gets quite a few sent home, if you like, you could write to him & tell him that I had been 14 ½ months in the trenches & nearly 2 ½ years away from home & tell him about the children being so poorly & about Georges eye, it might be the means of my getting a three months leave anyway, if not my discharge, however, do as you think right, dear, I don’t want it to be thought that I have got cold feet, but I don’t see why others should get all the good things & me get none.

I have not heard anything of Dr Morris yet, I don’t think he can be in this district, but I would like to see him, he might be able to do something for me. I met Fred Simmons here the other day, he is in quarintine with the mumps, but expects to get out in a few days, he is looking pretty fit, but does not like it here very much, he tells me his brother Ed is on his way here now from Canada as Provost Sergt of the Bantams, I wonder how he will like it. I believe we are moving away from here in about a week, some say we are going back to Sandling & some say we are going to Seaforth, near Brighton, so I cant tell you for sure yet which it will be, I am getting tired of this moving round from place to place, one never gets a chance to feel settled. The cold weather is now a thing of the past, the frost is all gone, & the mud has taken its place, this is an awful dirty place, the ground is soft & in places the mud is over the boot tops, which makes it pretty miserable. I am feeling pretty good as usual only for the rheumatism & a bit of a cold, but I don’t suppose I will ever feel right, dear, until I am home again & get a little of your treatment & love to fix me up, I feel as if I would like to write a whole lot, but I feel so miserable after what the board told me that I don’t seem to be able to concentrate my thoughts properly, however, don’t worry, dear, I have a feeling that all will come right yet, things are not always so bad as they seem. I am sending a few war postcards to the children, they should interest them when they know that I have seen lots of scenes like these, all except the tanks & they came out after I left France, I will send them some more as soon as I can get them. Now dear love I am going to close, I hope I will soon get another letter from you, they do more to cheer me up than anything else could do.  Give George & Eileen a big love & lots of kisses from Daddy & for yourself, dear love, I don’t think there is anything in the world too good to offer you, but you can believe me sweetheart when I say that you are my only love & that I am proud to be able to sign myself as

Your own true loving Husband.

Jack

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