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Date: September 20th 1917
To
Janet
From
Jack
Letter

Tell George & Eileen that I will send some more post cards after pay day, that will be the end of the month.

J.

 

c/o Sergeants Mess.

5th Reserve Bn.

West Sandling.

Kent.

20th Sept 1917.

 

My own dear loved one,

 

I cant make it out, another week gone & no mail, there was a big Canadian mail came in yesterday & some more to-day & everyone in the hut got letters but me, I know perfectly dear that you are writing to me regular, but where are the letters going to, have you received any from me letting you know that I had arrived back here, if not of course you would still be sending them to Seaford, but I wrote there some time ago & have received no reply, so I am going to write again, the worst of it is, that I don’t know whether you are getting my letters or not & naturally I am very anxious, as the last I had from you told me about the children being in Hospital & I have had no word as to how they are, I do hope, dear, that you are all alright, what about yourself dear one, are you keeping strong & well, I know you will take good care of yourself for my sake, for you know dear how I am looking forward to spending many a long happy day with you yet, surely this thing cannot last for ever, there must come a time when we will be together again & that I hope will be in the near future. The weather has turned very wet here & the mud & slush is awful round the camp, so you may guess it is pretty miserable, we are not allowed any coal yet so that everything in the hut feels damp & it is rather cold, I am still on the map reading course & I expect it will end to-morrow as it is too wet to carry on with outdoor work, we had our examination to day, but of course I don’t know how I made out yet, I answered all the questions on the paper all right but I don’t know for sure whether I got the correct answers or not.

           

We changed over from Summer time to true time on Sunday night, you know the daylight saving Bill is in force in this country & on Easter Monday they put all the clocks forward one hour that means that everyone gets up an hour earlier in the summer & have the benefit of the long evenings, but in the middle of September the time is changed back, so the full benefit of daylight is secured all the year round, of course this is not so necessary in Canada as it is here as there is much more daylight there. I had Bob Hanna over to see me last Sunday night, he is over at East Sandling, poor fellow he is a sad wreck, the wound on his leg is what is called a running wound, that is, he has to have a drain in it to run off the matter & he suffers with it quite a bit, he expects to be sent back to Canada very shortly, but if he can get his discharge he thinks he will take it in this country as he people are all in Scotland & they want him at home. I have not been out of camp since I wrote you last so you may guess that there is very little for me to say, but I know that you are glad to hear from me even if it is only a few lines, I know if I could only get one line from you to let me know that you were allright I would feel satisfied, but it is this horrible suspense & lonliness that bother me, I feel cut off from everything & have no enjoyment in anything, but thank God my health is good, I was bothered with my stomach but it is all right now, So dear love I am going to close now, I hope to hear from you soon & I hope you will send good news, my thoughts are of you all the time, you are the only one that matters & my one great longing is for the time when you & I will be together again with our children, we have both an awful lot of love to give each other yet dear & my great hope is that we may both be spared for a long time to enjoy each others love & company. Kiss my little darlings for me, dear, & with all my love to you, my own precious darling.

I remain as ever. Your loving Husband.

Jack 

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