France
April 19th 1916.
My Dear Mother,
I was very pleased to come back to our billet yesterday and find your letter waiting for me. We had been up to a little village for four days. I cannot give you it’s name, I do not think there is one house there which has not been hit, some have been knocked all to bits, not one brick standing on another, the house where we had our meals was hit before we went there, the woman who lived there was sitting in one of the rooms when a shell came through the roof up stairs then through the floor into the room where she was, it fell on the floor and did not burst, she is still there and does not take any notice of the shells, it is the same with lots of others they stay right in their houses all the time and are not scared a bit. They did not shell the village much while we were there, except one afternoon when I happened to be away and all they did was take a few pieces out of the church and a house or two. We are back in our billet now and are likely to remain here for a long time. I am glad you liked the picture. I will get taken again some day and send you another.
I got another letter from the Insurance Co. and they still say the monthly payments have been stopped. I will have to see the pay master again. If they write to you again, don’t take any notice of them. I do not know if Eric is out here I know he had got a commission but that is all I know. I suppose by the time you get this letter you will be about to leave for Alaska if you have not gone you must let me have your address as soon as poss. You must excuse this being a short letter, somehow I don’t feel like writing letters now a days. May be it is because I am feeling so good that I cannot sit long enough to write a letter. So give my love to everybody, I will write again soon.
Your very Affectionate Son
Eddie
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