Dear Father:

Very many thanks for the welcome home letters of April 1st and 7th from Min and yourself and all the good word from home. I have been very busy lately as a couple of our officers have had a temporary difference with the major, so that I have been carrying on their duties for the last two weeks. Then again we have been pretty constantly on the move.

Well, dad, we got on the fringe of the business last Thursday, and I tell you it feels good to be a Canadian as they unquestionably saved the day for our army. We (the Supply Column) were occupying a very advanced parking place at the time as we were considerably in advance of our railhead and really only a very few miles from the line. All day we had a heavy north wind blowing with the steady heavy shell fire but nothing out of the ordinary until about 5 p.m. when there was quite a large number of vehicles of all descriptions coming from the front. The major and I went up on top of a nearby house to watch the firing and one could see a heavy shell fire in progress with very heavy rifle fire on the line. The shells seemed to leave a heavy yellow low-lying smoke and this cloud seemed to be rolling toward us. One could see the French troops acting as reinforcements falling back, their guns retiring and, in fact, vehicles and men in all confusion going past us. I did not, however, consider the situation serious until about 7 p.m. the German aeroplanes began to get to work and it was really very spectacular and wonderfully accurate. Flying low, they would circle over any vantage point and drop their coloured lights and almost instantly a young "Jack Johnson" would pay a visit there. The French broke under the poisonour chlorine gas shells. We picked up men who were completely pros­trated. This break was by the French holding the position to the left of the Canadians who, in turn, were on the left of the British lines. So you can see what our division had to do. They had to extend to the left and stop the German advance in the face of the chlorine fumes. How on earth they did it, I dont know. But in two or three hours the terribly dangerous break in the line had been blocked and our division had given hundreds of her best. General Alderson himself was with the boys. The Germans came in absolute swarms and when we ran short of ammunition they got the cold steel. In the face of such an advance our troops recaptured the trenches lost and our guns. Since then the battle has raged along an extended front and the latest news is of the very best. But I hope I shall not again see such a situation. The fleeing troops were panic stricken by the poison fumes and for a couple of hours it looked as if the enemy had at last found the spot in the line for which they had been searching. But they forgot about our division. Full well do they deserve the generous and hearty praise of the cold unsent­imental war office. The last week has brought one closely in touch with the real game and brings home the sheer impossibility of any enemy beating Britain while her men have the courage and splendid spirit of our present army. This is a good place to be and a grand thing to feel that one can take a small part in such a business.

I have not lately seen Alec but I hear daily of him and we are both as fit as fiddles. Everything is going fine and dandy.

I do not know whether I have overstepped the bounds prescribed by the censor. You know the officers write their letters and the censoring is merely a matter of form. So of course anything that I may write would be for consumption in the family and relatives only. Some of our officers have received severe criticism as their letters have found their way into the Canadian Press.

I have sent you a rather good souvenir from the famous Cloth Hall at Ypres. I got this some time ago but did not send it till a few days ago. It is one of a collection of these that were in the Hall before the place was shelled and is, I fancy, quite unique and rare.

Well, I must ring off. I dropped you a cable today to let you know we were O.K. as I thought you might be worrying about the announcement of the casualty list. Hope you received it O.K. It goes by mail to England.

Fondest love to all,
You, dear Father,
Your very loving son,
Hunt.

April 27th.