4 Squadron R. F. C.
B. E. F. France

12/9/17.

My Dear Emily

This has been a glorious day, but the wind is getting up now and it looks like a rough night.

I am not at all sure of the date but I think it is Wednesday. Time passes so quickly that it is almost impossible to keep track of it. Nearly two and a half weeks since I left England and it doesn't seem like a week.

I have not been up at all today. Probably I will be sent up this evening. Yesterday Tommy (my observer) and I felt very brave. It was too misty to see our target so we started to look about for some Huns to have some fun with. Soon we saw one wretched lone Hun at about 8000 feet and directly above us. So we got ready and started to climb. When we got about 1000 feet from him and everything was going strong five more Huns appeared on the scene from nowhere. Talk about your coming down in a hurry. Believe me we didn't stop at any small stations. We got down O.K. but we had lots of excitement. The old Hun does that you know. Sets one out as bait and the rest hide in the clouds above and when you come up he comes out and then you wish you had attended to your own business.

Tonight some of us are going to the Canadian Hospital to a dance. A lot of the Doctors are Winnipeg fellows and one of the boys has a cousin, a nurse, there. We were up on Sunday afternoon for tea. It is the only afternoon they get off so they do the noble thing. There must have been 50 officers there for tea last week. They make dandy sandwiches, and send to the base for their cake, so it is a weekly feed, not to be missed. As you know I do not dance but I am in the hopes of getting something to eat.

Must close now to get this right off or it will miss the boat. Lots of love for all the family and hope you enjoy your stay in town as well as the one at Minaki.

Loving bro.
Wilbert