[Republished in the Ladysmith Chemainus Chronicle newspaper, October 27, 2015, under the feature section “Chronicles from the Past.”]

October 1915

Miss Annie Lapsansky has received a letter from her brother John, who is serving with the Canadian forces at the front. John tells of a joyful meeting he had with Arther Gregson, who had just gone into the trench the day the letter was written. They had a long talk, Ladysmith, of course, being the principal theme. Others whom he met were the two Pollocks and Fred Irwin. He says there are quite a number of the Ladysmith boys in the trenches, and mentions especially Sergeant Upton, who was formerly in the local branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. He concludes his letter to his sister with a request for some good cigars, the brand of tobacco he now uses not at all to his liking.