1 J2/83 (44) 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers,
B. A. Force.
G. P. O. London. 17/3/'16. My dear Father, As an old friend of mine, who had
a wonderful way of mixing things up, used to
say: It is an ill wind that blows no where! The
returning your envelope for the full address
gave me the advantage of getting two letters
from you instead of one. Nearly all my
letter have gone astray for a time, or have been
delay because 8th R. I. Fusiliers may mean Royal
Inniskillings as well as Royal Irish. It was my
mistake originally. The above is the full and
correct address#: no Division or Brigade should be
put on the envelope. I have very little news to give you this time. As
things are at present I find it is quite impossible
to do my work as I should wish, simply because
I cannot be in four places at the same time!
I have charge of a half Brigade (two regiments)
which are billeted about five miles apart; that
would not matter so much but one half of each
regiment remains in the village while the other is
up at the firing line, if I go to the dressing station 2 to look after the wounded, the men at the base
cannot get to Confession, and vice versa. I can
only do what I can; later on things will be
better when the whole Brigade comes together, for
at present they are holding the trenches with other
troops to train them to their work. One day is very much like another, and yet
each one is full of interest and stirring events —
it is quite delightful never to know what may
happen next. Aeroplane fights are a daily
occurrence. I believe we have got new fast
machines but the German Fokers that I have
seen simply walk away from our men and
seem able to do what they please. Yesterday I was watching the bombardment of an
old mill & some houses, about half a mile away,
by the Germans. Their guns were so far away I
could not even hear the report, but they kept
dropping shell after shell with marvellous
precision on the little mound, believing, I understand,
that we had some heavy guns there, which was
quite true but they had been removed. With
Lena's glass I could follow the whole thing
as distinctly as if I had been standing near;
I can say with all truth I was jolly glad
I was not. But now comes my part of the
story. This morning I thought I would stroll
over to the mill and take a look at
the damage done. Not much was left, as you 3 J2/83 (45)
may imagine, while the ground all round was
ploughed up by huge shell holes, though within a
narrow radius, showing the accuracy of the enemy's
fire. I marched round for some time, when it
flashed across my mind that if the Germans thought
it worth while to bombard that spot yesterday, they
might think the same today. I thought also of
several useful maxims: A living ass is better than
something else and He who runs away will have
a chance of second innings — I turned round &
started down the hill. Just as I did so I heard
the scream — the diabolical scream — of a shell coming
straight from where I was. ;This time it seemed like
Abraham's Bosom, but to my relief the beastly
thing went on and burst close to the road a
couple of hundred yards away; fortunately for me
the Germans had changed their target for the moment,
as an hour later they started shelling the mill again. Moral: Leave mills alone unless they have a good deep well
into which you can drop in case of necessity.
These little things give a zest to life and prevent things
becoming too monotonous, but they also turn one's
thoughts with gratitude to the good God and make
one trust still more in His loving protection. I thought my days of French speaking were a
thing of the past but the little knowledge i have 4 has proved of immense service to me. Very
few of the officers can make any show at all,
except by gestures, so I have to act as interpreter
and get them out of difficulties. The foreign
tongue does not bother the Tommies a bit, for
they talk away and make love to the girls as
if they had been born in France, but what
they say the Lord alone knows. The weather has taken a turn for the better and is
now fine and warm, in fact almost too hot for
winter clothes. I have had to write this in bits and scraps as
but I could. If I do not post it now you
may not get it for some time. Au revoir
much love to everyone. Ever your loving son,
Willie. I shall not forget the dear anniversary on
Sunday, though I doubt she needs our
prayers.