Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 17 March 1916 Letters 1916-1923 Willie Doyle

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 Irish Jesuit Archives IE-IJA-J2-83-44 https://letters1916.ie/item/3895 English Willie Doyle 1916-03-17 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, B.E. Force, G.P.O., London, England Hugh Doyle Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland Male 1917 World War I (1914-1918) Faith World War I (1914-1918)

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 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 hada wonderful way of mixing things up, used tosay: It is an ill wind that blows no where! Thereturning your envelope for the full addressgave me the advantage of getting two lettersfrom you instead of one. Nearly all myletter have gone astray for a time, or have beendelay because 8th R. I. Fusiliers may mean RoyalInniskillings as well as Royal Irish. It was mymistake originally. The above is the full andcorrect address#: no Division or Brigade should beput on the envelope. I have very little news to give you this time. Asthings are at present I find it is quite impossibleto do my work as I should wish, simply becauseI 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; thatwould not matter so much but one half of eachregiment remains in the village while the other isup at the firing line, if I go to the dressing station to look after the wounded, the men at the basecannot get to Confession, and vice versa. I canonly do what I can; later on things will bebetter when the whole Brigade comes together, forat present they are holding the trenches with othertroops to train them to their work. One day is very much like another, and yeteach one is full of interest and stirring events —it is quite delightful never to know what mayhappen next. Aeroplane fights are a dailyoccurrence. I believe we have got new fastmachines but the German Fokers that I haveseen simply walk away from our men andseem able to do what they please. Yesterday I was watching the bombardment of anold mill & some houses, about half a mile away,by the Germans. Their guns were so far away Icould not even hear the report, but they keptdropping shell after shell with marvellousprecision on the little mound, believing, I understand,that we had some heavy guns there, which wasquite true but they had been removed. WithLena's glass I could follow the whole thingas distinctly as if I had been standing near;I can say with all truth I was jolly gladI was not. But now comes my part of thestory. This morning I thought I would strollover to the mill and take a look atthe damage done. Not much was left, as you J2/83 (45)may imagine, while the ground all round wasploughed up by huge shell holes, though within anarrow radius, showing the accuracy of the enemy'sfire. I marched round for some time, when itflashed across my mind that if the Germans thoughtit worth while to bombard that spot yesterday, theymight think the same today. I thought also ofseveral useful maxims: A living ass is better thansomething else and He who runs away will havea chance of second innings — I turned round &started down the hill. Just as I did so I heardthe scream — the diabolical scream — of a shell comingstraight from where I was. ;This time it seemed likeAbraham's Bosom, but to my relief the beastlything went on and burst close to the road acouple of hundred yards away; fortunately for methe 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 wellinto which you can drop in case of necessity.These little things give a zest to life and prevent thingsbecoming too monotonous, but they also turn one'sthoughts with gratitude to the good God and makeone trust still more in His loving protection. I thought my days of French speaking were athing of the past but the little knowledge i have has proved of immense service to me. Veryfew of the officers can make any show at all,except by gestures, so I have to act as interpreterand get them out of difficulties. The foreigntongue does not bother the Tommies a bit, forthey talk away and make love to the girls asif they had been born in France, but whatthey say the Lord alone knows. The weather has taken a turn for the better and isnow fine and warm, in fact almost too hot forwinter clothes. I have had to write this in bits and scraps asbut I could. If I do not post it now youmay not get it for some time. Au revoirmuch love to everyone. Ever your loving son,Willie. I shall not forget the dear anniversary onSunday, though I doubt she needs ourprayers. Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 20 July 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 23 September 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 1 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 17 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 24 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 29 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 19 June 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 26 October 1916 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, B.E. Force, G.P.O., London, England Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 17 March 1916 Willie Doyle Letter from Father Willie Doyle to Hugh Doyle, 10 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 20 July 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 23 September 1916Letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Provincial Thomas Nolan, 13 May 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 25 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 25 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 1 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 31 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 30 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 15 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Mai, 22 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 25 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 4 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Mai, 11 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 17 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 24 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 29 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 19 June 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 26 October 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J., 16 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 12 December 1915Postcard from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Sister M. Anthony, 7 April 1916