First page from letter home

When he wrote this letter, he was recuperating at the 1st Canadian Corp Division based in Shorncliffe, England.  I could never decipher the woman’s first name but the envelope is addressed to a Mrs. Wm Sine.  I’ve corrected the punctuation a little to help the letter flow a bit better:

27th June 1918

Dear ?

Yours of 9th June to hand, sure I was a little puzzled at the change of address. But pleased to hear from you under the changed conditions.

So you have taken to farming, that’s very good. This is the 1st intimation of your marriage, I send you my best congratulations, Hoping you are well and happy. And lots of life.

Cannot say I am very well but I am out of Hospital. I would rather be over there roughing it, than go throu what I am going thro now, one round of pain and inconvenience. The Doctors here cannot find anything wrong but they are not suffering what I am, and can only see a healthy looking soldier, which I am, but only twice in about seven weeks have I felt fit. When I came out of Hospital I felt fit for anything; but I have to do a certain amount of training again, which instead of helping me has thrown me so far back, that I dare not get too far away from my hut. A wounded man is in far better care than a gassed man, for his wound can be seen and attended to, but, gas, “A cure is not found for it yet”, result you must suffer and drop, get up and carry on, I dare not go far by myself, for sudden outs take me and the nearest part of the world catches me, and hurts at times. Still Dr. says “nothing wrong, gas nonsense”, However I am now excused drills, just take walking exercise about 1/2 a mile out and back four times per day.

So I will come in very handy on a farm, watching the flowers and vegetables grow in the home garden. Get your husband to plant two shrubs where one blade of grass would grow, wishing you everything good.

32.2 hrs. W. A.

His life would never have been the same, even if he made it home. His lungs were compromised and he would have suffered the rest of his life. The use of gas during the war was one of the most horrific events of the entire conflict. It wasn’t enough they lived a life of hell in the trenches, they had to live in constant fear of gas attacks wafting across no man’s land. Chlorine, phosgene, mustard gasses ripped their lungs apart and left many men disabled and in pain for the remainder of their lives.  One result of the use of gas during the First World War, has been an enduring fear, world wide of their use.  A little shy of 100 years since their first use, and we still blanch at the thought of their use.  W. A.’s problem was compounded by his doctor’s scepticism about the long term effects the gas had. The old “if you can’t slap a bandage on it, you aren’t sick” mind set.

The war wouldn’t end for nearly 5 months after the posting of this letter.  Can’t help wondering what happened to W. A. and did he get to see the ” two shrubs where one blade of grass would grow”.

The idea of writing about WW1 came about by accident sometime during the past summer. I had acquired, last year, a post card from a German soldier, written during WW1. I picked the card up originally because I’m a stamp collector and I liked the cancel mark. I became curious about what the card said and asked a friend to translate it. He and another person struggled with the combination of really bad hand writing and old High German script but finally translated it. It was a short note home to family telling them a bit about the men in the photo. He had been wounded and he was telling them about his friends in the hospital. I happily put the card back in it’s sleeve, content to know what was written on it.

Sometime during the early part of the summer I stumbled on an auction for a letter written by a Canadian soldier to a woman in New Orleans. No one was bidding on it, so I threw in a $5 bid. Wonders never cease – I got the letter. I read it, went back and saw more auctions. I bid on a letter from an English soldier, got it. When I received the letter, I discovered it was written to the same woman in New Orleans. I bid on some letters from a French soldier to someone in New Orleans and yes, to the same woman. Over the summer I began looking for any letters sent to New Orleans and bid on them. I ended up with about 11 letters to the same mysterious woman, from 5 different sellers – 2 in England,  1 in California,1 in Texas and I think one came from Idaho or Indiana (I can’t remember now). Letters to one woman from different soldiers, sailors and the mother of a British seaman. The most interesting revelation came from the series of French letters – three auctions from different vendors in the US yet they were from the same French corporal to my lady in New Orleans.

I don’t think I need to tell you how obsessed I became. I had to track this woman down. It took me about 2 weeks to find her family and learn all about her. In the process I learned a great deal about the kindness of strangers during a period of war.

I’ve gone on to acquire a number of letters written to and from soldiers in the Great War. Many are filled with gossipy slices of home life, some are longing for simple things like planting a garden or seeing their loved ones. Reading them moves the participants of the war from those static, faded photos we are familiar with. They become warm, human and full of life. I decided to share the letters with you. All of them. Not all are filled with details of the war, as I said, most are concerned with what’s happening with family, “take care of my tools so they don’t rust” details, you know, the mundane things we take for granted daily. These letters are a snippet of life, a window to a world almost 100 years past. I appreciate the simple letters the most. They are from regular people swept up into a watershed moment in history.

I’m saving the story of the Lady from New Orleans for Nov 11.  Many more letters will follow after the 11th. As I aquire more letters, or get the ones I have translated, I’ll post them. In between, I’ll post rambling thoughts and silly articles to fill the space.  Tomorrow I will put up my first letter, from a Canadian writing home to a friend. He talks of the trials of being gassed but still looking fit and healthy. Look for it tomorrow. In the meantime, play nice with one another.

First, it opens up the way for the idea of the establishment of a theocracy within the US. The right wing is chiming in, supporting her statement that there is nothing in the Constitution that stops the government from establishing a state religion. The fact they claim to be the inheritors of the Constitution seems to indicate they don’t have a clue as to how it works. It does not exist in isolation of the Bill of Rights yet they seem to want to roll back everything they don’t agree with, using the blanket statement “it’s not in the Constitution”, claiming to be some sort of purist protectors.

This leads to the second interesting argument they’ve opened themselves up to. If the Separation of Church and State is not in the Constitution, then neither is the right to bear arms. Do away with the First Amendment, then you also do away with all the others. Interesting little can of worms they’ve pried open, isn’t it.

Sorry Teabaggers – you can’t have it both ways. They come as a package deal.

Is it any wonder we see a Teabag candidate wandering the woods wearing a Waffen SS uniform and calling it a “father, son bonding” experience? Or the Teabag party defending this type of role playing as exploring history and in the same breath saying anyone who shared airspace with someone on the on the left should be hounded from society? Or a Facebook page advocating killing the President? Websites titled LIBERALS and NAZIS (Send this to your left wing acquaintance), Wake up and Kill all Liberals? Or noxious trolls like Anne Coulter saying history was all wrong, Hitler was a lefty? Or so called political pundits like Rush Limbaugh saying “I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus — living fossils — so we will never forget what these people stood for”?

It goes on and on. Slander is their byword, don’t let facts get in the way, bury history in bullshit, yell louder and tell anyone who objects they are a threat and should be exterminated.

Oh yes Teabaggers – the party of democracy.

It is our aim to bring you a bit of actual history behind the men who fought against the “Bolshevik scourge”; volunteers who came from the various Northern European countries allied with Hitler’s Germany who only had a desire to see an end to Soviet Communism. As we do more research to bring you an accurate portrayal (and build the rest of this website!), you will see more and more content.

Nice way to avoid the reality of the Waffen SS’ actions. Let’s whitewash everything and turn them into heroes! Fine upstanding “Commie fighters”. As long as they were fighting Communism, everything is good. I’ve been reading a number of people bray “but they were never accused of committing any atrocities”. Oh, then that makes being a member of the SS all better now, doesn’t it.

That isn’t what really appalled me. Ohio Tea Party GOP Candidate Rich Iott is a member. He says he joined it as a “as a father-son bonding thing.” Ever heard of camping trips, Rich? Before anyone starts screaming it’s his “Constitutional right” to do this, I’ll counter with – yes, if you insist, he has a “Constitutional right” to be an idiot. His membership displays an appalling lack of understanding about both his position in the political world and what the SS symbolise. Pretending they were fearless fighters for freedom is a lie. No amount of pretending will turn them into heroes. He is either incredibly naive, or got caught showing his true colours – take your pick. On the Wiking website they state: “We honor the men (and women) who really experienced the war, and we salute their courage and loyalty to put their lives on the line in defense of their native soil, no matter what nationality or government.” So treason is okay, just so long as the Tea Party okays it.

The Atlantic
Talking point
Toledo Blade

What is one school that Mary 1 Queen of England attended?
She didn’t attend schools. She was taught by monks. Most of her early life was spent in exile away from court because she was considered the illegitimate daughter of Ann Boleyn. Even if she had been at court she wouldn’t have gone to a school as we know it. Women and girls were not allowed in schools and often it was only noble boys who gained education.

Yup… trolling for trouble at my favourite playground. This was posted by a supervisor who was a teacher, PhD and a brain that is “a data bank of facts and they just seem to stick in my brain especially in history and arts.” I think some of it came unstuck on this one. Can we spot the errors? Other than the obvious one about Ann Boleyn? Mary was an educated woman who’s first tutor was Thomas Linacre, humanist, scholar and well certainly not a monk.

Ohh a double header for you:
What were the symptoms of the plague in 1665?
There was no plague in 1665
In the Middle Ages universities formed to do what?
The educational system in the middle ages didn’t exist and there weren’t universities. 90% of the population couldn’t read or write and the nobility that could read were tutored by monks as children
Seriously, what history did this person study? Mars? Pluto? Certainly not earth history.

What was Christianity in the Middle Ages like?
Everyone was Catholic.
That takes care of those pesky Orthodox Churches and heretics. Just pretend they never existed.

The life of a bottler in medieval times?
There wasn’t a person who was a “bottler” in the middle ages. The ability to bottle, store and keep items in bottles will come much later in history.
38 seconds worth of searching popped up 3 excellent descriptions of a bottler.

Why did towns begin to grow around ad1000?
People began to learn how to plant crops and when that happens the following of animals is no longer needed so they build a house of some sort and stay. Pretty soon another groups come along and they stay too. Soon there are several houses and crops. When this happens people make rules for living together and begin to create a soceity.
Thousands of years of human growth struck off with a wave of the keyboard. Good answer, wrong question.

What floor did servants live on in a castle? (listed under Henry VIII and Middle Ages)
There wasn’t servants in a castle. The needs of the Queen or King were met by the use of young nobles who took care of them and their wardrobes. This was considered to be an honor and they wanted to be there. The young people were looking for a husband and wife among the nobles that were there so they could gain power or land for their family.
Somehow I can’t quite picture a young noble working in the kitchen washing up and turning the spit. Are you getting a delightful image of shenanigans in the pantry.

What was a Porter’s job in medieval times?
There were no porters in the middle ages.
What an baffling vision of life in the Middle Ages. I can’t quite figure this out. Once again, 38 seconds found a list of Medieval jobs, including “The janitor, or porter, was responsible for the main castle entrance and for the guardrooms. The porter also insured that no one entered or left the castle without permission”.

What were the main themes in literature during the middle ages?
Any thing written was religious…
I don’t think the Wife of Bath is an homage to God.

Was there missionaries in the middle ages?
No. Everyone was Catholic in Europe and people didn’t travel outside Europe until the late 1400′s so there were no missionaries needed.
Wtf? Everyone was Catholic? Moors in Spain, Jews, Cathars, Orthodox, Marco Polo, Silk Road …

I go on about this because I get stressed over the blatant disregard for the facts. It is so easy to look up reliable sources. If in doubt, look it up. But therein lies the problem – you have to have the confidence to say “let’s take it moment to double check”. This doesn’t happen. Don’t muddle my mind with facts, I have a mission to spread my personal view of history to the world. A completely wrong and slightly bizarre view, but hey… it’s a free country.

History, it’s dangerous. Don’t cruise the Internet alone.