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[Page 51]
France
24th April 1916
My dear Father,
Having written to Mother, & told a perfectly true yarn, reminds me of another. A day or two before going into the trenches, we took over some reserve trenches billets. They were in range of hostile artillery but had not been fired on for donkeys years, so Lt. Connor & myself turned in at about 2 a.m. without any worry. Connor is 2nd in command of the Company & has two Boer War ribbons. At about 10.15 a.m. in the morning I was awakened by several reports followed by nasty swishy noises. It was some way away, probably over a hundred yards, but when it didn't cease to continue, I sat up in bed & looked at Connor, or rather a heap of blankets. Another report opened my mouth. I said, "Did you hear that Con?" to which civil question – "Do you think I'm b—y well deaf?"
Its rather funny, that before we came here everything was very quiet, & the party we relieved said that as long as we were quiet they (Germans) were quiet, & by practising what they preached only had one or two casualties per month. I can't say how but things have changed since.
An enemy plane was brought down right in rear of our lines this morning – a most glorious sight.
Your affectionate son
Arthur