July 8th, 1915.
Belgium

We are still in the same place. The Major is on leave and we are running the show. All is very quiet along here, except for a little sniping. Mac had his periscope broken yesterday at 300 yards. Mighty good shooting, eh?

I got your letter last night with the picture of the D.O.F. It made me homesick to think of the old place, and it looks so natural. City water will make it fine and any man lucky enough to be sent there to rest is cured. Is it open to strong healthy officers? If so I will apply for the place.

We are all fine here and hope o shoot with an aeroplane tomorrow.

The one test of a man's temper on this trip and one which we all recommend over golf is the army telephone. These are beautiful instruments when they work but when the wires go, or cells become weak, or phones get dirty, there is absolutely nothing more calculated to make a man swear. So you see what even tempers we will all have when using the phone at home on our return. Even calls in the middle of the night for me as a doctor will not ruffle my good nature. We have tried air wires and buried wires, trench wires, and every other kind and all work equally poorly.

Well it is almost lunch time now and after a very strenuous morning of sitting here writing letters I think I will now to lunch. Really life here is even slower than at the waggon line. There a man occasionally gets kicked by a horse, but up here sleep seems to be the order of the day, but dont let me lead to believe that we are all asleep. It would only take one word and about 30 seconds to get every gun blazing away day or night.