Somewhere in France

April 24th, 1917

Dear Mother & Daddy

I received your welcome letter to-night I was pleased to her you are all well I am not to bad a little bit run down with the hard work. I would have wrote before only it was no use as we we in a place where we couldnt get our letters posted I sent a card to you a couple of days ago I happened to see an artillery man who was going back out of the line and I gave it to him so I didn’t know weather you will get it or not When I read your letter and saw where you said it made you bad to watch Maggie I woundered what you would have done if you had been here the morning we went over the top. I wrote to Auntie Carry and asked her to try and get my birth papers and she did and sent them to me. Why I did it was because our O.C. told me if I got them to prove I was not 19 I would get a good job down the line somewhere so I except to be going now any day I have seen a bit of fighting I have been here since the 14 of Dec. and was all through the battle of Vimy Ridge Ok. I have a German bayonate that I got when we took a bunch prisnors I would like to get it home I will carry it if I can’t get it any other way it will be fine to have an enemy bayonete in the house I got a letter from our O.C. the other day saying that he had had a letter from someone saying you hadn’t had any mail from me for a long time and you couldn’t make out what had happened to me You shouldn’t have wrote like that because I always write when I can and when we are in places where we cant post our mail how can write to you. Well I must close now hoping this finds you all well with love to all

Your son Jack

P.S. I think Walter was killed on this last trip one of the fellows of his batt. told me.