June 26, 1944

Many thanks for your letters which reached me this last week. Imagine getting about twenty after receiving none for about two months. ------ I have been considering trying for a O.C.T.V. but have discarded the idea because of one thing. If I were to pass it would mean six months of training and at the end of this, I would be a certain candidate for the Burma campaign. The way I look at it is, I have given five years (the best) of my life to the army and as I have no intentions of making the army a career, I think it would be foolish to waste more time than necessary in the Forces. All of us who volunteered in 1939 are hoping to get a release when the European War is finished. I believe this will occur in October at the very latest, so with luck, I should be able to come home for Xmas, 1944. We of the “Old Brigade” feel very strongly about the way the Mackenzie King government is handling the conscription question and I feel that something should be done and soon to protect the interests of we who answered the call without any pressure. It makes my blood boil when I read that 80,000 “Zombies” are refusing to volunteer for active service when there is a great need for reinforcements. To add insult to injury, these rats will get all the post-war benefits that we get. Please Mom, use that clever pen of yours in defence of we who are muzzled by regulations.