No 2. Can. Stationary Hospital BEF.
France
4/5/17.

My Dear Little girl Olive

Last Sunday I wrote a letter to Alex, and now it is your turn but besides that I got your two nice little letters yesterday addressed all by themselves. They were a long time getting here, over 5 weeks and a letter of Mamas came too with the same mail and what else do you think? A big parcel from home and it had a nice cake and some candies and some ginger and smokes and a pretty little card from each of you. My! that was a nice birthday present and didn’t we have a nice feed on that cake, everybody likes the ginger too and the candies. Thank you all very much. I’m always glad to get your letters and to know that you “luf” me so much, because I love you too very much and I wish I could come and see you and baby, oh I want to see you all Mama and Alex and Harvey too. I wonder when the Germans will let me come home

Shall I tell you what I saw early this morning I saw a German and where do you think he was? He was away high up in the sky in a flying machine I think he must have got a fright when lots and lots of guns were shooting at him and we watched the shells bursting all round away up in the sky but that German was flying just as fast as he could and got very high up too. I wonder if he got home to Germany. I hope he didn’t. Another morning last week, very early when all the sick and wounded soldiers were asleep we heard an awful noise of guns firing but we could not see anything but in the papers we read that 6 German boats came out in the darkness and fired on an English town till 2 little English boats came along and chased them away and sank two of the German boats. Wasn’t that brave of the 2 little boats and wern’t the Germans cowards to run away when there were 6 of them. But what a lot of guns they fired during the fight.

I was talking to a patient the other day and I found he was from Canada and from Vancouver and he said he new Van. very well as he had been there 25 years When I told him I had been in the Hudson Bay 10 or 12 years ago he asked if I knew a man in the shoe dept. named Parker and of course I did, well he said he is my brother in law. I knew Connie Barwich well and then I looked at his face and sure enough here was her brother that mama will remember at Wesley Church. He has been more sick than wounded though he came in with a very slight shell wound on back of his head, nothing to speak of but he is run down and cold and sore chest etc. and will be better for a rest. That nurse I was telling Alex about, is named Alexander I forgot to tell him.

We are getting nice hot sunny days now. I hope you are in Victoria. Now my dear Olive I must stop, and go to sleep. Thank you very much for your letters and for all your love and kisses and I hope Ill soon be home again to be with you all again.

Your loving dady

Pte John Gray 524785 C.A.M.C

P.S. Last night I found baby away behind our big black water tank cold and wet but happy and smiling. I carried her into the [?] by the fire and she made faces at the other orderly and then she put her finger on the hot stove and looked up in my face and laughed. Then I woke up.

[written below in pencil:] A letter from Ethel Cade to day