Winnipeg, Jan. 8, 1918

Dear Aunt Lil,

Your welcome letter received Dec 28th and words fail me, when I try and explain how much happiness I derived from it, I also received a Xmas parcel from Tad and Gertie, otherwise Xmas was the same to me, as any other day. I have been confined to my bed since the 20th Dec, otherwise I would have had answered your letter before this, it feels good to be once more in touch with the folks, and I am only sorry that I am not in a position to make a trip to the good old home town, I have done a little travelling in the past five years, but New York for me everytime.

You say you wondered why I broke off all communication, which I can explain, I felt that I was not only making a fool out of myself, but bringing trouble to my people and it would be better for everybody concerned if I was to make myself scarce, so after I lost my position in Boston, I applied to an employment agent in Boston, who was a Spanish-American War Veteran,

he secured me a position in Canada on the Trans-continental Rly. which was then building, I done well there, as I was away from all temptation, it was something like 300 miles to the nearest town when I came down the line I felt sure my old failing would not bother me, and I had planned to return to the States but in three weeks I was as bad as ever, I will not go into details and tell you my experiences after that, but I can assure you that I have profited by them, and now have myself well in hand, you might think it a late day for me to wake up & realize I was ruining my life, and really I do not blame you, but while there is life there is hope, and I am sure the future will find me a different living man in every respect. I can imagine how you feel about Will joining up, he was always a good boy, and never expected to hear anything else, but that he was good to his parents, & he can consider himself fortunate, the he had a fond & loving mother, to watch over him & advise him, I am as you say proud of him, still I can sympathize with you in your temporary loss and hope and pray for his safe return. I am sorry to hear Uncle Will's health has not been of the best , and I am sure nobody but yourself, realizes what suffering has been his the last 18 years or more extend to him my best withes for a Happy & more healthful New Year.

I am glad to hear that Ethel is happily married, and wish her a bright & happy future, I am sure little Dorothy as I one time called her, would not remember me if she seen me, but I hope the time is not far distant, when I will be in a position to visit you all.

I was very much surprised to hear Will Matier had left his father as you state, as I was always under the impression, he was very much attached to his parents, and as I know nothing about what brought on this state of affairs, cannot comment on it in any form, although I am very sorry that this has happened, I wrote to Uncle Dick some few years ago, at his business address in East 42nd St. but never received an answer, wether he received it or not is a question, and if I knew his address at present, would drop him a line.

It is 3 years this March since I joined the Canadian Army and have had some pretty rough experiences, in that time, in April 1916, I was nearly captured by the Germans in a place called Hooge near Ypres, we were holding the old German first line trenches, and they had blown to smithereens, so we had to establish posts along the line to hold it, as it was useless to build a trench for they had the position registered and their artillery could blow it up whenever they pleased, I was stationed in Post #2 which was a crater, where we had blown up a mine, the place was just covered with dead bodies of Germans, you could not turn a spade of earth without uncovering a body, we were standing in water up to our hips, in which were dead bodies, on which were compelled to walk, as a moments exposure meant certain death as the neighborhood was covered by snipers, even in our dug-out different parts of the human body was sticking out of the wall, the stench was terrible, but we had to put up with it for four days in front of us, what is commonly called a bird-cage, had been erected by the Ger. and in this they had their snipers who could see, without being seen, it was a regular death trap, and we had been given to understand, we had a small chance of coming out alive, we were attacked the first night in, but the men in this post were mostly dare-devils, we met them half way, and surprised them, I think we used about 60 hand grenades on them & they soon withdrew to their own line, there was a old German communications trench, leading from out post to their front line, and on the 2nd day in a man in post #1 had been wounded in the leg, and his artery severed, his comrade managed to snake over on his stomach to our post, to
get a man to render first aid, as I had taken a course in this, I volunteered to go over & fix him up, the man was a little excited after his experience, & gave me the wrong directions, I do not know wether it was instinct or not, but something told me I was going to walk into trouble, and as I could not take my rifle along, I put on an apron full of Mills hand grenades & started off thru the old communications trench, I went about 75 yds, which was the distance bet our front lines & the Huns when I see standing about 10 ft away four Germans, two were excavating and the other two were standing guard with their rifles, I stopped just a second & they seen me, and called something in German, but I done some quick thinking and as they fired at me jumped out of the trench into a shell-hole, they seen where I went, and if they had used any judgement, could have killed me easily with hand grenades but instead they jumped over the parapet after me, and I immediately got busy with my hand grenades, wether I killed them or wounded them I do not know, all I heard was Mein Gott as the bombs landed in amongst them quick as lightning I jumped back into the trench, and as I did a bullet hit me a glancing blow over the right eye & I fell into the trench unconscious I have no idea how long I layed there but it was dark when I came to my self (God only knows why they never came after me & finished me, but I imagine they believed we were trying to draw some of them into a trap, and capture a few prisoners, which is often done, so as to keep Headquarters in touch with what German Batt'n's are on that part of the line,) I lay still for awhile after I came to , playing possum, and then returned to my comrades, in the mean time they had stationed a guard in the old trench, and had given me up as either killed or captured, be seen me coming up the trench, and not recognizing me, fired at me point blank without challenging me, which I learned afterwards was his orders, as they were almost sure nobody but Huns would come from that direction, fortunately he was a little excited, and bullet went wild, and when the poor lad seen me covered with blood & discovered who I was, he took it for granted he had hit me, but I soon convinced him he was wrong. in the meantime the poor lad whom I had tried to get too, died, as the position was one that could only be occupied under cover of darkness, and it was impossible to get Medical Aid as the Germans do not pay any attention to the Red Cross & it was sure death to try and get to any of the posts in daylight, this was my last time in the front line with my Batt'n, the 52nd called Currie's Pet after Gen Currie of the Canadian Forces, who praised them & held them up as an example to other Batt'n, but believe me it cost very dear to win that praise for in what is called the third battle of Ypres, the Batt'n was almost wiped out 812 casualties among the rank & file and only 3 Officers left, our Colonel was killed also our Major, Gen Mercer was also killed that day & Gen Williams was seriously wounded and captured.

The last week in April I was detached from the 52nd and sent to Ypres & attached to the Divisional Wires, we were not compelled to join this unit, they asked for volunteers and one man from each platoon was selected I represented C, Coy (Ed. C Company?) 12th platoon, and was made acting Corporal, and placed in charge of a Squad consisting of 12 men, we worked during the night under cover of darkness, from 9 PM to 3 AM putting out barbed wire in front line, the first week I lost the entire squad either killed or wounded, the following week we were lucky, and had only one casualty, the next week we were under continuous shell fire, and on the 14th of May 7 men were killed and 3 wounded by a shell which struck in amongst them, I was fortunate enough to be away when it happened, and will explain why, we were wiring in Sanctuary Wood's in Ypres salient and had strung out all the wire that was on hand, I told some of the men to go back or more, but they claimed they had carried out their share for the night which was three rolls, I knew that some of them were fighting shy of their duty, but the circumstances were such that it was impossible to learn who, and then again it was dangerous work, and I could not very well blame them, they were all sitting together & I became fed up listening to them argue who should go for the wire, so I started off myself to get a supply, and when I came back the sight that met my eyes was terrible as some of them had been blown to pieces, we were compelled to leave them as they lay, as by this time an attack was on and the lead was flying around like hail, we carried in the wounded, and one poor French Canadian named Vallencore was killed on my back as I was carrying him to the dressing station, by this time I was so hardened from the sights that I had seen that I was callous, and nothing bothered me, I forgot to say when I was struck in the head, it was only a flesh wound and did not lose any time out of the trenches over it.

On the 19th of May 1916 I got mine in the town of Ypres, I was in an old building near the Belgian Barracks which had been demolished by a shell, it was 7:15 P.M. and we were preparing to start for the front line for the night's work I was handing out heavy leather gloves to the men, these were necessary in the handling of the wire, as the barbs were very close together & even with this protection, our hands were sometimes a mass of scratches, I had just finished & went into this old building to pick up the old gloves, to send them back to be repaired, I was stooping over and a young lad named Taylor was standing on my right, when a six in. shell exploded just outside the building, blew me through either the window of door, I do not know which & the young lad along with me, when I came to I was lying on top of Taylor who was still unconscious, the poor lad is a total wreck to this day, he was only a small lad about 5 ft 2 and the position in which we were standing shielded him from the flying steel, but the concussion wrecked his entire nervous system, and in a letter I received from him some time ago, he said he was suffering so, that death would be welcome, I received a wound in the left buttock & left elbow, and was so weak I could just about get up, in the meantime everybody had taken to cover, and I knew if I did not soon receive Medical attention I would bleed to death as the artery in my left leg was severed, I cut up my shirt & made a turniquoit & stopped the bleeding from the artery, but the pain was terrible, I then managed to crawl about 300 yards to a dug out in an old brewery, near the corner of Boche & Arsenal Streets, where I knew there were some Medical Officers just before I reached the entrance they seen me and came out to carry me in as they did another shell exploded and one of them was killed outright and another received a large wound in the thigh, a piece tore the left breast pocket of my tunic almost off the coat, but otherwise the second shell done me no harm, they were sending over what is called curtain fire, to hold back our reinforcements from the front line, on which they were making an attack which failed, by the time the stretcher bearers got me to the Dressing Station in the old insane asylum at Ypres, there were seven more wounded, I was getting weaker all the time, and the Medical Officers attended to me immediately, I heard one of them whisper he has a fighting chance, then one of the men who were dressing my wounds , asked me if I did not know him, I looked at him but my eyes were getting hazey, but when he told me his name Will Brown, I remembered him & mentioned where I had met him, after that I remember nothing, untill I woke up in the Clearing Hospital at Poperinghe, I had been operated on and it was 5 P.M. Saturday, when I came to I asked the Sister for something to read, she asked me to wait a minute & brought in the Medical Officer who had operated on, he told me I had a very close call & said I could thank my good constitution that I pulled through, the Sister told me the next day, they had given up hope of my recovery, and the Surgeon was more than pleased with his work, I was given every care & attention possible, but the next day Sunday May 21st the Hun aeroplanes came over and dropped bombs on the hospital and killed some of the patients & orderlies, so that afternoon they had to load us into freight cars, the bottom of which were layed thickley with straw we were sent to the Canadian Clearing Station #1 at Etaples, and I was glad when we arrived, although I was unconscious part of the journey, and to this day have no idea how long we were making the trip I was at Etaples untill Wednesday morning May 24th, they then shipped me to Calais France on a hospital train, everything possible was done to make us comfortable on the trip, at Calais we were given dinner loaded on a board a Hospital ship & we arrived in Dover England about 5 P.M. You cannot imagine how good it felt to be once more back in Blighty as the men all call it , we had supper at Dover and were loaded on another Hospital Train and shipped to Northhampton, we arrived there about 2 A.M. May 25th, we were met at the station by the V.A.D. Sisters and conveyed to the Duston Hospital in auto's, it was formerly an insane asylum, but had been renovated & converted into an up to date hospital, here I also received every attention possible, they almost spoiled me for we were the first inmates, and I was the only one from the Canadian Army in that convoy, nothing was too good for me and I remained there untill about July 7, when they sent me to a convalescent hospital at Peterborough, it was in a large mansion, the Earl of Fitzwilliams estate and here I was treated like a King, I was given the use of a pony & cart, and every nice day was taken for a drive, accompanied by a V.A.D. Sister to whom I grew very much attached, she was an angel, and the boys all called her their Little Ray of Sunshine, at present I am engaged to be married but when, it is hard to say at present, as I will never marry untill I am out of the Army and in a position to support a wife in comfort, she understands my circumstances, but says she is willing to wait, I was operated on at this hospital Sept 6th and the operation proved successful, as it gave me back the power in my limb to just below the knee, my sciatic nerve was severed and the Sugeons sutured it, but my leg is still paralyzed below the knee and withered, and I have small hope of it ever getting any better, my foot is also dropped, but they have supplied me with an appliance which holds up the foot & braces the leg, and enables me to walk with only a slight limp, I have the full use of my arm, and only recently, went under an operation and had two small pieces of bone removed I remained at Peterborough untill Nov 29th when I was sent back to Northhampton, and from there to a hospital at Croyden just nine miles from London, here I was again given a thorough examination, & put on massage and galvanism, I had 6 weeks of this treatment, and then was sent to the Canadian Base Hospital at Epsom where I refused the opportunity to return to Canada for which I was afterwards sorry I remained at Epsom 5 days and then was sent to Hastings, where I was employed three months in the Orderly room handling the outgoing correspondence, but my limb bothered me so much, I was called before a Medical Board & marked for Canada & no duty, two days afterwards May 6 1917 I was sent to Showcliffe to what is called Moore Barracks Hospital I was only here a few days when I was sent to Ramsgate for 6 weeks futher treatment, while at Ramsgate we received numerous visits from German aeroplanes & Zeppleins which kept ones nerves on edge, for I also had a slight dose of shell shock, and to this day have spells, but the Surgeons tell me I will get over it entirely in time, as I have a good strong nerve system.

One incident which I forgot to mention, but which will give you an idea of how the Huns treat the civil population of the towns which fall into their hands, is as follows - when I was billeted in Ypres I was sleeping on a cold tile floor, and one day I wandered around the town to see if I could find an old mattress to make me a bed, I spied a mattress in a house where the wall had been blown down, and the floors were hanging at an angle of about 45 degrees with another lad we managed to pull the mattress to us, and the sight that met our eyes was terrible, a woman & baby were on the mattress, both had been dead for a long time, the the baby was pinned to the woman's breast with a large German bayonet, it was a sickening sight and made my blood boil, I had often heard stories of how brutal they were, but did not believe it untill I seen it with my own eyes and if I live to be a hundred years old, will always have that terrible picture in my mind.

I am very sorry to hear Will & Mattie have had such a hard road to travel, but we all make our own beds in this world and must expect to lie in them, and nobody knows this better then myself, and I must admit I have no-body to blame but myself.

Well Aunt Lil I am sure, you will find this tiresome reading, and I only wish I was better fitted to carry on a correspondence still there is nothing like trying.

With best love to all & best wishes for a Happy & Prosperous New Year, and hoping your boy will return in Good Health and that his experiences in the Army will be a benefit to him I am always
Your Loving Nephew
Al

Convalescent Hospital
Tuxedo Park
Winnipeg, Canada