[1st page of letter missing – likely January 1916]

We got the Maxim 303 and the Vickers light and heavy and the Lewis. The Lewis will fire 1000 shots a minute, but is a very light gun. It won’t last long like the Maxim, the best. It is a good reliable gun. We are not having quite so much sickness here now. They are getting the best of the fever, but I am just getting rid of a bad cold and it was a damn bad one, too. Jack, it is a hard job to get rid of a cold here, as all the training is lying on the ground and as you know it is always wet. I have been here 11 weeks and we had three fine days.

Well, dear brother, I can’t get drunk here because I can’t get the price, but another thing, we are restricted to certain hours in the canteen and those hours is so we cannot get very much because we have not the time. Jack, I am writing this letter in the dark and I cannot see any lines to make it out, but dear brother, they don’t give me much time to write in the daylight. I do hope you are working this winter, as I call it winter but we have no winter here. It is cold but no snow, cold and raining all the time.

Well, dear brother, I have no news that would interest you, so I will close for this time. Send one Sunday Globe, too, and see if I will get it. And be sure and put in all the letters, if not, at this address, please forward. Give my love and best wishes to Flo and Sam and kids and a whole lot of kisses for Mary and Teddy and all friends, not forgetting yourself and B.

From,
Lee

Address: #3949, Private Lee G. Darrach, 3/7 Lancaster Fusiliers, Camp 4, Hut 33, Codford, St. Mary’s, Wiltshire, England, Machine Gun School