Alma Russell Letters
Letters of British Columbia men on active service with Canadian and British Expeditionary Forces, 1914-1918. Learn more.
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Pity we can’t fence in the rest of Ritchie’s lot and let the poultry manure it during the winter and then we could grow a lot. I should think the French and beastly Belgians would grow plenty of mushrooms in the dugout apres la guerre.
The C.M.Rs. were stationed near us at Sandling. I was going to hunt up Allen Sachse through Mr. Orr when we had our marching orders.
Glad to hear the socks are at last finished. A few days ago I had a bath, the first time I had removed my clothes for ten days so it was quite an occasion. They gave us a change of socks and a clean shirt. The shirt was a little peach and reached nearly to my waist but the socks were quite good but I think I shall be very glad to get yours.
We left our entrenching camp on Thursday morning and returned to France. We started off and marched till five o’clock when we reached a rest camp and stayed there till midnight when we marched off again. After an hour we reached some motor busses who took us along for the next hour, then we marched for the rest of the night fetching up at a railing about seven in the morning. We travelled forty in each horse box. There was not room to sit or lie down and the horse box had evidently not been cleaned out for several journeys but we were so glad to leave off marking that we quite enjoyed the trip. They shot us out at midnight and we marched once more for the rest of the night. We marched very slowly and halted frequently. It is not the distance but the weight of our equipment that kills one, but I find that I can stand these sort of strains as well as anyone. Towards the last we halted for longer periods than we marched. At these times we drop flat on our backs in the mud and sleep till we move again. It is
BC Archives, MS-1901 Box 1 File 19 / RUSSELL, Alma M., 1873 - 1964. Victoria; librarian. / Letters from Cecil Harrow Unwin, 1916 - 1917.