France, 1/4/1917

Dear Mother,

This is bound to be a fool of a letter as it is written on Fools Day (joke). During the last couple of months we have been having plenty of work to do. Suddenly we discovered that the Huns had cleared out and we were not long in getting after them. So far the boys have captured several villages and a large town which you would know the name of and have advanced quite 10 miles, the further we went the less mud and shell holes and wreckage we found. The Huns sacked and dynamited and burnt everything of value and made the big town a mass of ruins.

In this big town we were camped in a cellar under the Town Hall and on the night we left it, it was blown up and left a heap of ruins and caused some casualties. So you see we were rather lucky weren’t we. But such escapes occur daily and personally I don’t think anything of them and soon forget any bit of danger I have been through. This life does certainly breed contempt of danger, but I am always careful never the less, and don’t poke my nose into danger.

The other day we were in a post in a bit of a trench and the Huns sighted us and began to shell us. The first shell went over the trench and burst. The second was behind the trench. We knew that they were getting the range and someone said the next will be in the trench and sure enough it hit the parapet and partly buried 4 men but it did not touch me. So you see we still have some fun, don’t we. On this same post we could see the Huns on a far ridge going about their work, just out of rifle range. We put a machine gun on to them and made them duck and go for their natural lives. There is no doubt now the Huns are getting very frightened of our boys and go like the Dickens whenever we go for them with the bayonet and bomb and they seldom have any luck when they attack us either.

The other day at about 10 in the morning I witnessed about the best fight between British battle planes and Hun Taubes that I have yet seen. About 10 minutes before 7 of our planes went over us and suddenly we saw 1 plane chasing a Taube all over the place just like a dog chasing a fowl and then we heard a ratatat of a machine gun and a Taube came hurtling down like feather falls. Something fell out of it which must have been the Hun pilot. The machine guns on the planes rat-tatted again and again and two more carne down, one being a Taube and one a British plane.

I wish I could tell you more of what happens over here as I am sure it would interest you.

Don’t forget to use my money if you are in need of it as I would be miserable if I thought you were short. I may get leave to England soon if I last long enough. I wi11 close now, with love from

WALTER