France
4/9/16

Dear John,

Received box cigars today which you so kindly sent me. Please accept my thanks. Good cigars are certainly a luxury in this country and always so acceptable. I sometimes think that the people in Canada, especially the women, spend too much time knitting socks, etc. My experience has been that the soldiers have plenty. However I have not spent a winter here yet. It is a very strenuous life and a hard game. The people in Canada have no idea, nor can any person have unless they have been in it. The spirit of the soldiers is wonderful. They meet everything with a smile. I sometimes think that to them Death is a joke. To see them march up to the trenches smiling and joking apparently without a care in the world is wonderful to me, and I have never heard a wounded man complain. Lately I think we have the edge on the Hun, but it is only very recently. From now one it looks as if we had him going. But he is going to be a hard nut to crack and he is going to die hard. All the prisoners that I have searched are glad to be out of it although they are well nourished and well clothed. They are great fighters but man for man they are not in it with our men. They simply won't stand up to it when our men go after them. One thing I find about myself, I cannot concentrate my mind on anything outside of the war game. Reading is out of the question.

Hope your crops are O.K. this year and that you are going to have a successful year.

Kindly remember me to Lily and again thanking you for your kind remembrance.

Yours sincerely,
Tom Leask
c/o Canadian Field Ambulance