#4 Company                        

30th Battalion

Written at Willows Camp 10th Jany. 1915

My Dear Wife,

I got the Vernon News all right yesterday & I can see by it that things are pretty bad in Vernon, all the city employees being laid off except Thompson, did they not keep Fred Dammeral on? it is too bad if he has got laid off, I just heard to-day that Harlow is in Victoria, but I have not seen him, I believe he has been asking for me down town, but a I hardly ever go down, he will have to look me up here. Things are going on as usual here, the same old drill every day & lots of work, the only thing is that the names of companys has been changed & we are no 4 Compy instead of H, & I am senior Lance Corporal & am in full charge of a section, I am the only one to have full charge of a section, all other sections being in charge of a full Corporal or Sergeant, so I expect very soon to get my promotion. We were all inoculated again, last Friday in the left arm, I was very sick & feverish on Friday night & on Saturday but I am all right to-day except that my arm is still very much swollen, we got a double dose this time & that is the reason I was so sick.

We sent a bunch of the boys off to the Front to-day, there were 125 of them & they are going straight to the north of France, they got a great send off, the whole Battalion & the B.C. Horse & the 30th Highlanders & 88th Regt & the Garrison Artillery escorted them down to the boat. There must have been close to 3000 of us on parade, & the streets all the way down town were crammed with people, who cheered as we marched by & waved flags, there were four bands out with us & we sure made a great spectacle, when the boat drew off with the boys, all the steamers blew their whistles & the bands struck up Auld Lang Syne & all the troops cheered as well as the Civilians, so you may guess what a noise there was, it was deafening; when we started to march back, the crowd was so thick that we could hardly get through, & it took us about three times as long to get back to Barracks.

My dear one, I was awfully sorry to hear about your poor mouth, cant you get anything for it, it must be awfully sore, strange to say, the day I got your letter I had a superating tooth & I had to get it out, they have no dentist here, the doctor does everything & he certainly gave me gips, but it is all right now.

It is certainly most annoying the way Muhowski is treating you, he is a beast, & the best thing you can do is to get out, no matter what he says & refuse to sign any more bills for him, he can not seize anything in the house, in fact, no one can take anything belonging to a soldier who is serving, you want to tell him that, & no matter how much you owe him, he can not prevent you going into another house, I think if you would explain everything to Watts, he would see you through all right, or if you would rather, I will write to him, & tell him for you, you can let me know what you think.

I am sending you back the photo of George, it is a good photo all right, has he gone to the front yet? if not, I guess he will get away soon, it is getting pretty monotonous here now, with the same old thing day after day & the most of us would like to get away to England, if it was only for a change, but there are no prospects of us getting away yet, in fact, we may not get away for a couple of months yet, if we get away then. I think there is nothing more that I can say just now, except that I am all right & in good health, except that I am very lonesome yet, & I do not sleep well at nights, I seem to lay awake half the night & dont get properly rested, I think that is what makes my eyes look so puffy; but perhaps things will improve later on.

Kiss George & Eileen for me dear, & with lots of kisses & love for yourself I remain your loving Husband.

Jack.

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