Squadron of aeroplanes Patrol the Air

Following is an extract from a letter received by friends from Pte. Fred C. Johnston, who is with the machine gun section of the 21st Battalion, written from Sandling Camp, England:

'We are getting any amount of work over here, and I have a bunch of school of Musketry instructors to teach us the new drills, many of which have been entirely altered to meet present conditions. There is a squadron of aeroplanes stationed near here. They patrol this district every morning and evening scouting for possible Zepplin raids and are continually on the job. We are about forty miles from the front and at times can hear the booming of the heavy guns, so you see we are not so very far away even now. Every day at least a dozen trainloads of wounded pass through our camp. Folkstone, until last August, a famous seaside resort, is now a gigantic hospital. Every house, almost, has been taken over by the Government for the purpose of housing wounded British and Belgian soldiers. Here, one can- not help but notice how changed things are. No lights are shown in the store windows, no street lights are allowed, even the blinds are down in all the cars on the railroad while almost everybody is wearing khaki.

A few days ago I met Joe Irwin and Alex Dunn. They are in the ambulance Corps and are certainly looking very well.