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Date: June 13th 1916
To
Mother
From
Harold Dean
Letter

German East Africa
June 13/16

My Dear Mother

Just a note to let you know I am on the road again and feeling fine. The climate here is a bit hot in day time but at night it is quite cool the same as B.C. nights in summer.

Yesterday morning I caught up with our quartermaster and got a few letters, two from home under date of March 20 and one under date of March 30, four from Ruth the latest dated Apr 6 and one from Reita. I also got a pair of socks from Reita and the parcel a cracker can of cookies cake and three handkerchiefs. The can was bent up quite a bit but the cake and the cookies were alright and the crumbs of cake were good. The gum tasted as good as ever and the handkerchiefs were not damaged. I called in a bunch of Canadians and we had a nice little birthday party. Although it was June 12 instead of Apr 7 it was good anyway and the boys smacked their lips when I gave them a chew of gum.

Just thank Reita for the socks and tell them they fit alright. If I pass any socks on to the next guy they will be an old pair

June 25/16
This is rather a later date to resume your letter but it could not be helped so I will have to be forgiven. I was interrupted when I got the first page finished by being sent to do some work and I am still on the go. We are on the road every hour of daylight and part of dark and when the trip is finished sleep is the only thing a fellow can think of. We have all day off today to fix up our cars and I thought I had better steal time to write this letter although all the other boys around are hard at work. The reason for the pencil is that my pen was nearly dry and when I took it out today the heat had dried it up completely. We live right on the trucks day and night when we have a load on we sleep on top of it or on the ground underneath and when its empty we sleep in the bottom. Take it all around its not so bad after all and as we do our own cooking we suit ourselves as to strength of tea etc and sweeten to taste. The roads down here are not paved at all but except for a little dust are pretty decent. I have felt fine ever since I left the hospital and think I am good for a bit yet. There are none of the rest of the 648 Co boys with me just now but I see some every day. I am attached to 635 Co for a couple of months along with a lot more but none happen to be on the same convoy. Well mother I will have to close as I can not send any more news this time so Bye Bye will lots of love to yourself, Dad and the kids and the rest of my friends

Your far away son
Harold.

Original Scans

Original Scans