Saturday
June 8/1918
My Dear Mother:
This has been another very quiet and uninteresting week. Yesterday was the first time for us to receive patients within something like eight days. We lay at our advanced loading station for almost a week. At present we are almost back at ‘base' and should unload by noon Which should give me a few hours in the city before we need to move up stream again.
Yesterday I received your letter of May 7th It was almost two weeks since my last Canadian mail so probably another letter will come along in a day or two.
I think it is absolutely criminal the way Gord Armstrong is acting especially towards his Dad - He certainly is a funny chap. None of our crowd could ever understand him, - I haven't much doubt about him being a mental case.
The den must be almost "my room" with all my pictures for decorations. I am sure the whole house must look grand.
I did not see Harry Hessian this time but may do so if they are still around when we get up the line again. Brouk, the American and I had some wild experiences on several days while we lay around between the last loads. In the mornings we would start out from the barges not knowing what we were going to do with ourselves. We would ultimately jump on a lorry going somewhere and we would stick to it until it landed us there when we would take another and end up someplace else & So on. Finally arriving home in the evening.
On Wednesday we had a very exceptional trip that way. We caught several different cars which landed us about thirty miles from our station. The country we passed through was absolutely new to us as it became gradually more rolling. Then they discharged us from the last lorry we found ourselves at the bottom of a huge hill on top of which we could see a quaint old town. The main road turned circles on itself up the hillside passing enroute several old Dutch windmills which had stood there for centuries one of the unique sights of this district. Brouk and I took a small path up through the woods instead and after about an hours struggling managed to reach the town.
It was a most remarkably antiquated old place. Some of the streets were actually so narrow that we could quite easily shake hands across them. The town gave one the impression of having dropped there several centuries ago and has remainded unaltered by man since. - No railways seen into the place as it would be a tremendous and really unnecessary undertaking. Instead they possessed a crude old car line which delivered and returned the personnel from the small station a few miles away. - This car line I should judge is about the only change in the place since it originally sprung up. After lunch we continued our climb to the very peak of the hill We found ourselves in a small park in the centre of which stood a monument commemorating three different battles fought for the position dating from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries. I wonder if the Bosche will be able to cause a fourth to be added to the list. He tried hard enough a month or so ago and I suppose he will try hard again soon.
As we stood up there and looked around the view was absolutely remarkable. The country on three sides was quite flat, although slightly rolling immediately around. but I am not exaggerating one little bit when I say we could see for twenty miles around us. Wouldn't Jerry like to have that place? Again as we looked Eastward the view was quite different we seemed to be looking down on a series of sister ‘mounts' running off into the distance. One, two, and three were quite distinct but the fourth was hidden behind the row. and I might incidentally add is now held by the enemy. - I feel certain if we had had a pair of strong field glasses we could have seen the Bosche around for they were only supposed to be about four miles away, in one direction. The whole experience would not have seemed so remarkable had it not served to demonstrate to me what it actually means to take mount so & so and lose a ridge once in a while. Here I had a definite example from a height which may some time soon be the scene of a battle of no small importance
There really seems so little happened the week that I am afraid my experiences stop about here. Will hope for more letters soon.
Lovingly Charlie
