Tuesday.
Q.A.M. Hosp., Extension.
Millbank S.W
London

Dear Father & Mother.,

Your most welcome letter to hand to-day, pleased to hear you
are all well. You say Andrews nerves are shattered, no wonder poor
kid, there are very few who can stand months in the trenches & not
feel the affects. The last 5 days our bunch had in the trenches,
was something awful. The parapet was blown away. & it rained shells morning till night. One of our fellows went deaf. It affected me the same way. It seemed a miracle I did not get hit. Our casualties were very heavy, as you may know there are few of the 1st., Contingent left.
My own company were more lucky, mostly captured. It so happened we
were left in the trenches too long. We were surrounded, there were some fifty of us left, the word was passed down the line to surrender. Yours truly with some others, did not like the idea of being, a capture, we hopped it.

We most all got through, down I got passed the worst of it. just getting to cover, bang, I got it. I did not move, made believe I was dead. Our friends the enemy passed me in herds, I did not wink an eyelid. Under cover of the night crawled to a dugout, lay there from Saturday to Tuesday, not much pain, thirst something awful, expected to be blown up every minute. Got lots of dirt, bits of shrapnel on me, did not draw blood. Our friends too me to their trenches Tuesday night. Had to run the gauntlet, kicked, punched, everything taken off me. Captain accused me as spy, too far gone to answer him. Took me to Hospital, and there my real tro-ubles began. My leg must have been poisoned or something I took/
[remainder missing]