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Date: December 18th 1915
To
Louise
From
George
Letter

433084 A Coy Belgium
49th Batt Canadians December 18th-12-15
France

My Dear Louise
We are moving from here right away so I am finishing up my last green envelope. You see these green envelopes are given out to us very gingerly so we naturally prize them. They are the only ones that are not censored by our own officers. but they may be censored at the Base. Oh say wasn't that an awful blot on the last one I sent to you. I was addressing the envelope with a fountain pen I borrowed from another fellow. It must have looked awful when you got it & I was ashamed of it, but had no alternative owing to the shortage of these same envelopes. we don't know just where we are going but I don't think it will be very far from here.
We lost one of our boys out of this tent last night, he was shot through the leg. There were three of us working together on a machine gun emplacement. The bullets started coming over thick & fast till at last one hit Smithy Angus in the leg. We carried him out to the nearest dressing station but the doctor said it was not a dangerous wound, and he would not be away long. I hope he won't as we miss him. He has been with us all the time since we started out & in this life which is as one might say just for the present, one values a real friend.
This makes the second from our tent. I have just had a letter from the other boy, Arnett[?]. He is in England with a wounded foot "lucky kid". Angus used to sing in the Norwood Methodist (Mr. Smith's church). We have been pretty busy lately working on wire entanglements. We had orders last night to "stand to" as they expected an attack from the Germans which never came off. How sick we are of the whole affair. I often wish we could have one big battle & end it.
I often dream of home but the worst part of it is that one wakes up to the stern fact that it is only a dream.
I am anxiously looking for a letter but the mail comes very irregular now, its so near Christmas and its such a con[?] to handle it all. So when you write make them as long and nice as you can, won't you?
I am sending you another card hope you will like it. You see I can't write a decent letter so I have to put that in to help make up.
To use your own expression I think a lot which I can't put on paper (Comprez?) Well I will ring off now as there isn't much to tell so good-bye dearie
with love
from George