MooreBarracksHospital

No 6 Ward

Shorncliffe

England.

My own darling Wife –

As you see, I am still in Hospital & likely to be for some time yet, so just address your letters to me at above address for the present & I will let you know when to change, I have to go through a small operation here & it will take some time to get me fixed up, it is nothing serious, only bladder trouble, I have had trouble with my water more or less ever since I left Canada & although I saw the doctor about it several times over in France, he could never do anything for me except give me pills & I think they only made it worse, it appears that there is a lot of gravel in the bladder & some have got fixed & grown over, thereby causing inflammation, it wont take long to get cured, but I will have to stay quite a while after to as to be under observation in case they appear again or cause more inflammation, I am sure I dont mind it a bit as I am a whole lot better off here than I would be in France, I am allowed to wear my uniform & I can go out when & where I like, the only thing I dont like is not being able to draw any money, but that cant be helped, I am away from shell fire anyway & that is the main consideration. I have met quite a few Vernon boys in the last few days, Downing the milk man, & Andy McKinnon & George Duncan & Jimmy Varnes, who used to drive for Neil & Crydeman when I worked at the Station, they are all in the band of the 62nd Batt, then there was Ben Aimes, the old city foreman, he is a quarter master Sergt & Phillips the painter, & young Gordon Redgrave, Happy Tonge is also over here, you would not know him if you saw him, he has got so fat & bloated looking, with the booze, his face is all out in blotches & he just looks the picture of a booze artist, no one has any use for him whatever, all these are attached at present to my old battalion, the 30th I also met Mr Mathieson, he is a Captain now, I dont know whether I told you or not, but he & I met at Ypres on the morning I got knocked out & we went up to the trenches together & separated, he tells me that he saw them taking me out & I was hardly out of sight when he got hit too, he is better of his wound now but is suffering pretty bad from shell shock, he is in pretty bad shape & I would not be surprised if he got a trip back to Canada, I hear that his wife is here, if this is so, I wonder if Dr Morris will come too. I also met my old Captain, Capt Jones, he was wounded in the head at Plug Street last fall & has got charge of the bombing school here, I am to let him know when I leave here, I think I will be able to get in with him as an instructor, it will be fine if I do, as I would be my own boss & need never have to worry about going to France again. The weather here is lovely, dear, there has been no rain since I came over, I do enjoy sitting on the beach, watching the boats, and the people promenading up & down, the place is crowded with soldiers, most of them getting better of wounds, & women & children, there are very few ablebodied men not in uniform, while I am writing this, there is a band concert going on & everything is so peaceful that it is hard to imagine that there is a war on, the Zeppelins were over here the other night, but they did no damage here, all the troops were turned out in case of fire, but I am glad to say they were not needed, the Zeps dont worry me much as I am used to much worse frightfulness than they can use. I am enclosing a cutting I took from a paper lying around here, it will give you a faint idea of what it was like on the morning of the 13th June, of course I was with the Trench Mortars & was up with all the battalions mentioned, the Peck that is mentioned is Major Peck, he was a Captain in the old 30th & left Victoria with us, he is a fine man to know & was always glad to see any of the 30th boys, judging by the style of the letter I think it was written by Lieut Mason, he also was a 30th man & went to the 15th Battn with me, he was made a corporal the same time as I was, but took out a commission & transferred to the 16th, as you will see by his letter he had a pretty rough time of it. I have had no letters from you yet, I cant imagine where they can have got to, I have written again to the P.O. in London to try & trace them for me, so perhaps they may turn up yet. I am so anxious, dear, to know how you all are that I hardly know what to do with myself, I am looking forward to getting a letter at the P.O. here, but it will be two or three weeks yet before the time for it to arrive, I do hope you are all well, dear one, so many things may have happened since I heard from you last. How I should love to see you all again, the children will be so changed too, they will have grown quite tall now, I often wonder if they are going to school yet, if not I guess they will soon be going now. Now dear one, I must close, as there is nothing more that I can remember to say. Write soon to me, love, & let me know how everything is with you. Give my little darlings a big love from me & lots of kisses. God bless you my darling & take care of you is the earnest prayer of your

Loving Husband

Jack.

Heaps of love & kisses for you, dear.

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