Feb 12th 1940

Dear Wannie:

Received your letter today Feb. 12th and also Moms, and Oh Boy what a day. This is the first answers to our letters written in England, we thought that they must have gone to the bottom long ago.

I received a parcel from home too, and what a surprise, Canadian candy and cigarettes sure look good over here. The gang over here almost mobbed me. I salvaged half a nut bar and one package of spuds the rest went among the crowd. A few minutes afterwards one of the boys from Picton received a package and I did better on his than I did on my own. A few minutes before he had no smokes, so I gave him a package of mine. And when he got his I gaffeled two nut bars and a double deck of cigs. (I just had to fill Gradys pen)

He, Grady is the best cribbage in camp, he claims. This evening J.C. and I were on our bunk talking about all the people we were going to write to, when Don[?] came along. And just then the Major who is second in command of the Regiment came in our room to see one of the boys. J.C. dared Dan to challenge the Major to a game of cribbage. Dan gets up and hollers out, "I'll challenge any body in the house to a game of cribbage and that means the brainy ones too." There was a hush for awile, and some of the boys took him on for a game, to pass it off. He's a hard case, every body in camp knows him.

He received a letter today from Don Buckley's daughter and is he ever thrilled. There was a ton of mail come here to-day. It sure is a big day in camp. One of the boys from another company came in with a package of turret makings, he thought he was head man until we flashed our taylor mades, he forgot his makings and started bumming a taylor made. It sure is fun at times.

We are getting down to brass tacks as far as training goes. It is about 9.30 here now. It's a habit of J.Cs. and mine to figure back the time and guess what people are doing in Sydney. I guess you are having supper now and some of us are in bed. We just come off a ramble through the woods, night marches they call them. Its to get us used to finding our way at night, and boy is it hard to get along with the gass mask on. We all like it though. I received your clippings. Its too bad about Norman Ross, but when you godda ya godda and that's all there is to it. Well I must close, as I have some more letters to write. So say me to all the kids and Matt.

Love Boyley.