August 1st/43
Kingston, Ont.
Dear Mom:
As you can see I am in Kingston but for how long I [don't] know.
There has been some mix up here. We arrived here 2 o'clock Thursday night. The first thing that we were told was that we were not supposed to be here as they had no fitters course here. That was not so good. Another thing our documents did not come with us as they are supposed to. Nobody knows where they are.
Because we have not got our documents we cannot get paid. So there are eight very broke boys here. There isn't a soul here that we can borrow from because we are going to be moved out of here any day but where we don't know. We may go to Hamilton, Montreal or even back to Halifax.
How all this mess happened as far as I can find out is like this. The school used to be in Ottawa when it was there they had a fitter's course but it was moved to Montreal. So from that I may be moved to Montreal (I hope). I think that is where we are supposed to be.
It would be swell if we could stay here as the weather is grand. I was in swimming Friday and intend to go again today. The only thing is that we have about 2 miles to walk in the hot sun which is no fun.
We are wearing shorts and puttees which is a great help. Even at that it is still hot. I don't mind as it is better than the rain and fog that we were getting in Halifax. That place is no good at all. We had to wear our battle dress all the time so that will give you an idea how cold it was down there. We arrived here in battledress and nearly roasted. They wouldn't let us get out of our battledress as we were supposed to be moved out right away. Then Saturday they told us to get into our shorts and puttees. We were all given passes from noon Saturday until 2 o'clock Monday afternoon. Three of the boys who lived in Toronto left here to hitch hike there, and one went to Montreal the same way. None of us could travel any other way being broke. There are eight of us stranded here.
There isn't any address that I can give you as I don't know how long I will be here so I will write as soon as I get one.
Good bye for now
Love Ted.
