The Battle of Vimy Ridge (after the artist Richard Jack)
The Battle of Vimy Ridge (after the artist Richard Jack)
THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF APRIL were dramatic for both World War I in general and the Canadian soldiers in particular. President Wilson finally decided that the United States should declare war on Germany. This was announced on 6 April. Then, on 9 April, Vimy was attacked by the Canadian Forces.
The First Battle of Arras was intended to tie in with General Nivelle’s plan to end the war with a single bold stroke, and to retain some sort of initiative in the Somme. The assault of Vimy Ridge on 9, 10, and 11 April was to be a part of that campaign, and was not intended to stand alone. The ridge dominated the German defences linking their southern line to their main line that led to the Belgian coast. It was strategically therefore a defensive keystone, as well as one of the most important features of the Western Front.
1 April 1917
My dear parents,
We were very close to Vimy, whose minor crest hides the Lens plain and the view of the coalfields of Lens. Up until now, this enemy position had challenged the efforts of the headquarters staff of the successive armies: French, English, and Canadians. For quite some time we had been aiming at the wrong side. The hour had now come to go over the fence on the other side, and be installed on the top!
André
THE WEATHER TURNS COLDER; the frost dries the mud, resonating with a solid thump to their footsteps. The days are longer, and even in some poor defoliated bush, there are birds to sing of spring and bring them courage! But it isn’t an easy exercise, and merits a meticulous preparation. That’s why the Canadian Corps that had been selected for the attack underwent particularly intensive training, both in the front line and in the nearby villages of Neuville–St Vaast and Souchez. When they are in the rear, groups of a hundred soldiers are trained in temporary trenches to advance, so that each man will know exactly what he will have to do in all the imaginable circumstances. At the Front, they raid and exhaust the enemy by attacks, even in the middle of the day. This thorough preparation is essential to ensure that everything has been studied, and nothing can go wrong.—(BB)
THE ATTACK ON VIMY RIDGE was to be launched from the Western Front line, running from two miles north of the Village of Vimy to five miles south of Arras. The Patricias were assigned a central position at the highest part of the ridge. They had been selected because of the precision that they had shown in previous engagements, but there was no doubt that the battle would be quite different than the others. In this battle they knew the trenches intimately, they would attack a battlefield that they had traversed frequently, and they had been rehearsing their attack throughout the winter. They participated in the construction of eleven tunnels, located to allow the final attack preparations to be invisible to the enemy, so that the soldiers would not be interfered with or shelled by the enemy. The main “Grange Tunnel” had three exits and was 750 yards long.
INSTEAD OF AN EASTER WITH FLOWERS, the weather worsens once again. So it’s through gusts of wind and hail in an impressive silence on the night of Easter, on 8 April 1917, that the Princess Pats reach the forecasted positions, along a ninehundred-metre line. The lucky ones were sheltered in the huge caverns of Huguenot origins, which the firemen had enlarged further. They catch a few hours of sleep, prior to the inevitable awakening, which, after a warm shot of rum, would launch them forward towards success or towards death. However, they will be better protected than at Sanctuary Wood, as this time the majority of the Canadian artillery divisions initiated a bombardment with a ferocity and a precision that left nothing to be desired. The barrage of gunfire prepared the infantrymen’s assault. And what an assault!—(BB)
1st Brigade 1st Division
April 8th 1917
Many horses died during the past few days owing to so much hauling of ammunition and cutting down of hay and straw ration. Infantry Commanders of the 5th and 17th Battalions report that there is no more wire on their zones, this confirms our report. The standard gauge railway is now well past 2nd Howitzer Battery and is running through the valley to Ariane Dump.
WITH THE PRINCESS PATS IN THE CENTRE, opposite the crater field, the four Canadian Divisions, for the first time, fought side by side. The advances varied in the different sections. For the Patricias, the first and second distances were, respectively, about seven hundred and five hundred yards. The goals of the entire Brigade were to move through La Folie Wood, and to consolidate a line on the East side of the Ridge. The extensive mining activity made for substantial difficulties in traversing the first ground. There were also many impassable large craters. The depth of the craters, the myriad remnants of obstructions, as well as the ruins of former trenches, added to the misery of these soldiers, who were carrying large, awkward loads on their backs.
Before dawn on 9 April, every soldier had a hot meal and a shot of rum, then, promptly at 4:30 a.m., all the Patricias, officers and men, were in position. The 18-pounders intense shrapnel bombardment started with sudden fury at 5:30 a.m. At exactly that moment, the first wave of Patricias shuffled out of Grange Tunnel and started to climb to the top of the crater line. There was nothing then in their way, as the garrisons and the barbed wire had been blown to pieces by the mortars. Both the German Front and support lines were immediately overrun, so that, by 6 a.m., the entire Brigade had reached its first objective line. Then the Canadians, in forty minutes, stormed and decimated the German’s first line. Despite the continuing resistance of the enemy, they continued to advance. The initial onslaught had been brilliant.
Electrified by the music of the bagpipes, the soldiers, wave after wave, tumbled down real volcanic craters, climbing on the other side, spread the remains of the barbed wire, stepped over the parapets, the trenches, the wounded, the bodies. They stumbled, fell, got entangled in their load, got up and continued to climb the slope steadily, but also calmly, as it’s impossible to run in this terrain.
April 9th 1917
At Zero hour (5:30 AM) the big advance on Vimy Ridge commenced. A wonderful series of barrages were put up on the German front and Support line. Our troops had very little trouble in reaching the German front and support lines. The Reserve line was held by a few hostile machine guns, which caused the only serious casualties our troops suffered. This did not stop them however and before dark the whole Ridge of Vimy was in our hands. On the Canadian Corps front alone some 27 hostile guns were captured and over 3,000 prisoners. Our casualties were in the neighbourhood of 2,000.
In the early afternoon Major Durkee O.C. 3rd Battery started his Battery forward and shortly after dark his six guns were reported in action near the Nine Elms. This Battery being the farthest forward in the 1st Army front. Throughout the whole advance very little hostile shelling was reported. Lt. Col. Maclaren DSO and a party of four left the Brigade HQ and made a reconnaissance of the forward area. Battery positions were selected.
15 April 1917
My dear parents,
Here is a letter that you must have been expecting with considerable impatience. My last one was written the day before going into the trenches for the attack, about which you must have seen reports in the newspapers.
We were pretty concerned, to say the least, when we were reminded that, the following day, we were to attack one of the most important and strongest German positions.
Before the big day, we had spent several days in the forward trenches, to see what we could see of the German trenches without being caught by a German marksman. They then gave us one night of rest, and just before dawn we took our positions in the trenches with a huge load on our shoulders: food, a shovel, bombs, etc.
It was still night when a huge bombardment of several minutes began. Our lieutenant, with his cane in the air, gave us the signal to charge, but don’t imagine a magnificent charge with shining bayonets and bugles blowing. We advance as best we can, across a terrain completely shattered by several weeks of bombardment. At twenty metres from the German trenches, we see our first Germans with their hands in the air, crying: “Kamerad, Kamerad!” We show them the rear, and, with a little slap on the backside, they are only too happy to run as fast as possible away from their officers.
Moving ahead at the same time as us, there was a magnificent barrage of shrapnel, which resulted in sending the Germans into their dugouts, so, as we advanced, we hardly saw anyone. We caught them by throwing smoke bombs into their underground habitations that are often real palaces. Imagine rooms with electric lights, antique furniture, stolen from nearby châteaux, armoires of provisions, black bread, honey, mineral water, champagne, tinned meat. The one we were dealing with was in fact a brigade headquarters, where there were a dozen officers with about the same number of Iron Crosses.
It took us about one hour to reach our objective, but it felt like five minutes. The ridge is above a steep hill. When we got to the summit, the view was magnificent, a town, villages, and some lovely roads, where we could see the German artillery in full retreat, trapped by our heavy batteries.
But I described the least horrible, as the conquest was not the only part: there were also the moans of the seriously wounded, but we knew that our action was necessary if we were to get closer to ending the war.
Could you send me a little money in each letter, five or six francs, that would help me considerably to buy chocolate and other necessary things for the trenches. Now goodbye, and once again, thank you for your correspondence, always very much appreciated.
André
THE FINAL OBJECTIVE for the Patricias required a five-hundred-yard continued advance. From there they were ordered to push the line northwards, while some were to quickly patrol further down the hill to determine whether the Germans were still in the vicinity. In less than an hour, at 7:45, the second objective had been accomplished. From there, the new front line had a great view towards Vimy, and enemy outposts were reported and quickly dispersed by the artillery. By noon, they passed through the Germans’ second line and concluded the capture of the whole area from La Folie to Neuville–St Vaast. The Patricias had fewer than fifty casualties, but during the earlier advance, many officers had fallen. It was a common story: privates replacing their fallen officers, and medics and runners concentrating on their roles, despite their own danger.
MANY YEARS LATER, André was to reflect: “What a view! The vast mining centre, with its chimneys, its worker housing, and its slag heaps magically illuminated by rays of sun piercing through the clouds. On the roads we saw clearly the German artillery retreating, pestered by the Canadian batteries. To see the backs of the enemy running off down the roads confirmed the victory with all its satisfaction. Instead of seeing their square heads and their round eyes over the parapets in front of us, we could look off into the distance and see a distant view. It led us to that marvellous illusion that after this master stroke it would soon be the end of the war! But we never forgot the moans of the wounded, and the best friends that fell beside us. However, we didn’t have the time to compile these impressions, as we had to clean the enemy trenches, which criss-crossed the Vimy ridge from Neuville–St Vaast to Bois de la Folie. There was no doubt that there were still soldiers lying in ambush.”
André, along with a few friends, had the opportunity to run into the luxurious shelter of the German commander. To find a palace in a hole is like a tale from a Thousand and One Nights! The shelter had a floor and partitions, antique furniture, and a piano, tinned food, and many bottles. There was even the wounded general sitting at his table who was semi-conscious. In his state of semi-paralysis, he was no doubt shocked by the rudeness of these Canadians, who quietly began to smoke the best cigars, to empty the best bottles, enjoying the very best delicacies, and to skim through a collection of Simplicimus, in which the German editor ridicules President Wilson and the American flag. The invaders, very tired, quite exhilarated by success and by the champagne, then lie down on the comfortable beds and fall into a deep sleep.
Once again, Etienne had helped, with the fire of his guns, to sweep the area in front of the footsteps of his brothers. Philippe fought at Courcelette and André at Vimy. It was often a few soldiers in heroic moments, who, supported by the units in the rear, overturned the enemy positions with guns, machine guns, bayonets, fists, and anything else, as long as the goal was achieved. The brothers had that special advantage where they could commune with each other on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the Germans still held the third line, and it needed to be crushed in its turn. There were multiple clashes, some advances, some reversals, some counterattacks, until finally the objective was achieved.—(BB)
1st Brigade 1st Division
April 10th 1917
Our 1st, 4th, and 2nd Batteries left their old positions and took up positions in the forward area some two hundred yards in advance of the 3rd Battery. Rain prevented registration to any extent today.
1st Brigade HQ established in deep German dugout some 150 yards to the right flank of the Nine Elms. Lieut Turnbull attached to this HQ from this date to be officer in charge of signals, 1st Brigade.
April 11th 1917
Weather partly fair and registration of our 1st, 2nd, and 4th Batteries was completed today. O.Ps. have a splendid view of a large stretch of the flat country east of Vimy Ridge. Our infantry pushed on past Willerval today and arrangements were at once to move the Batteries to more advanced positions. We are still however doing a lot of night firing to prevent the enemy from improving the wire in front of his defensive line which is known as the Oppy line and is just within range.
My dear mother,
Here I am again with the machine gunners, after three days of convalescence, where I was very bored ... It’s much more interesting here. We observe the huge work undertaken in the rear to make possible the activity of the Front. The view extends towards a village built in a hollow, with its red roofs, its belfry, its château, and sand dunes spotted with clumps of pines. The sea in the distance is sometimes blue and calm and other times dark and menacing. We are taking a machine-gun course and work six hours each day. I am learning a pile of useful things ... the rest of the time I take walks, and what interests me the most are the train tracks and the road. I have never seen such traffic on one railway line. The trains come one after another without interruption, filled first of all by munitions, others by merchandise, others by troops, others with more coal and cars. What a lot of things are required for an army! The road is monopolized by ambulances and trucks doing the hospital service, and they are mostly driven by women. It’s also fun to meet the colonials: Scots, Irish, Australians, and New Zealanders. These last ones, like us, don’t very much appreciate the strict discipline of our English instructors.
Philippe
THE SUCCESSES OF THE 7TH BRIGADE, along with its Princess Pats Regiment, further enhanced the growing reputation of the Canadians. Sir Douglas Haig commented: “To have carried this position with so little lost testifies to soundness of plan, thoroughness of preparation, dash and determination in execution and devotion to duty on the part of all concerned.” In the history of World War I it is well-known that, in the critical last hundred days of the war, the British control of Vimy Ridge marked a dividing line between conquest and disaster.
Perhaps in part as a result of the Vimy success, General Haig was promoted to Field Marshal by King George V, and General Currie to Commanding Officer of the Canadian Corps.
During the battle of the Somme, the Germans had learned that the rigid defence of a line was no longer a good military tactic, and they developed a new defence strategy. They put it into practice in the Eastern Somme during the spring of 1917, where it was clearly more efficient and strategically advantageous to retire to the line established by General Hindenberg. They systematically wrecked a desolate area some fifty miles deep. General Nivelle was preparing his attack, and rather than taking the opportunity of attacking a retreating army, he delayed it long enough for the enemy to increase their forces from eighteen to forty-two divisions. On 16 April he did attack, but after a month, the leading French army had not advanced by more than four miles. The French army was near to mutiny and suffered enormous casualties. General Pétain, who had finally also led the French to a victory in Verdun, replaced Nivelle as commander-in-chief of the French Army
While Nivelle was fighting his losing battle, General Haig decided that he should resume the attacks in the Scarpe area. He wished to push the German line opposite Arras by some four miles. It was not to be a successful venture, but there was an exception at the battle of Arleux on 28 April. The Canadian attack succeeded in making a significant advance, and it was during this battle that Etienne was seriously wounded and ended his artillery career.
1st Brigade 1st Division
April 28th 1917
The 1st Canadian Division launched their second attack at 4:25 this morning with great success and obtained all final objectives by 5:25 AM that is to the Eastern edge of Arleux Wood. The 2nd British Division on our right made a successful attack and the enemy were driven back to Oppy Wood. In all some 8 officers and 300 OR were taken prisoners. In the early evening the enemy made a strong counter-attack all along our front and extending to some distance on our right. Our artillery responded very quickly, and the enemy’s attack was repulsed and heavy casualties inflicted on him.
1st London General Hospital Camberwell, London SE, 6 May 1917
My dear mother,
In my last letter I had promised you to write the next day, but it’s only today that I pick up my pencil.
I presume that you would like to have the details about the circumstances relative to my wound. It was Saturday 28 April at 6 p.m. The enemy bombs had been falling in the neighbourhood of the battery all afternoon. The captain, a former McGill friend, and the other officers had gone for supper, and I was alone at the battery with several men. All of a sudden, the bombs came closer, and one of them fell a few paces from the dugout where I was. I then called the captain to get his permission to leave the guns for a moment, until the bombardment stopped. I was about to re-enter the cover, preceded by the last man, when a bomb exploded with a large bang a few paces from me and a piece hit me just above the right knee. Two men helped me to enter a dugout, where they laid me on a stretcher. In less than a minute the officers were there, and the captain, armed with a big knife, cut my trousers, then as a good medical student he bandaged me, and I stayed there until the bombardment stopped. I wasn’t suffering very much. A moment later, the doctor arrived and rebandaged me, then four men carried me in the stretcher. A kilometre further on, they deposited me on a small carriage on the narrow-gauge railway line, and left me in the care of a Canadian ambulance man and three German prisoners, quite fresh, having done their work day prior to being sent to the rear.
Following the carriage, a motorized ambulance took me around midnight to a big hospital in a city of huts. There I was undressed and put to bed. I was woken up early the next day for the cleaning of the wound before they sent me further. The ambulance train took me to Boulogne at 5 o’clock, and from the station I was directed towards Wimereux, where I was given a good bed in a room with a view of the sea. They telephoned Jean immediately, and he was able to come and see me. He is looking very well and has at last just received his first stripe. On Tuesday he came to say hello as I boarded the boat for England.
Etienne
ETIENNE FINDS THAT HIS ROLE as a wounded soldier is much less interesting than that of an artillery officer. The broken bones are removed, but the remaining flakes create complications, but how can one complain when you are lying in a sunlit room, giving onto a park filled with spring flowers and leaves.—(BB)
No. 1 General Hospital Etaples, 29 April 1917
My dear mother,
I have a moment to myself to write you briefly. On or about the fourteenth of this month I hurt my foot with an old rusty nail that broke through my boot and pierced my heel quite deeply. After one week in bed here, I was able to get up and walk a bit. There’s a great deal of work to do, and very few who can help. We have three or four young amputees and other serious cases. I enter the names in the register and I help with the bandages. I’m busy from morning until night.
I hope to see Jean in three or four days. One of the orderlies from the No. 3 General Hospital was here this afternoon and told me, but they are so busy that nothing happens immediately.
When I leave here I will once again go to the Canadian Base. I don’t think I’ll be there for long.
It’s quite funny the way we are playing hide-and-seek with Philippe. We have both been in France for almost one year, and we haven’t yet seen each other.
André
Les Colombettes, 20 May 1917
My dear boys,
Let’s hope that the conscription will not be delayed and that all those selfish and cowardly men will soon be dressed in khaki and sent to the Front. However, we ask ourselves who will be left at the Presbyterian College and McGill.
Mr. Fernand Buisson, the famous creator of the Public Primary Schools of France, talked about the Sacred Union. I have rarely heard anything quite as moving. He spoke of the Catholics, the Protestants, the Israelites, and the Socialists. He was influenced by soldiers’ letters, and paid respect to the sons of clergymen. This evening brought such a satisfying religious feeling, and gave me an immense uplift. Dear boys, if in our day it is the Anglo-Saxons that are materialistic, and the French that are spiritualists, listen good and hard to the Huguenot blood that is in your veins and let it take the leading role. I think, however, that deep down, the Englishman is more religious than he looks.
Nothing from Philippe since 13 March, when he was training as a machine-gunner. On the other hand a charming letter from Madame Lemaitre, who tells us all kinds of nice things about his visit in Bruay. She found him well-tanned with a confident expression. Good news from Camille, who has been in the midst of the advance, where he must have done his duty to perfection, as he was told about a reward that he will no doubt tell us about in a forthcoming letter.
Blanche
La Clairière, 24 May 1917
Dear boys,
Monday morning we will catch a train leaving Montreal at 9:20, according to the CNR’s new timetable, where there is not even one train a day, and on some days it goes in the morning and on others in the evening, in order to satisfy everyone’s tastes. We met Pastor Bruce Taylor in the train, who inquired about our soldiers. He is very pleased with Prime Minister Borden’s speech about starting conscription very soon.
We have spent a part of our evenings reading Borden’s long speech, followed by a few hours to discuss it. We have been without newspapers for three days, and we are now wondering what effect it has had on the population. I have heard that there is a spilt in the ranks of the Liberal Party, and a large group have joined the Nationalists and the left wing of the Conservative Party. Laurier was very embarrassed as he stepped up to the podium on Friday.
Dear boys, we are thinking of you especially, as we remember your collaboration and your perseverance, and I’m thinking of all those things that I would like to do together with you. That God protect you, and give you the strength to go to the conclusion no matter what happens. We hope that André and Philippe have managed to meet.
Charles
SOME GOOD LETTERS FILLED with lovely details, and some honest enthusiasm, proves to his parents in Canada that Etienne has reason for viewing himself as very privileged. He talks about his weeks in bed, followed by his first steps, leaning on a cane or held up by crutches, or luxuriously pushed in a wheelchair. Installed on the green lawn, he reads the newspapers: Messines, Moscow, Washington! He devours books and magazines. Then, at tea time, a little group of pleasant ladies come and join him. A few of them are titled; others have pretty Irish faces, which further stimulates the eloquence of the group. They are Penroses, Fitzgeralds, Hewsons, Bartons, and even friends from Montreal come to say hello to their cousin or their Canadian friend.—(BB)
Ward 35, 1st London General Hospital Camberwell, 1 June 1917
My dear father,
I suppose that you are following with interest the controversy with respect to conscription in Canada, and that you are hoping that they will accept what they are proposing to Bourassa and Lavergne. We have a bit of news about what’s going on in the newspapers here, and it makes our blood boil to think that one tolerates such traitors.
And finally here are the Americans that are awakened, and none too soon. I hope that their commitment will help shorten this terrible war. With considerable emotion I wonder sometimes if it will finish prior to Jacques’s departure. That God saves Mom from this sacrifice. It doesn’t seem possible now, but who would have thought that it could have lasted at least three years?
Here I am once again in my pram! ... Miss Bunting made a very pleasant visit, and the next day I had a good visit from Lady Carlyle.
Etienne
8 June 1917
My dear mother,
Like us here, you will also have rejoiced with the good news from the Front. After Vimy it will be Messine’s turn, and all that seems to have gone so well. When one has spent several months in the Ypres Salient, haunted by the presence of Vimy ridge, anywhere else would have been insignificant, but it dominated this whole part of our lines, and was a continual danger for our men, one feels even more the importance of that victory. As for the dangers in Lille, I don’t think that the time is ripe for Tante Julia to prepare to return to her tasks there.
Here it has been more than five weeks that I have been at the hospital, and I’m beginning to get used to this monotonous life without incidents ... I had once again several visits this week. First of all, on Tuesday afternoon, Lady Bunting came all alone.
Etienne
Dear Tante Julia,
This time it’s in the shade of a tree in a garden on a beautiful morning. There’s next to me a kitchen garden that would be a joy for mother. It is tended by one of the wounded in our ward, an officer who had his jaw crushed, who, having three months of hospital before him, spends most of his time doing gardening.
Etienne
17 June 1917
My dear mother,
There’s a particularly lovely little annex for the officers, with a billiard table, some good armchairs, several writing tables, as well as some good books, facing a lovely lawn with multicolour flowers …
Thanks for your letter describing your most interesting trip to the USA, typewritten ... as well as a good little letter from Philippe who sounds well. I will send the letter to André tonight.
Etienne
21 June 1917
My dear mother,
I haven’t been able to find the circular from Tante Julia that you are asking for, as I don’t have much room to keep my things here at the hospital. I have to throw out most of the letters.
But, it’s time that I get into my armchair to go to the concert at the YMCA, and that I leave you dear mother.
Etienne
13 July 1917
My dear father,
I have in front of me your good letter of 24 June. Everything you tell me about the discussions that conscription is bringing to Canada interests me very much. Will we be obliged to discount the French Canadians like the Irish? I think that it’s difficult to do it otherwise. The other day I went to see in another ward a French Canadian that had been at the Front twenty-six months, and we discussed conscription. He saw in Borden’s proposition an attack by England at Canadians’ liberty! ...
In the afternoon I met my friend Stevens, and we went together to see some German films that are being shown here now. It’s propaganda for the Germans and neutralists. We see the Kaiser, with his best smiles and his best greetings to the Austrians during his visit to Vienna ...
I presume that you all read about the air display of last week. We were in the best seats here: twenty-three enormous machines were flying directly towards us for a moment, when all of a sudden they turned left and disappeared in the east.
Etienne
As of the end of June, Etienne is allowed a few outings. Despite a much reduced “season,” one still sees, in London, horsemen riding by, cars driving along shaded lanes, and boats skimming on the Serpentine. Does he feel a little embarrassed quietly munching on the tearoom’s strawberries and cream? In the following days, he visits those in London who had invited him, and wanders to Hornsey Lane to the Hoffmanns, to Blackheath to the Bains, or to Hatfield to the Hart-Dykes.—(BB)
La Clairière, 10 June 1917
My dear boys,
We will remember last Sunday as being particularly bright. As there was no regular service, we replaced it by a family get-together at the Morrows, who were waiting for us. We had trouble in speaking of anything else but “Them Boys.” Johnny murmured, “To think of them reared in a palace of Westmount, such a fine place as never I did see, and now sleepin’ in the mud, and eatin’ poor food and doing harder work than any farm labourer, it makes me just sick to think on it.” At around 1 o’clock we left, escorted by the whole gang, right up to the boat.
The event of the week was the visit of Balfour. Big banquet at the Windsor, followed by the convocation at McGill, where he and his colleagues, Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, ambassador in Washington, Lieutenant General Bridges, and Rear Admiral Sir Dudley de Chair, received various university awards. Balfour concluded the ceremony with a good speech. But the best was his warm smile, the purity of his accent, and his pleasant voice.
Here I am at the end of my news, and my paper, which leaves me to hug all of you and to recommend that you hurry up to conclude this war, as it seems that everyone is fed up with it! So as to not lose your new talents, you will be able to dig some beautiful trenches in the potato field, if you can finish your job before autumn!
Very affectionately,
Blanche
My dear brothers,
I promised you in my last letter that I would tell you a little more about my boat. I started it on 10 May, and now all that needs to be done is to paint it and install the motor. It is really classy, and certainly far better than a rowboat. I’m thinking of painting the bottom green, the sides white, grey on the floorboards, and varnish the rest. I should finish this week, as I will be starting my exams. I hope to send it as soon as possible to 16 Island Lake, where I’m sure it’s going to be a big hit.
Jacques
Les Colombettes, 17 June 1917
My dear boys,
Little by little, either with the Scouts or his friends, Jacques is becoming a leader. They admire his initiative, and come to help him with his boat. He has gained a little reputation at target shooting, and in a couple of days, apparently, the Star will publish his picture holding the trophy. I would never have thought that one of my sons would appear in a paper’s sporting page!
Etienne continues in his spare time to write to us some very interesting descriptions of his life in the hospital. If after his pleasant and restful stay at the hospital, and if he is still lucky enough to have a leave in Canada, he would be amongst the most privileged soldiers of this war. I’m sure that each one of you would be delighted to be in his place. It is comforting that you are all quite happy that he had this opportunity granted to him. Camille mentions too briefly in a postcard the ceremony when he was decorated with the “Croix de Guerre,” we congratulate him sincerely and would like to have the text of the day’s events.
Blanche
1 July 1917
Dear brothers,
If I didn’t write to you last Sunday, it was because I was in Hudson at the Ladouceurs. I had a very good time, and I accomplished one of my dreams: to operate a car. I drove their McLaughlin 6 fifteen miles!
I was invited twice to Mrs. Logan’s, with some Italian sailors. One time we were ten, of which some spoke English, some French, and some Italian. These sailors came to Montreal to help finish the construction of two submarines at Vickers, and when finished they will sail them to Italy.
I am sitting on the veranda near the boat, which is almost ready to go to 16 Island Lake. The motor is in its place and was easier to install and adjust than I had thought. We baptized it Friday, and the guests were the two Days and the two Ropers. A cream supper and then the “GREAT CEREMONY” ... so “baby” was decorated with flowers and drapes, and the godmother smashed a ginger-ale bottle against the nose, while the parrot on the other side of the lake accompanied with his whistling. There were speeches, and toasts, but the best is its name, “VIMY,” in your honour.
Jacques
Westmount, 1 July 1917
Dear boys,
This first of July, as inscribed here above, reminds me of the one three years ago. Etienne had come to join me on the evening of the 30th. The air was stormy, politically speaking. Two days before, the archduke, the future ruler of Austria, had been assassinated in Sarajevo, and the next day the well-informed Montreal papers said that this could lead to a European war. They weren’t wrong!
This week we have been pleased to see once again the writing of Philippe and André. Our friend Camille, who also writes to us, finds that those that are sent to the hospital are for the most part lucky. Philippe couldn’t tell us much, but we have been pleased to see that his writing is as strong as his character. Dear fighters, we surround you with affection and prayers. That our God supports your courage and gives you that self-assurance, that he loves you and that you will always have a refuge next to him. As Dr Symonds said the other day, we are in an era where often it’s the sons that set the example. Please continue to give it to us, and do us good through your endurance and your bravery.
And now, goodbye ... the value of the mark is declining, if only that could be a real sign of decline!
Charles
