Life in the Trenches

February 13 1916

Dearest Ada,

You may hear stories and rumours about life in the trenches, but I want to give you the truth, first hand.

It’s an experience like no other. Many a day we spend huddled in our trenches or shell holes, braving not only the cold and rain but the rats, lice, and potato mashers and whiz bangs that drop all around us, not to mention the utter exhaustion we face from lack of sleep. The rats are monstrously huge, bloated from the leftover scraps they pick up from soldiers; the lice are a massive problem, just recently being identified as the source of constant headaches, fevers, and muscle pain, a condition known as Trench Fever. I myself have experienced this wretchedness, but I won’t bother you too much with the details. Another condition is trench foot. In severe cases, trench foot can lead to amputation. Although all this is misery, the worst part is the long hours of boredom we are forced to endure.  It is during these spans of nothing to do that I am able to write to you. However, we mustn’t get too relaxed, as any minute now a sniper could take me down and I’d become part of the wastage.

My life here has fallen into a steady routine and I often wonder what life is like for you at home. At dawn, when I awake to stand-to and have to guard the front-line trenches, gather for inspection, and get my breakfast and rum ration, what are you doing? During the day, when I am underground busy fixing duckboards and sandbags, or even cleaning the lavatories, what are you doing? And at night, the most dangerous time of all, when we climb out from our trenches and creep into No Man’s Land, what are you doing?

But, despite all the casualties and hardships of living in trenches, it isn’t all bad. We’ve got our ways of expressing our thoughts publicly and entertaining ourselves. My personal favourites are the Dead Horse Corner Gazette and The Listening Post. Published by the Fourth and Seventh Battalions, these newspapers, with their cartoons, jokes, and poetry are the only thing we have left of humour in this war. Enclosed in this letter is a clipping from The Listening Post. We also sing songs and make up our own variations to popular ones such as It’s a Long, Long Way to Tipperary. There’s still hope yet. 

Take care,

Grant

 

“’Don’t Pull the Little Glass Ball.’” Cartoon. The Listening Post 1 Dec. 1917, no.29 ed.: 32. Web. 27 Nov. 2010. <http://www.warmuseum.ca/‌cwm/‌exhibitions/‌guerre/‌photo-e.aspx?PageId=2.C.2.b&photo=3.C.3.ae&f=%2fcwm%2fexhibitions%2fguerre%2ftrench-newspapers-e.aspx>.

“Rats, Lice, and Exhaustion.” Canadian War Museum. Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.warmuseum.ca/‌cwm/‌exhibitions/‌guerre/‌rats-lice-exhaustion-e.aspx>.

Repairing Trenches. N.d. George Metcalf Archival Collection . Canadian War Museum. Web. 28 Nov. 2010. <http://www.warmuseum.ca/‌cwm/‌exhibitions/‌guerre/‌photo-e.aspx?PageId=2.C.1.b&photo=3.E.3.an&f=%2fcwm%2fexhibitions%2fguerre%2fdaily-routine-e.aspx&p=1>.

“Trench Newspapers.” Canadian War Museum. Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. <http://www.warmuseum.ca/‌cwm/‌exhibitions/‌guerre/‌trench-newspapers-e.aspx>.