Douglas Vernon Chapman 1918

Dear Dad, 

 Went to see Doug today and found he was looking quite well, the shrapnel has all been removed from his wounds and his leg and arm are much better. He has a large wound in his back about 3 inches square and fairly deep. He had a lucky escape as it only missed his spine by a quarter of an inch. It seems to be healing up slowly, but it will be about a month before he is able to sit up. Doug was hit in the back and taken to hospital in Belgium  -- the hospital was bombed and he was moved to another one,  after that he was taken on ambulance to Dunkirk.  The ambulance was then bombed and he was hit in the leg, when it caught fire he managed to roll to the door and fall out, all the others were killed either by bombs or burns. He managed to reach Dunkirk but had to wait some time before he was taken off.  When a boat came he had to struggle out to it the best way he could as there was no one able to help him.  The German planes were terrible, they came over in relays at minute intervals, dropped their bombs and machine gunned everyone in sight.  While on the way to the boat he had to keep dropping flat to avoid being hit. They never saw a single British plane at Dunkirk at all. Thousands of women and children were bombed and gunned by the planes and the streets were piled high with dead refugees.  

The men he was in charge of were all killed by the same bomb which wounded Doug.  His water bottle and rifle were blown to pieces. 

Doug cannot get it out of his head. The doctor said that whenever the men hear a plane over the hospital they are all scared stiff.  Doug is writing to you so I'll close now.  Love to all,

Pete