Usual address
May 5th 18
Dear Mother & Dad
I am please to say I am still in the ‘Pink’. I have not heard from you since I wrote last. We have been expecting a mail up everyday. I shall be glad when it turns up. We are still in the line. Edgar is quite well. I saw him this morning & we had a little yarn together. We had rather a rough time this morning. After the stand to arms this morning which was from 3:15 am till 4:30am we turned in for what we thought two hour ‘kip’. We had been turned in for about an half an hour when it began to rain like cats & dogs. My booby was backed to a rock & the rain simply rolled down the rocks & into the booby. All our blankets etc got wet. Our ‘kip’ was finished then. When the rain stopped we set to & made another booby in a better position & now we are once more comfy. I hope it will prove to be waterproof when we get the next shower. It is Sunday today & of course the rain stopped the church parade. We were to have played but it was washed out. Dear Mother & Dad I hope this will find you in the best of health. I daresay you are getting fairly decent weather now. Does Dad walk to his work of a morning. I bet things look nice around Ealing now. I am rather pally with a chap who was Bert Warren’s mate. Bert is getting on alright in Blighty. I saw a photo of him & he looks well. This chap knows a little bit about Ealing as he is interested in someone there. We have have several nice talks together & he was please to see the views of Ealing you sent me. He knows more of Ealing than I do. Do you think you could get a book on Ealing with a map or even a map would do. I don’t want to trouble you too much but if you ask your newsagent he may be able to oblige. Two limbers have just arrived with five thousand oranges so the boys will feed themselves today. I am enclosing a letter for Fred also one for Renie so please forward them. I think I have said all for now so I will close with Best love. May God bless you.
I remain
Your Everloving Son
Lionel
x x x x x x x x x x x
Usual address
May 11th 18
Dear Mother & Dad
I have just received your letter of April 9th also packet of books. So sorry you had not heard from me for three weeks. It was read out to us a few nights ago the the mails leaving here between Mar 19th & April 3rd had been sunk but a few of the letters had been saved & forwarded on. I suppose my letters were unlucky. Well I hope you have received quite a lot of letters from me by now. I also had a letter from Renie this mail & two or three packets of papers & books but I have not received one from Nellie. I daresay there will be a few odds & ends up tomorrow. It has been about a fortnight between the mails this time. I am so glad you are both in the best of health & I hope this will find you quite as well. I am getting on A.1. It has been a trifle too hot this last day or two to be comfortable. I can tell you we welcome sunset. I saw Edgar this morning & he is quite well. He has not heard from home for the last two mail. He has only received a packet of books in a month. Harry is on leave in Cairo. He did not go last year. I was please to know Arthur had won the D.C.M. I hope Leon’s wound is not serious. It is Sunday today. We haven’t had a church parade yet. Very likely they will have it in the close of the evening. We are still in the line. Dear Mother & Dad the ‘drums’ are still going on alright. We get as much practise as we can when we are in the line. I am not doing any trench duties or patrols but I am attached the H.Q. Company & I only do fatigues now & again & practise when I can. I can tell you I am on a good thing. I was please to I get Fred’s letter. What a blessing he is out of all the fighting. I will write to Fred in a day or two. Dear Mother thank you very much the novel you sent. I don’t like to find fault but I would rather you sent me a book with out so much love in it. Ask your agent
(Rest of letter is missing)
Usual address
May 19th 18
Dear Mother & Dad
I have not heard from you since I wrote last. The mails have been awful just lately. I should like to know the reason. Well dear Mother I hope you are having a fairly good time today. It is your birthday. How I should have liked to have been able to have woke up this morning & wished you the old wish. I was awakened this morning by someone tugging my leg nearly off & yelling “Stand to, Stand to” at the unearthly hour of 3:15am. No Sunday morning lay in when we are in the line. We had a Church Service & the ‘Drums’ attended. We played 3 Whitsun hymns & the hymn for absent friends (Holy Father in the Mercy). It is the first time we have played at a service (other Sundays it had rained) & we played very good in my idea we have been having some grand weather this past week. It rained a little after ‘Stand to’ this morning & I thought we were in for another wet Sunday. Dear Mother & Dad I hope this will find you both quite well. I am still jogging along A.1. I saw Edgar last night when he came up with the rations & he was quite well. We are expecting to be relieved from the line very shortly. I hope Fred is getting on alright & still at the Base. I had a letter from George Oliver the other day. He his still at Cairo. He is a sergeant now. He wrote to me from Hospital. His health was never very great. The last news I heard of Bert Warren was that his hand had gone wrong & that he was attending a Military Hospital twice a week with it. Harry is not back from leave yet. Edgar expects to go in a week or two. I don’t suppose I shall go till late in the year as it is only 10 months since I had leave. We get pestered with a lot of flies here. I am writing this outside my booby in the sun as there are so many flies inside. My face, arms & knees have got quite brown again. This summer clothing is very comfortable. I do not know what we would do if we had to wear serge. I suppose you are getting some fine weather in Blighty now. I daresay you will be both going for a nice walk this evening. I think I will spend the evening (that’s if things are quiet) with Claude & Harry Warren. They are not very far from here (on the next hill). Well dear Mother & Dad I must draw this letter to a close. I will write as soon as we get settled again. Please give my kind regards to Mrs Middleton, Mrs Tucker & Mrs Ambrose. Ta Ta. Best love & May God bless you both.
I remain
Your Everloving Son
Lionel
x x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x x
Usual address
May 26th 18
Dear Mother & Dad
I received your very nice letter of the 7th inst also the beautiful wallet & a packet of books quite safe. The wallet is a very nice thing indeed. Do you remember the wallet I brought at St Albans at Boots Stores, well I have still got it & it is still in good condition. I have put the photograph of you both & Fred in one side of the new one & the latest photograph of Nellie in the other. Thank you very very much indeed for it. I am please to say I am still keeping in the ‘Pink’. I saw Edgar last evening & he is still in the best. Edgar had some news from home. Perhaps you have heard it. Alf is getting married next month & Rose in August. One of Edgar’s cousins in prisoner of war. Yes I was issued out with a new helmet & shorts. The weather is nice & bright. We have got another pest now & they are mosquitoes. I am stung nearly all over. So glad you have not been plagued the ‘Bang Boys’ so much & that the queue business is all over. Thanks very much for putting my money in the ‘War Loan’. I think it is just as good there as elsewhere. As you say the ‘Anglo’ have been good in fact they are real ‘trumps’. The cake was quite good that they sent & no wonder for it was in a tin. The trench fires are a concern the ‘Anglo’ have invested for boiling water etc. You brought me something of the same thing when I was at St Albans. Dear Mother & Dad I did not know till this letter that Fred was classified B.2. So glad he writes fairly often, I received a letter from Renie & I was ever so pleased to know Auntie could manage to sit up even if it was only for a half an hour or so. Now I will tell you a little of how I am getting on in the Drums. We do three hours practice in the morning & I can tell you I quite enjoy it. We do a little bit of tooting on our own in the boobies & clean up for the C.C.s parade at 5:30pm. We play whilst the boys are having their evening meal. We usual give a mixture if we can. This evening we are beginning with a march than a song march, Irish jigs, march & finish up with the Regimental march & the ‘King’. This programme lasts a little over a half an hour. We are hard up for some up to date music but out here it does not matter much. When Edgar goes to Cairo I am giving him the money to buy a mandolin. Last evening we had a bit of a sing-song. The transport brought a piano up form a Y.M.C.A. It was a fairly good turn out. I think most of us were more interested in a bombardment that was in progress than the concert. Well dear Mother & Dad I think I am at the end of my letter again so I will draw the scribble to a close. I hope this will find you both in the best of health. Au Revoir. Best love & May God bless you.
I remain
Your Everloving Son
Lionel
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
P.S. Sorry I forgot to mention the pretty card you sent. Thank you very much for it. LFK