Dearest Folks,

Received Ada’s very welcome letter when I came out of the line and to say I was delighted to get it would be putting it mild as it has been quite a while since Jim or I heard from over yonder.

Cliff has been here often and we see him two or three times a day. He looks fine but is a little thinner than when he left home. He says his leg never bothers him at all which is good as this is no place for a sick man. Both Jim and I are enjoying the best of health as usual. Neither of us has had a day off since we hit France. Jim has gone up to the school to see the rest of the boys that we came over with and is not back yet.

Well Mother, we have been into it right up to the eyes but can’t say that I enjoy it. However, I am not so scared as I thought I would be. It sure was some initiation, believe me, as we went over the top the first night we were ever in the trenches.

Well, Jim has just got back from the school and as Cliff is already here, I think I’ll close for awhile and finish this letter later as they want me to come out with them.

Well here I am again and I’ll try to finish this as I am on fatigue this morning and got dismissed a little earlier than expected. We are all out on a six-day rest before we go back in the trenches again. Some life up there, believe me. And some excitement although no worse than I thought it would be.

All the Boissevain boys are fine that I’ve seen so far but have kind of lost their enthusiasm about getting up the line.

Well, we’ve been in the line and over the top in the biggest raid ever pulled off in this part of the line, so you see we have seen something already.

I remain always, your loving son and brother,

Fred