May 16, 1916
Dear Amy,
I got a letter from you on March 16 and it’s very newsy.
Did Lionel Kennedy get married to evade compulsory military service or just to pass the time away?
Fancy Ock being so handy! It all comes from when he used to drive nails into the capping block in the smithy. I often miss a good kit of tools. When we were in Turkey I collected and made a few tools for muddling about with. I would get a good bit of amusement out of collecting brass and aluminium nose caps off the shells. I made a ring for a finger last week in the trenches from the driving band of a German shell and will send it to youth some curios when I get the chance, We came out of the firing line last evening after ten days. It was our fourth shift and we are getting used to the different warfare. There is more shelling than we got against us in Turkey but being able to back clean out of it for as long as we have is great. We get cleaned up and rested. We have to sleep in our fighting gear when in the trenches and get pretty dirty and anything but comfortable. We can take our clothes off during the day and get a wash.
We are getting leave and a pass to England next week and I am looking forward to it. There are not a great many of the original battalion left now and the old hands are getting leave. 80% were lost in the first week in Turkey.
The weather is warming up nicely. The crops have grown about a foot since we came.
The country is very pretty.
Love to all, Stid
