Enlistment

To my beloved wife and children,

It has been a while since I've last talked to all of you. But we have been given the permission to start writing back home. I hope you guys are doing very well back home and I'm sure that your mother is doing a well decent job, like always. Tommy, I am hoping you're doing all of your homework and looking after your little sister and your mother as well. You are the man of the house now.

The troops first started in Valcartier, Quebec, training for our first battle. It went well but sure enough it was pretty tough. I feel bad for leaving all of you but I as you all already know, I wanted to make this family and as well our country proud. You all know I am a very strong and healthy grown man so you know I am capable of taking caring of myself and you all don't have to worry. I was first recruited and was trained for the army's overseas service by a man named Sir Sam Hughes. While training, there were rumours of us going to the trenches. At first I thought it was just a joke, but it wasn't.

If you guys are struggling with money, I have left a bundle of cash into our secret shoe box under mother and I's bed. Make sure you hide it properly and securely and only use the money I gave you for groceries and emergencies. Have I mention about my uniform? I paid $150 it and so far it's doing a pretty good job. Although it may not be the most comfiest thing, it will do. It takes quite a while to put that thing on but I think i've got the hang of it now. I am getting fed very well here. It may not be the kind of meals that your mother makes but its do-able. My meals always consist of one pound of meat, bacon, a lot of fish, and the government provides us sausages! The troops and myself are as well provided at least one pound of bread everyday with the casual tea or coffee. The  bread here is not the same as the one we have at home. Before I eat the bread I actually have to soak it in water to defrost it. It may not be the greatest bread in the world but at least I can eat it. Oh, and you can't forget about our vegetables! It is what keeps me going every day, so Tommy ... listen to your mother and eat your brussels sprouts!

I'll keep you guys posted soon about my duration here in war, take care. 

Propaganda

To my journal,

The propaganda really influenced me into joining this war. If there wasn't any huge billboards and posters hanging around my hometown i probably wouldn't even be here. I don't know if i should think of the propaganda being a bad thing though. Without it, i wouldn't have been here and fighting for my countries independence. some of the posters, newspapers and media that really caught my attention would have to be these ones right here ....

these posters around town really got to me because it made me feel like if i stayed home and did nothing while all these men were off fighting, it would make me feel useless. The second poster was the one that got to me the most because I wanted to be a man with a purpose, not one who just sat around waiting for the war to end while all these other guys got respect and i didn't. Another thing that influenced me into joining the canadian force were the newspapers. Every morning, back at my home town i would wake up, pour myself a cup of coffee and read the newspaper. One morning i read two articles with the headlines "the pros of being a soldier" and as well "innocent Belgium civilian child's hand cut off by the Germans". I put those two together and i thought maybe i could have been the soldier who would've saved that child's life if i joined! No innocent child deserves to be harmed during this war, THIS article about the child was the one that completely influenced me into going into the war and teach the enemy a lesson!

Life in the front lines

To my beloved wife and children,

My experience here in the trenches is nothing like being at home, for sure. It's crazy being here, when i signed up for this i would not expect the front lines being like this. There are so many rats crawling on me and my men and especially the dead corpses around here. The rats feed off the dead bodies and whenever i wake up the first thing i see is a rat or two just crawling up and around my uniform. When i come home to you guys i will make sure i'll bring one home for you Tommy! I'm just kidding. Considering how dirty we are, we get some complaints on how some of the men have lice on them. We call them "itch-coos." Because of the lice we usually tend to keep shaving our heads so the lice won't lay their eggs in our hair. Not only do they lay their eggs in our hair but as well on our clothing. The itchie-coos like to lay the eggs on the seam of our clothing so every night before bed or every time we have free time we search our clothing for them. The trenches are way too overcrowded, there are so many people crammed up into one area so it's really hard to fall asleep while everyone is snuggled up with each other.

Our shifts here are pretty well organized. Me and some of the other different positioned troops exchange places every forty-right hours. Than after a hard four days of being in the trenches we all retire for four days and rest. While we all rest up for the four days we have, fresh new troops take our spots as we move out. Than after we are all fully rested up we return back to the trenches.

So far, being here has been an emotional roller coaster. i am missing everyone back at home and it always feels like i may not even make it past another day. But my soldiers here make me feel a lot better. They're like my family and all i have right now. It's really hard to see some not make another day after being so close with them. But i am lucky to have live another day and be writing to you  guys as i am right now, and i'll be coming home soon!

Weapons

To my beloved wife and children,

... this is mostly towards Tommy

Hey Tommy i know you will be the one more interested in reading this letter, because back home you've been always asking me to tell you about the kinds of guns and weapons that i will be using.

The first weapon i was ever given to was the Lewis MK. It's a very light gun, automatic and super easy to use. It's actually a light machine gun. The advantage of this gun is it's portability and super easy to carry around. The disadvantages of having this gun is it's relative weakness of the mechanism, and it as well stops working when it gets the slightest dirt on it, which is practically impossible to not get it dirty considering were in mud the entire time. This is what the gun looks like ...

 

Another machine gun i used was the Vickers 203-inch. This one was just the standard machine gun. It is a very sturdy and trustworthy gun. I had a lot of good luck with this bad boy and is known to "mow down men like wheat." the Vicker always stopped the enemies from going through no man's land. It's super heavy so i usually mounted it on a tripod. Here are some of my men using the Vicker!

A super dangerous weapon used by the enemy was the gas attacks. It's not so much of a weapon but actually more of a death trap. Our code word for it is called "creeping death." The first time it was EVER used was on April 22, 1915. It was a day i could not forget. It was during the Battle of Ypres. Many of my men died and fell to the ground heaving. I laid helpless and buried myself in everything i could find, I could taste the chlorine in my lungs, it felt like i was drowning in the big puffy gas that was surrounding all of us. I was than knocked unconscious. When i woke up, i was in the hospital bed. There were periods of times where i felt nauseous and thought i was going to puke out all my insides. It took me a few days to recover. Some of my men had half of their faces burnt up and a lot were unfortunate and died. I was quite fortunate and was able to live through the poison gas.

This is what creeping death looked like, and here are some men with their gas masks on.

Trench warfare

To my beloved wife and children,

There is a lot of things that happen in the trenches. Things you wouldn't even imagine or even think of. It rains a lot here, thats for sure so the ground we sleep in is always so damp and muddy. Yeah, not the best sleeping conditions either. I've gotten a cold on and off at times, but that won't slow me down. Me and my troops always have to be on our feet in case enemies are trying to trespass, so instead of usually sleeping on the ground we're usually sleeping crouched behind our refiles in our soaking wet uniforms. If i could take off my uniform and leave it out to dry, i would. But thats impossible. If the rain is too much, which it usually is the mud usually comes above our knees. There is SO much debris around us, its literally impossible to find a clean place to stop and rest. There are dead bodies being carried around and buried in mud, bits of trees, guns from dead soldiers and the gun's shells. It's never ever warm here, neither is it clean. It's really hard to watch my troop's dead bodies just laying there and hear the cries of dying men. I wish i could give my men proper burials or just push them to the side, but theres nothing i can do about it because its not safe enough to do that. The smell of blood and decaying corpses is agonizing, the smell never goes away! You couldn't even imagine what it is like in these trenches. I thought i wouldn't even last one day in here, but you really get used to it when you spend so many hours here while you sleep, eat and fight here. Something that i've really gotten used to is learning the sounds of each gunfires and explosives that come our way, studying these sounds have saved my life. Something that has also saved my life numerous of times is my hard helmet that i wear twenty four seven! You never know when that thing is handy until you've had dropping explosives come down at you. Being at the trenches is nothing compared to anything i have experienced. It is the longest forty eight hours of my life!

The first picture shows how REALLY mud the ground is and how its impossible to sleep on the ground at times. The second one is usually how i'm positioned at times when i want to have a rested positioned. I'm usually positioned behind my rifles. The third picture is how me and my men slept most of the time, crowded and always near each other.

 

Prisoner of war

To my beloved wife and children,

I never got to see daylight in the battlefield until i was a prisoner. I was sent to the Prisoner of War Camp in Germany, right near Berlin. I performed labour both inside and outside of the camp. I was pretty well treated but i had small portions of food a day. The camp was short in supply and often didn't have enough food to feed all of us men. I was usually just fed black bread and soup when i didn't depend on you guys to send me out supplies, food and money. But it's alright, the portions were enough to keep me satisfied. When we first arrived, they gave us a prisoner uniform and was assigned a partner. A partner who has already been a prisoner far longer than i have. We shared parcels. He was a nice man. His name was Robert, he had as well had a daughter! About one year older than Tommy though. We bonded a lot but he was able to leave earlier than i did. So when he left, fresh new troops came in and now were paired up with me once Robert left. To keep us occupied we had a lot of entertainment! There were concerts, orchestras, plays and sports! I spent quite a while there but after, the camp was visited by canadian officers when the armistice took place. They arranged transportation for men to come back home.

Here are some of us at camp ...

This is some of my camp buddies in soccer and in plays!

Battles

To my beloved wife and children,

The very first battle me and my troops contributed in was the battle of Ypres. We moved out to West Belgium, and fought hard for a very long month. Seemed like i wouldn't survive this one, and i was thinking to myself why i would ever put myself in this position. I wanted to flee countless amounts of times and come home. This was the battle where i first experienced the trenches. We were doing very well for the first few weeks until we got hit by a big puffy smoke that was heavier than air. It was heading towards us and it immediately dropped into the trenches. I thought the whole world was coming to an end because of our fighting. So many men laid still on the ground, some heaving and others running away from the heavy smoke. Some of us were lucky enough to survive it, but since a lot of my men died we got a lot of fresh new troops who came in. The French troops were forced to flee, so they opened up a gap. Since the German's didn't have enough protection through their own creation of the poison gas they didn't retreat after us right away which gave us enough time to fight through the night closing the gap that the French troops made. On the first night, we had a plan to attack the German's out of the woods near St. Juliens. As we fought, that night resulted in so many causalities but it bought us more time to close the gap. This day was the first time us canadians really pushed back a major European power. By the time we came back, we were told great things. We were told that because of our victory and hard work, when we come home we will gain the respect and the start of independence because of us soldiers. It was the greatest thing i was ever told. Because of me, our country will have independence!

During this battle, i met a very inspirational man, a medical officer and a gunner who volunteered to be in this battle. He was a very well spoken poet. He was in the trenches, babbling about a close friend of him who had passed away from this battle. He named the poem Flanders Field. It was such a beautiful speech, it brought tears to some men's eyes. I hope one day he gets to share his poem to his kids, wife and friends back home. Here are some pictures of us in the trenches

 

When it got time for the second battle, the battle of the Somme, we had so much confidence! We were than moved out to West France. This battle was one year after the battle of Ypres. It lasted about four - five months. This battle was like hell on surface. So many men were injured and dead. We were walking on dead soldiers where ever we moved. This battle was planned by the British and French troops, i was told that the purpose of the battle was to break through the German's lines and "end stalemate" that existed in the trenches from the previous battles. I didn't think they're plan was very strategic, the German's are quite smart and they were ready for anything that came their way. One morning, more than 100,000 British troops came out of their trenches and entered through no man's land, staggered and carrying their seventy pound equipment on their backs. It looked like a suicidal attempt to me. Since they were all out in the open, it made them easy targets for the German to fire at them. And that they did, only about 80,000 of those soldiers came back. Majority of them injured. It was than our turn to fight. We were told to capture a village in the Somme Valley that the German's occupied. This as well, turned out to be a very suicidal attempt for all us Canadians who participated. We were so ill prepared but actually managed to capture the small village. I was lucky enough to just get a scratch from that battle. So many have died and risked their lives during this fight. It was the bloodiest battle i have ever witnessed. More than 24,000 of my men were either wounded or dead because of that plan. It is unbearable to think of how many men died during this battle. And ninety percent of the casualties was just in one day.

A year later, after The Somme we moved up to Northern France, Vimy Ridge. This battle only lasted for about three days and began on Easter Monday. It took months of preparation by building tunnels, trenches, tramways and roads. The attack began right away, just at the crack of dawn during Easter Monday. All four Canadian division went out to war. Me and my troops were commanded to take the crest of Vimy ridge during the afternoon. Three days later, by the end of the battle we took Hill 145, the highest feature on the ridge. We also were commanded to take the "pimple," a large hill on the northern end of Vimy Ridge. It was a bloody battle. I was wounded in the leg but was lucky it was only a flesh wound. It was hard for me to carry on but i kept going. I am alright now, but a lot of my close friends have died by my side and majority of us wounded. All of our sacrifices finally paid off, for we won this battle and our huge contribution symbolized our official recognition of our now independent country!

After our successful battle at Vimy Ridge we had a few months to rest up. Me and my troops were completely ready to take up Belgium, which is near Ypres. By the time we got to Passchendale, there were tension, and arguments over what strategic plan we were going to take. The rain was super heavy and there was a lot of mud. This contributed to our really bad trench foot. We were forced to attack a seemingly impossible position. Me and my troops began a series of attacks by the time it was October 26th. We tried so hard to gain just seven kilometres of muddy ground, by the time we had it reinforcements arrived and the village of Passchendale was taken. There were over 15, 000 of my men dead and wounded. Because of the amount of injuries we had back from Vimy Ridge some of my men were still weak but majority of us were already recovered. 

These battles contains a lot of stories and memories of what me and my men share. When i get back i hope our hard work will significantly contribute to our home countries autonomy and independence. 

Here are some pictures i dug out while being at the battles.

... this shows how muddy it was during the battle of Passchendaele

 

Here are some of the tanks that were introduced in the battle of the some (not very successful) 

Meeting Arthur currie

To my beloved wife and children, 

Arthur Currie is a legend. He wasn't very popular with us soldiers but he never gave up on us. He led the Canadian corps starting in June 1917. He prepared us and made us ready for the all our battles. Because of him we wouldn't have had all of our success in these battles. I don't think there would ever be a person who could've replaced him. He was a perfect leader to us and had faith in us. It's such an honour to even know him and be able to have worked with him. I know in the future he will be a legend and he will go down in history. He studied us and got to know us. He knew how to relate to us and always taught us better ways in how to improve. Mr. Currie would see what we would be doing wrong in previous battles, take that information and teach us from it. His strategies were always helpful. Even after these battles, and how people are accusing him and bugging him about facts that aren't true, i will always take his side. It was an honour to be working with you Sir Arthur Currie! And may your legend live on.

Women's role

To my beloved wife and children,

I have met many women in the many places i visited. I've got to known a lot of their stories and they have inspired me to keep going forward into this war. Don't worry, i didn't meet anyone as special as you. At first when i saw some women handling our equipment and in the camps we were training in, i didn't think they were capable of being in this type of zone. They really proved a lot of us wrong. Some men were mean and said negative things to some of the women who were around us but i believed in them to get things done around the place. And they sure did. They were tough and took care of us, like how any of our wives would be to us. A lot of the women worked as nurses, they were gentle and kind to the men they had to bandage up due to their severe wounds. They talked to us and ensured we were going to be okay. The women of world war one made us feel at home. Another job that women had to do here were to make our weapons! I thought this was pretty neat and really hard to believe. Women making weapons? I thought i would never see the day, i don't even know how to make weapons! There were women everywhere, they worked so hard and proved themselves very well to be capable of working the same jobs we did. If you didn't know, the women who worked and were involved in this war now get to vote! Who would've thought. Next thing you know, you'll be able to vote! What a change it has been ever since the war.

The second picture involves the women producing airplane engine parts

Survivors

To my soldiers,

Life after the war has been going as well as I planned. I am now with my beautiful wife and children. Everyone in my neighborhood knows my name and whereever I go people salute me. I feel honored to wear this uniform and I hope all is well with everyone who has survived. I am now currently trying to forget and forgive what has happened from the time being of us being in the war. It's hard to think what we have been through all these years and how much time we all spent together. I figured all my injuries I have gotten became even worse. My leg started to swell and my foot grew fungus from the trench foot. I guess I didn't apply enough whale oil. But I went to see the doctor because of my irratated leg and the doctors told me they  would need to do operations on me. The worst case scenario would have to be my leg being cut off. But it could be worse and I'm thankful to still even be living. I have been promised a guarantee pension of class III because of my leg, I guess that's the advantage of having my leg removed! But I  am now happy as ever and glad I met such wonderful men during this war. All of you men will always be my brothers and I hope all is well with everyone. Please continue to write back to me as for I will with you

    Sincerely,

William McWilliams