Anzac Letter

The Trenches

Gallipoli

4th April 1915

Dear my loving wife and daughter,

             I miss you dreadfully, I wish I could be with you now but that is very unlikely. I have made a friend named Joe, he is the nicest person I’ve ever met.

There are bombs filling the endless sky like mushroom clouds. It is very chaotic, there is blood of innocent people everywhere and random fluorescent flashes of fire. It is like a nightmare come true.

None of us sleep at night, our trenches are fit for pigs. There are sounds of rats and constant crying. The bombs are ear-splitting and the bullets are like a frenzy of furious flies buzzing all around you at once. Every so often there are shrieks of pain or squeals, or even a hero’s last breath.

I feel hurt, not just physically but emotionally. Why is this happening in the first place. All this blood and death, for what? We are all scared, it is very cold at night. We have heavy, camouflage gear on, but the trenches are thick with mud. I worry every night about this mess and what it’s doing for our country. I’m exhausted, dehydrated and by far, homesick. I wish I could write to you more than once every month, but I know the supplies are limited and I’m in a different, foreign country like a rat in a bunch of mice. I miss a worry about you more everyday.

Love ………. xxxooo