Letters from France

Letters from France, by Isaac
Alexander Mack

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Title: Letters from France
Author: Isaac Alexander Mack
Release Date: October 10, 2006 [EBook #19521]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FROM FRANCE ***

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in the | | original document has been preserved. The style used by the | |
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LETTERS FROM FRANCE
WRITTEN BY
ISAAC ALEXANDER MACK THE YOUNGER
LIEUTENANT OF THE 11TH SUFFOLK REGIMENT
AND LATER
CAPTAIN OF THE 101ST TRENCH MORTAR BATTERY
PRIVATELY PRINTED

LETTERS FROM FRANCE.
11TH SUFFOLKS, B.E.F., Monday, January 10th, 1916.
My darling Mother,--
This will probably be a long letter; I hope you will not get bored with it.
Please keep this letter and any that follow it, so that at the end of the
war I may perhaps achieve fame as the author of "Drivellings of a
young Officer at the Front." As I have not got used to the routine out
here I will describe all the last few days as they strike me, because
probably, when I have been out here a little, everything will become
such a matter of course that it will be difficult to give you any idea of
what our life is like unless I begin with a good chapter one.

CHAPTER I.
"The young soldier's last day in England."
The last day or two was rather a rush. Thursday we frantically packed
valises and vainly attempted to reduce them to something near the
regulation 35lbs. At first one put in a wardrobe fit for Darius going to
conquer Greece, which, when put on the scale, gaily passed its
maximum of 55 pounds. Then out came slacks, shoes, scarves, all sorts
of things. The weighing was then repeated and further reductions
embarked upon, the final result being about 45 lbs. However, we
packed them up tight and they all passed all right. Friday was an awful
day spent in full marching field service order, inspections, and rumours
of absurd Divisional and Brigade operations, which were to take place
at night, although we were to rise at 4 a.m. to march to the station.
However, the operations were only for Company Commanders, and so
we were saved.
In the afternoon we bought all the things we thought we had forgotten.
As everything was packed up a group of half-a-dozen of us assembled
round the anti-room fire to attempt to obtain a little sleep. I had a chair
and a great coat to go over me. The others slept on the floor with table
clothes and such like things. We kept a huge fire burning all night, and,
unfortunately, instead of going to sleep one could not help looking into
its red depths and seeing the pictures of men and horses you always see
in fires. Personally, I did not sleep at all, only rested and dozed. At 3-0
a.m. a man came in and announced in a stentorian voice, "The Corporal
of the Guards' compliments to Captain Seddon, and it is 3 o'clock."
Appreciation of the fact from Captain Seddon, who had been sleeping,
in unprintable language which finally resolved itself in a complaint that
he had not been introduced to the Corporal of the Guard and he failed
to see why he should bear him a grudge.
At 3-30 we got up, 4-0 a hasty breakfast, 4-45 I began to go to the lines
to fall in, 4-46 I came back for my glasses, 4-48 I return for my identity
disc, 4-50 I return again for my day's rations, 5-0 I fall in a quarter of
an hour late.

At 5-15 we march off in the dark saying good-bye to those that remain
behind, and realising that at last our many months of training are over,
and we are soldiers at last, proud of the fact and beginning to be proud
of ourselves as we march