A TRAGIC LETTER.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 251, 1 April 1915, Page 6

A TRAGIC LETTER.

WHAT ONE SHELL DID. Nothing .perhaps couid illustrate . tetter the vicissitudes of the soliiwr's life at the front, and the terrib:<; havoc which one well-placed shell can effect, than the following two letters, written by a non-commissioned officer with' the Ist Army to his wife in England, and published in an English exchange. The second letter is dated only three days later than the first:—

"January 23, Somewhere,

"My Dear, —Your cake, paper?, and letters arrived to-day. The cake was just lovely. The sergeant-major C , V , H , and F , and myself did full justice to our patisserie. As there was only a "sigh" left, I leave you to judge of its excellence," "January iS '•Thanks very much, dear, for tiie cake, which arrived this morning. But what a change now from, I think, 'twas Saturday when your last cake arrived. Then the sergeant-major, V , and H enjoyed a hit of the ca'je.. and now they are all dead. At 8 o'clock this morning, at the orderly-room, a huge shell exploded, (lcilling 30 and wounding as many more. Among the former is the sergeant-major, my friend of 19 years. It was a terrible sightall the stall' of the regiment gone in one swoop. The commanding officer and adjutant had miraculous escapes. Four company sergeant-majors, two company quartermaster-sergeants, four officers, pioneer sergeant, signalling sergeant, scout sergeant, headquarters sergeant, not to mention the others, and one ma-chine-gun officer died shortly after. We are a leadcrless mob at last. But we must pull ourselves together. The old traditions cannot he buried, and some of the depot staffs must be sent out to keep up the old name. It's terrible to think that we might become a rabble. •

"Non-coms., and especially the seniors, are the backbone of the Army, and we want them badly now if we are to keep our position of second to none. "I ought to write to Mrs. H today, but feel too cowardly, and cannot shake the feeling off that it would give her too great a shock in her present condition. What sorrow women are born to endure! All the trouble comes their way, and they have to wait patiently day after day, expecting something dreadful to happen. And when it happens they have to face a dreary future, saddled, perhaps, with a young family. This war makes one feel that it is criminal for soldiers to marry."