France

Sunday July 7th 1918

Dear Kate, I received your welcome parcel two days ago and it was good. Youngan of course got the cigarettes and we divided the rest between we three. We are having very fine weather and a very very fine time. Plenty to eat and not much to do. Youngan is getting quite fat and we are all in great nick. Youngan is reading yesterdays paper so you can see we are not far behind the times with our paper. It is the Daily Mail, printed in Paris. Dough is still in Blighty and has had a glorious time. I hope he can manage to get a job over there. Andrew Rennie joined up with our battalion a week ago and came looking for Youngan. Had letters from Annie with last mail and all were well at home. My boy was starting to speak. He seems to be a fine boy. It is hard to be away from Annie and he so long but it cannot be helped and we will have to thrash the hun, before we leave this business. It will be a happy day, the day I get the chance to get back to my two loved ones. We have met quite a lot of Mataura fellows lately. Charlie Smith, Sid Wilkinson, Jack Grierson and scores of others. Annie sent me a PC of the group taken on Christmas day, and it is not bad. Youngan said it was an awful photo. What, I wonder was the matter with Jane? She has her eyes shut. Did you have a visit from Uncle Will? He has had quite a long stay in New Zealand. If he is anything like his two brothers I have met, he will do. Bill and Joe

[Bill and Joe = William Massey and Joseph Ward]