Feature Letter of September 9th, 2025
Sudbury, John P.
Where was I when I last wrote? I've travelled so many scores of miles since that I forget. During my travels I set eyes on the Channel. Oh! It was a thrilling moment to think I was so near Blighty and yet so far from home and I'm now a great deal further. We started with a long walk, full pack of course about 3 o'clock one morning then we had a long motor ride to a train. We were about 13 hours on the train then to crown all for we were dead tired and cramped we had to walk twelve miles to our billets. I have never before experienced a similar 6 hours of agony. It was a march through the night on empty stomachs and several times I stumbled and thus woke myself up for I was sleeping on the way. At every 10 mins rest to the hours march I went sound asleep (like most others) but at last, at last! We got to this chateau, which is an unfinished one because it became haunted (so the yarn goes) and no one will finish building it and no one except soldiers will live in it. We haven't yet had a visit simply because we all are so eager for one I suppose. I am suddenly reminded of Sir Isaac Newton. I'm writing this in the apple orchard in rear of the chateau and an apple fell onto my "nut" or "beam". The country around here is delightful - especially the fruit - pinch as much as we can eat.
Why Support Canadian Letters & Images Project
As we move away in time from past conflicts and as our veteran population declines, it becomes increasingly difficult for Canadians to understand the sacrifices that men and women made, both on the battlefield and on the home front, during wartime. The Canadian Letters and Images Project has been sharing their stories, and Canada’s story, for the past quarter century.
These are the experiences of Canadians as seen through their eyes and their words. This is history in the raw, without a lens of interpretation added through time. I invite you to spend some time reading their letters, seeing their faces in the photographs, or listening to an audio letter, to appreciate why their experiences must be preserved for now and for future generations.
Donations, large and small, ensures that The Canadian Letters and Images Project can keep this important content freely available for this generation and for future generations. Please help us to preserve their stories.
Donate