‘There is no glory or heroism in war now,’ he wrote to his mother. He wished, instead, that he lived back in ‘the days of old Greece or Rome, when they fought on the open ground and not in muddy ditches like we do now.’

Letter to mother, 15 October 1916. By Permission of the Surrey History Centre (Ref: 2332/1/1/2/93)

He had begun writing his letter to her after his duty, which had ended just before 3:00pm. He had been keeping his eyes out for ‘Minnies’, as always, but had also been watching the firing which went on at aeroplanes (unsuccessfully). It had been a beautiful day, and the valley below was clearer than he had seen it before, but ‘it is pitiful…to see a valley that was once probably beautiful now a wreck, with little skeleton woods and battered villages everywhere.’

It was no worse, though, than he had prepared himself for before he came, so he was ‘contented’ with his lot. But he preferred to ‘watch the days go by, which bring us nearer to peace and picnics in Oxshott woods again.’

[Next letters: 16 October]