L154284, RCAMC
August, 1944
Canadian Army Overseas
Dear Bill
Well, the unexpected has happened and I am now on the high seas bound for the land of your birth I guess. I think from now I will give up trying to predict the future. That stiff medical at Debert never materialized. I guess that two or three weeks before you get this letter you and dad will get a telegram to say that I arrived overseas safely.
I expected to be quarantined on the ship for a week or two because Lambier broke out with measles yesterday but we have heard nothing so i guess nothing will be done.
(Next day)
Lambier's measles turned out to be something else so don't worry, I won't catch measles.
Our beds are three tiers high. They are of canvas stretched across an iron frame and I find them comfortable. The berth we are was reserved for corporals. When the corporals arrived they turned out to be privates. So in that manner we get better beds than some of the officers.
We only get two meals a day but they are pretty fair meals. We can buy chocolate bars and oranges quite cheap here on board ship. Oranges are seven for 25 cents so we have nothing to kick about. We wear life belts or preservers as a safety measure although there is no danger.
Well I have landed overseas and am quite ok. I had no sea sickness. I am in a camp but am not allowed to say where. We were told that we will get no leaves so there is no prospect of seeing our relations in England for a while. I will write to Aunt Louie and tell her I am in the land of your birth.
The countryside was pretty and I admired everything. We would wave to men standing near the trucks and they would give us the thumbs up. I got a five dollar bill changed into english money and got a one pound note and a florin and a penny. We have quite a time talking about and figuring out the english money. Lambier is good at it but I think he is getting kind of annoyed because the boys kept coming over to him this afternoon when he wanted to sleep and asked him how much was such and such an amount until he got sick of it. Still I don't think it wiill take long to get used to once one forgets about Canadian money.
I was going to send a telegram but then they said that letters get there just as fast sometimes so I thought I would write instead. The quickest way is by air graph but I couldn't get any forms so that was out of the question. I sent my iron home because the current is different over here and so it would not be any use.
I think I will like it over here because I will feel I am doing my part in a more necessary spot than back in Canada. The meals are good and they are better prepared than most camps that I have been in in Canada. We had mutton and what do you think? We had peanut butter. That is something I never had in the army in Canada. I hear that we can buy bars two at a time for three penny which is as cheap as in Canada.
Well everything is alright so don't worry. My letters will be as long as usual because in the interests of security we must not mention anything about what we are doing. Just our personal life.
I wrote about six letters on the voyage so I am well up with my correspondence. I just have to post them.
Cheerio, your loving brother, Dick.
When not in the thick of it, a soldiers life can be pretty lacking in entertainment, I imagine. Just the day to day stuff, though, is interesting to those missed or missing others. It's also interesting from a historic perspective.
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