1942 Letter From L.G..

My dad was stationed somewhere in England in the Canadian army when he wrote this letter to Dick Nevard
             
                                                                              March 15, 1942
Dear Dick: Just a few lines hoping this finds you all in the best of health. I was very glad to hear from you. Hows everyone getting along? You must have had a mild winter. Well we are having some pretty good weather over here at times but it sure gets chilly at nights. Them open fire places ain't much for heat. Do you ever hear much from Bud? I haven't seen anything of him or Phil Fisher? Of course you never know when you are gonna run into someone from home. Most of the boys in the 18th are from Sask., Regina, Indian Head, Cupar, Grenfell. A good bunch of guys.
Well we travel around quite a bit on schemes. Sometimes we move to different billets. We are living in houses right now. We are on the outskirts of a small village. Two picture shows a week, a dance hall, two pubs and canteen. Some place eh? Well I don't bother much about dances. They also have a snooker table so we have a pretty good time but we were out on a scheme yesterday about ten o'clock and a thunder storm came up so it wasn't so good pushing a gun through mud and water to our positions. But we have quite a bit of fun out of them even if it takes a couple of days to get the gun cleaned and equipment. Me and a few of the boys were on the coast for a week. It was quite a change.  I thought Canada was cold but that place was plenty breezy. We were on duty for twenty four hours and then off twenty four.
Have you seen much of Sandy?. I hear from him quite often. Some guy eh?. What do you think of this war? I could hear the bombing the time them battle ships left Brest and every now and then we hear firing in that direction. Welll guess I"ll have to sign off. Hoping to hear from you soon and wishing all the best of luck and health. I guess it'll be pretty well summer by the time this reaches you. Remember me to all.
As ever, a friend,
L.J. Goff

August 1942 Letter From L.G.

A letter to Dick Nevard from Les Goff who was already in the Canadian Army in England.

                                                                                          August 22, 1942
                                                                                          2nd AT Regt.
                                                                                          Orderly Room
Dear Dick
Just a few lines hoping this finds you all well and not working too hard. Sorry I've slipped up on my writing lately but you see there isn't a heck of a lot to write about outside of what we are doing and thats against rules.
Well I guess you are all pretty busy back home right now with the harvesting. I hear you had lots of rain this summer. Things should be looking better now. Do you see much of Sandy these days? I haven't seen Bud yet but have seen quite a bit of Phil Fisher and Dick Creese. I guess there will likely be quite a few of the boys around home being called up for training pretty soon.
Well the army isn't so bad and its quite a change but I daresay I'll be glad to get back when its over. We have a pretty good time and theres a good bunch of boys and you get around quite a bit. Every three months a seven day leave so a guy gets a chance to sleep in a real bed once in a while. But most of us come back off a leave more tired than when we went so you can imagine what kind of a time we have.
Things get a bit dull at times especially if you are out in the country but lately its been rather exciting what with bombs and a few other things. Me and my chum were dodging machine gun bullets one day. Lots of fun. I've seen a few German planes but they don't come often enough. Really livens things up a bit.
We missed out on that raid that the Canadians made but maybe we'll get a chance next time. Well I've seen quite a bit of London, spent some of my leave there with my chum. Its sure quite the place but would be better once we get to know our way around. We didn't do bad. Had quite a hectic time. I also had a nice time with my relations in Wimborne.
Well Dick, I guess I'll have to bring this scribble to a close. Give my best regards to all. I've got about six more letters to answer so cheerio and all the best. Keep writing. Always a friend...
Les.

Les Goff at left.