Letter from Italy January 14th 1918

Jan 14 1918

32507 / 9th Batt York and Lancs

C Company

12 platoon L. G. S.

BEF Italy

Dear Jack

I have received your letter. I have also received two parcels of woollen goods from Mrs. Higgins but you cant carry a lot of stuff about we have enough to carry about. It was very good, their was a nice jersey home made which I am keeping and some socks so I had a clean and new rig out which I wanted. Your biscuits was grand and I enjoyed them. I have also had a nice parcel from Kate she said she enjoyed the Christmas alright at home. Willie and Connie as not been very well but they are going on alright now. Kate says Willie gets a rum little chap and can say anything. I am pleased to hear you are going on alright and that you are very comfortable and settled down. It is still very cold out here at night and we have had some snow. it is different to being out in France, very quiet. Write and let me know how you’re getting on as soon as possible. As Kate or Annie been to see you yet. I have wrote to Mrs. Higgins so I shall no doubt have a letter from either Mrs. Higgins or Miss Worthington. Pleased you liked the card

With best love

Harry


I think that I've discovered the "card" referred to in the letter! Ill upload a scan as soon as I'm certain. BL

23 comments:

saturniana said...

I came to this place thru an article i read about it in the most famous newspaper of my country, Spain! I think this is a very interesting idea, and i hope to read and learn more about ww1 here!
Love XXX

Anonymous said...

this is a great thing you are doing here,i am an ex soldier and know what its like to get letters from loved ones,i find it strange that harry dosnt mention ethel in his letters to jack and kate,only willie and connie,also he dosnt mention any packages from her either,the card seems to be the only thing.keep up the great work mate.

Anonymous said...

I have only recently discovered this wonderful blog and now I am hooked. Thank you so much for sharing this with all of us.

Anonymous said...

It goes straight to one's heart to read the repeated thought of "write soon", or "tell me of home".
How I wish too that I could send a hug back. The person from "Vietnam", put your letters and info out.You suffered so much. Let us publically honor you and send our love to you.
Thanks a million for this blog work.

Anonymous said...

It might be interesting to know for you,that also the Dutch media payed attention to your project.
Nowadays this is the way to booster enthousiasm for history in general.And to demonstrate the impact of war on ordinary people.
Yours, JT

Michele said...

Whew! I was getting worried about Harry! Thank you for the letter! I hope the card is the one Harry speaks of in his letter. It would be great to see that!

Anonymous said...

I think this is meant to be titled "Letter from Italy January 14th 1918".
Apart from that(lol!) keep up the good work!!

Anonymous said...

hello Harry from Canada
I heard about your letters on CBC TV.
What a brilliant idea.
I spent the last weekend "catching up" on your experiences. I am glad that you are safe and sound in Italy at this time.
I look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Regards
Al

Anonymous said...

Hi,

have you seen?
The german magazine wrote an article about your blog.

http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/0,1518,528449,00.html

Anonymous said...

Please do show us the card! This is a wonderful idea and a great new way to experience history! I wish I'd thought of it!

I hope you don't mind, but I've written a brief article and added a link on my blog: www.history-geek.com

Pete

Anonymous said...

This letter has a rather different tone than the others, and there are more grammer mistakes than normal. I think that Harry's fingers were cold while he was writing the letter to Jack, he said it has been snowing a bit. He also is sounding very tired, and who can blame him, he's had a tough run. Hang in there Harry! The war is almost over, you'll be coming home soon!

Anonymous said...

Wow he sounds so calm about it, and to think that millions of people are dying.

matt said...

hello im a brit living in germany (ex forces german wife ect ect)im so glad that you had this idea of posting these letters ive been wondering all day if a new letter would come,, as being ex forces some of his letters remind me of the ones i sent from different parts of the world not word for word but very much the same once again thanks ,,,,matt

Hazzard County Gal said...

Hey there,

I have only recently discovered this blog but have been following for about a week or so now and I have to say it is absolutly amazing what you are doing. I have always been fascinated with the war front, and have gone on several trips with my school in past years where I have been to the places Harry has written about. It really brings that experience to life again knowing that he had probably walked the ground I walked on those days before me.

I am advertising this on any sites I go on, Facebook, Myspace, everything as I think more young people my age need to read it and understand what a sacrafice was made so that we dont have to experience those kind of horrors again. Thank you very very much for doing this and I sincerely hope that Harry gets home safely.

Many Thanks

Kerrie Hudson, Age 18

Anonymous said...

You're famous in Brasil, too.
Congratulations for your work, well done.

Anonymous said...

my dad would tell about his experience's from normandy in ww2, but only the laugh's they had. he never spoke about the other thing's that happened.this help's to imagine what he went through.(obviously not as bad as the somme and ypres)

Anonymous said...

this should be made compulsory reading in history classes in all schools.

Veda said...

lovely blog.
thanks for it!

http://afishcalledveda.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hello!
The letters have reached up to us in Sweden (read about them in my morning paper), in Boden - not so many miles below the artic circle. Read one letter - and I just want to read more!!

/Lena

Orlando Bloom said...

Hi mr lamin!!
This blog is soooo good!
You are without a doubt the best ICT teacher in the whole world!!
And my blog is now nearly as good as yours!

I can't wait to see you in the next ICt lesson and i am definatly going to buy the book if you do one.

From your favorite student in ict!
MRS ORLANDO BLOOM!! aka emma (dotty folder)

Icarus said...

3 days have passed and I'm getting worried for Harry. Maybe it's because I recently read Sebastian Faulks' "Human Traces" (yes, another masterpiece, but different from "Birdsong"). There was a war going on up there, it was no piece of cake, just different from Flanders.
So, I'm clearly into Harry's story.

What impresses me endlessly, always has, from my Grandfather's letters, to Harry's via those published in works by WW! historians like Lynn Macdonald is the ordiary soldiers' humility & modesty. NEVER A SINGLE COMPLAINT. Sensitive, but tough as nails, because of the times they lived in. Imagine how it would be today if 3 million or so young Brits were called up to face that horror & misery. I mean conscripted, not the professional army. What they are enduring in Afghanistan in particular today should also be a lesson to all the softie corrupted whingers in hoods back home. It never ends, does it? Best wishes to you.

Anonymous said...

I live in Texas, but grew up in Derbyshire UK not far from where Harry lived - one of my best friends was a Lamin (wonder if he was related to - or even descended from Harry). I hope Harry makes it back - too many didn't. I used to be a boy scout and we always paraded in November for Rememberance Sunday (similar to US Memorial Day). I didn't get it then, but now I know Harry was going through one of the worst times in history, yet everything is always "alright". Good luck Harry.

Anonymous said...

I just found out this through google and now I am a regular visitor
It's too good to resist