Rome Nov. 28/17

Dear Cath:

You notice it’s getting pretty near St. Andrews day and unless something happens (nothing short of a miracle will do though I’m afraid) I’m not going to be able to keep that appointment for Friday night. A couple of moths ago I never dreamed of spending the 30^th in Italy but I’ve had no choice in the matter – I know where I’d spend it if I had my way. Well here we are and we’ll have to make the best of it. Some of the sisters here are Scotch are all nuns. They are all British and are very nice indeed. They have charge of the place. The nurses (most of them are in training here) are Italian and only one or two can talk English but they certainly have looked after us well during the time we’ve been here. We’re still staying at the hospital but have been convalescent for over a week and go down town every day. 

Rome, as I’ve stated before is a dandy city and even at this time of the year the weather is quite warm. Yesterday it rained all day long but today promises to be fine. You know there are a lot of British people living here &we have been invited out to afternoon tea several times. Last week we were at Dr. Grey’s (the Presbyterian minister) who has lived here over forty years & has had a great deal to do with excavations in & near the city. He & his wife are very nice. Saturday afternoon we were out to Pengelly’s. Sunday we went to the Presbyterian church and received another invitation after the service for yesterday. So you see we’re quite popular in Rome. Oh, yes I forgot – Monday evening a Miss Palmer who is one of the ladies in charge of the soldier’s club & a teacher of languages here had us two and a bunch of Imperial soldiers belonging to the Naval Air Service, down to her place for tea. We had a dandy time there too.

And now Cath. Perhaps you’d like me to give you an idea of what I’ve been doing during the last twelve months. It will be a very meager account but I can tell you where we’ve been & some of the shows we’ve taken hand in which I won’t be able to do when I get back to the front. I made my first trip in the trenches at Vimy Ridge & for mud that piece of line had them all beat. I fired my 1^st shot the second night just after midnight – you remember I was wearing the socks you gave me ha! Ha! Well when I wrote *& told you about last winter I didn’t tell you the whole story viz, namely, to wit – I got the fellow I just in front of our wire I won’t forget the feeling as I pressed the trigger that night & I hadn’t got over it when I wrote your letter so that’s why I didn’t like to mention it. I might say I got over that long ago. On Feb. 27^th we were in front of Lens when 14 Fritz’s raided our machine gun post and yours truly was on sentry. It was an awfully dark night and through no fault of mine (I can’t explain it or I’d never finish this letter) they were climbing over our parapet before I saw them. Of course it was too late to fire the gun & I thought it was all up but some way or other I managed to alarm the rest of the crew & we beat them off. The joke of it all was I received a bunch of daily mails from home a few weeks later and on the front page of one was a full account of the whole thing. I bet mother little dreamed that Leslie was the sentry she was reading about. 

Well three days later, we pulled off a raid in retalliation and I went “over the top” for the first time. The second time I went over was at Vimy on Apr. 9^th. That was a great day for the Canucks, and it was then I had my first real go at Fritz. Our gun went over in the first attacking line. The corpl. Was hit before he had gone 200 years & being no.1 gunner I took the gun & believe me I made it hot for Fritz that day. Of course I wasn’t the only one. That was when I got those two prisoners in a communication trench. I didn’t stop them to collect any souvenirs but later on I took over a few including what I took to be a nice gold ring (there my pen has gone dry) but it turned out to be copper. I still have it though.

The next attack we made was at Hill 70 Aug. 18 & the next day during a counter attack when the Prussian Guards tried to recapture the position I was wounded for the first time. It didn’t amount to much just a scratch in my left hand by a piece of shrapnel although it put my hand out of business for three weeks. 

Our officer wanted me to go out & have it dressed but I stayed with the gun until the scrap was over and was agreeably surprised to receive the M.M. a couple of [weeks?] later. I never dreamed of getting it for a little thing like that. 

So you see we’ve had quite an exciting time of it all year and I consider myself extremely lucky to be still at it. Naturally I’ve had a few close ones but a miss is considered as good as a mile. I haven’t seen Jim for a long time now but hope he is O.K.

And now I must ring off. Have written you one letter and several cards since my arrival in Rome & hope they reached you all right. I had my photo taken the other day so you can look for one of them in the course of a week or ten days.

Wishing you a very Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. I remain

Yours Sincerely

Leslie

and Agl. Mackay, who has occupied the bed next to mine since we took it upon ourselves to become invalids, is a Highland dancer. So the sisters have arranged for a celebration Friday nicht. We leave for Belgium Saturday.

I don’t think I’ve told you what kind of a hospital we are in here. Well it seems more like home than a hospital and is really quite delightful. I wouldn’t mind staying here for duration. It is run in connection with a convent and the sisters I believe