No 9 General Hospital
Rouen
20/3/15
My dear Father
I was very glad to get news of Mother and hear she was really better and about again. I hope you too are now quite well. You’ll both have to beware of these sudden treacherous cold winds.
I suppose in all probability George is out here now, please let me have his address so that I can write to him. I expect his unit will have a few weeks at a base and on lines of communication before they move right up. Our victory last week was decisive, but costly I fear. However it may lead soon to more marked progress. Every week ought to bring before our public, if they will only think, how great a task is before us. But when a man like Lord Rosebery will calmly compare the war with the Crimean War, one feels despondent of the average man’s capacity to grasp the situation. I hope the labour situation will now improve. It’s a very thorny subject to tackle, but it must be done. As for drink in the big towns, a stern hand and martial law ought to be invoked where excesses have not been checked by other means.
No 6 General Hospital will shortly move into a set of huts opposite ours and on an identical plan. I must try and meet Opie, I haven’t previously met him.
How many men has Badsey sent now? Have you any news of any of them? I get men of the Worcesters on my wards occasionally but haven’t yet struck any local ones. I have one aged 45, a B’ham man, poor fellow he looks about 60, and has been in the trenches six months – even now he’s only suffering from general wear and tear, and isn’t wounded. The spirit of all these fellows is very good, and the last fight has had a very wholesome and tonic effect on the survivors.
With much love to all
Your affectionate son Arthur
