November 6, 1917
My own dear Mother and Father,
Your letters of September 23rd and 30th came in yesterday morning so you see the mail hasn’t been coming forward so regular as usual. Probably held up somewhere for a short period.
This is just a short note and I will write at the first opportunity a real letter.
You certainly can catch fish and I won’t deny the fact that you generally land the odd one.
Fishing must be fairly good around the lakes this year.
I suppose you are back from Ketchecum Father. What was it like out there this year. Are there the usual bunch of partridge? Did Jack and Uncle Jack get back?
It was quite a relief I can tell you to know that Jack was unaffected by enrolment. I was worried and uncertain until I received word from you.
The snaps Margaret sent me were fine and you both look your best. I can hardly realized that it is really Jean perched so lady like on the front steps.
Father you are getting to be quite a chicken farmer. That is some rooster you have in the pictures.
Well I am just letting the Flying Corps proposition rest a while till things develop here. I weight just 200lb so that stands a bit in the way for flying.
Will close now with heaps of love and kisses to you both.
Your loving son.
Vincent
This is a very short letter home from Vincent but I find it to be a significant one. This is the last letter that Vincent writes home before being injured during the battle of Passchendaele, which the 18th Battalion will be arriving at the front line of a couple of days after this letter. He does not say much about the war in this one as he did in his last letter to the mysterious Steve. He mostly talked about home, about the hunting club, about his Father, a high up bank manager, raising chickens, his sister taking pictures, the things he probably misses the most about home, especially being in the mud filled battlefield he has found himself in. It looks like from this letter he has given up the dream to fly, mostly it seems because of his weight. It also seems that his brother Jack has missed the first wave of conscription into the forces, which Vincent seems to be very relieved about.
There was not a whole lot to research for this letter. If you would like to see what the Battalion was doing at this particular time, and throughout the month of November, the diary can be found here. I did not struggle much with the words in this particular one, but the letter will be posted as always below.
Thank you all again for reading, and though this is the last letter that he writes from the front line, it is not the last letter in the series, as I will share all that I have with you.
Thank you,
Michael Ritchie
