Dear Mother and Sister, World War I had been long in the stockpiling; the spark was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. We entered for two main reasons: one was that the Germans had declared unlimited German submarine warfare and the Zimmermann note. The German had totally disregarded the international laws protecting neutral nation's ships by sinking neutral ships. We warned the Germans one too many times and they did not take us seriously so in 1917 we finally had enough and we joined the war.
The day before yesterday, we advanced to a nearby town, which we garrisoned in. We woke up with our eyes burning and the taste of mustard in our mouths. A call came in that we had just been gassed and to put on our gas masks. They told us that the enemy was advancing and that we would have to protect the town. So we set up everything we had. Unfortunately, we only had about fifteen 10mm rifles with 500 rounds each, one mortar with 100 rounds, forty grenades, and a scope.
In the trenches the water is over our knees most of the time. The war is going to last some time yet, and might be another twelve months before it is over. The war has only just begun and it’s going to be a war of exhaustion.
We have just come out of the trenches after being in for eight days and up to our waists in water. It has come do to me and the mice. The mice keep stealing out food so not are we only fighting the enemy, I’m also