{"id":10295,"date":"2014-12-23T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2014-12-23T11:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.royalmontrealregiment.com\/?p=10295"},"modified":"2014-12-23T06:00:59","modified_gmt":"2014-12-23T11:00:59","slug":"unhappy-camper-writes-home-in-1914","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/unhappy-camper-writes-home-in-1914\/","title":{"rendered":"Unhappy Camper Writes Home in 1914"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, December 23, 1914<\/em><\/p>\n

In Camp, Lark Hill, Salisbury Plains<\/em><\/p>\n

The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cRain.\u00a0 Whole Battalion on fatigues at Lark Hill.\u201d\u00a0[1]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"23<\/a>THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY:\u00a0This letter appeared in a Westmount newspaper and was written by Private Harold Russell, formerly a messenger for the Royal Bank of Canada on Greene Avenue in Westmount.\u00a0 Prior to enlisting for service in the First Contingent he had served briefly in the Canadian Army Service Corps, but before coming to Canada he had served 12 years with the Royal Horse Artillery.\u00a0 At the time of writing this letter he was serving in the 1st<\/sup> Cdn. Divisional Ammunition Column. This letter, written two days before Christmas, gives \u201ca somewhat vivid description of the experiences of the Canadian contingent overseas.\u201d He doesn\u2019t sound like a \u2018happy camper.\u2019\u00a0 The letter follows:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Salisbury, Wilts., 23. 12. 14<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDear Friends,<\/em><\/p>\n

Just a line to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, also to let you know how things are going with us in the Canadian Army Service Corps.\u00a0 After an uneventful voyage we got safely to Devonport on Wednesday Oct. 14th.\u00a0 We finally disembarked on the Sunday the 18th and entrained in the dark for Salisbury Plains.\u00a0 We arrived at the nearest railway station to the Plains via Amesbury at 1:30 a.m. and proceeded to walk 13 miles to camp.\u00a0 This was done on an empty stomach as we had nothing whatever to eat since dinner the day before.\u00a0 Arriving at West Down Camp we had to picket our horses and see to ourselves.\u00a0 This time it was well on into the afternoon and no signs of anything to eat yet.\u00a0 Canteens for Kitchener\u2019s Army were all around us, but they would not take Canadian money and we had no other as we had received no pay since leaving Quebec 26 days before (viz. Sept. 12th) nor did we receive any until the 28th of October when they gave us $15.00.\u00a0 We were not well landed on the plains when it started to rain; it has rained more or less every day since.\u00a0 You ought to see our camp, if you put your foot outside the tent and miss the stones or pieces of wood \u2013 the men have laid themselves \u2013 up to your knees you go in liquid mud.\u00a0 Until last week our horses were on lines in the open and it was pitiful to see the poor beasts there in slush and shivering under their one wet blanket.\u00a0 For over a month we were under canvas; now we are in huts which while better than tents are far from good.\u00a0 We have no beds, but lay on bags filled with straw, on the floor, the joints of which are \u00bc of an inch and more apart through which the wind comes up to beat the band.\u00a0 Bronchitis and pneumonia are prevalent, but if you report sick, you are told, \u201cSorry we can do nothing for you, we are full up, but you can have a pill or two.\u201d\u00a0 They seem to think a pill would fix a broken head, they give you pills for everything!<\/em><\/p>\n

For breakfast we receive bread, bacon, 2 oz. tea, \u201cno milk or butter.\u201d \u00a0Dinner \u2013 the one and only and everlasting \u201cMulligan\u201d that is a concoction of meat, fat, carrots, and sometimes turnips all boiled to death in a tin pot seasoned with black pepper. Tea or supper \u2013 bread, tea, cheese and jam, (no milk).<\/em><\/p>\n

Our cleanliness is a thing of the past, we wear our underclothes as long as human endurance will permit and then they are mostly burnt.\u00a0 We have no place where we can wash either ourselves or our clothes, and even though we could wash the clothes we have no place to dry them.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most of our fellows have supplied themselves with rubber coats and boots at their own expense.\u00a0 Otherwise there would have been much more sickness than there is.<\/em><\/p>\n

My God!\u00a0 How we are all longing for the 15th January 1915.\u00a0 We are told we would proceed to the South of France then.\u00a0 One of the biggest kicks is that we are not allowed to go to the villages around and buy necessaries.\u00a0 Every place is out of bounds to Canadians.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are sick, sore and cold, but we are not downhearted.\u00a0 Only a trifle disgusted and disappointed with the treatment we have received since arriving here and our officers are in the same boat as ourselves.<\/em><\/p>\n

I must close now asking you to please print this letter in your paper, disclaiming all responsibility, which I take entirely on myself.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yours respectfully,<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Harold Russell\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0\u00a0 War Diary, 14th<\/sup> Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment<\/em>, Dec 23, 1914.\u00a0 Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa,\u00a0http:\/\/data2.collectionscanada.ca\/e\/e044\/e001089681.jpg<\/a><\/pre>\n
[2]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWestmount Soldier Gives Word Picture of The Conditions on Salisbury Plain,\u201d The Westmount News<\/em>, Friday, January 15, 1915, pg. 14, col. 3<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday, December 23, 1914 In Camp, Lark Hill, Salisbury Plains The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: \u201cRain.\u00a0 Whole Battalion on fatigues at Lark Hill.\u201d\u00a0[1] THIS DAY IN RMR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-day-in-rmr-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rmrmuseum.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}