Letters From the Front

Dated:

Sergt. Geo. Maben writes from Falkirk, Scotland, November 21, to his mother, Mrs. Maben, North Red Deer:

"Just a few lines to let you know I am in the best of health and getting along fine. I am on leave now and having a ripping time."

Well, mother, when I left France it was on the day that the armistice had been declared, so it was fine out there then and it felt awfully funny to see all the big guns standing about and not firing a shot. I could hardly believe it when they told us to cease firing because it was over and I can hardly believe it yet. I was in the big city of Mons at the time and I had my machine gun mounted on the city square and we were doing good work when we got the order to stop firing and pack up our guns. It was exactly 11 o'clock when I fired my last shot, and some of the boys were pretty sore about it, and at the time I was enjoying my self so much that I wished it had kept up a little while longer. I was pretty blood-thirsty that day, but I have got over that again. The boys were pretty quiet afterwards. They took it like men. Well, I got my leave warrant that night. I had to walk sixty miles to catch the train at a place called Raismes; that was the rail head then, but a delayed mine had gone up and it held up the train for a day, so I had to walk another ten miles. When I got to that station there was no train there either, so I set out and walked all the way to Cambrai. I could not say how many miles that was but I had a new pair of boots on my feet, and they were pretty sore and I was glad when I got there as I was all in. Our train journey from there on was pretty slow and cold, but at last we landed at Bolougne and the trip had taken me six days. I never had the new boots off my feet. We got the boat that day and and landed in London late that night. The first thing I did after I got my checks cashed was to get a good bath and change of clothing, because I felt very bad with vermin running all over me. Then I had lunch, the second in six days, and I sure did enjoy it, but I could not get half enough to eat. I stayed in London one night and then caught my train at 10 the next morning and got to Edinburgh at 8 o'clock that night, and I was home here at 10 o'clock, just in time for bed once more, but the girls kept me sitting talking till four in the morning; then they wondered why I slept all the next day and night."

He had not got over the death of his brother William, who succumbed to wounds. The relatives and friends, he says, all miss "Billie" very much. "I have not found out where his resting place is, so if you could let me know I will do all I can to fix it up, and put it as you would like it to be done."