Letters from the Front - Part 2

Throughout the month of November we will be posting excerpts from a selection of wartime correspondence between Pte. Sefton Stewart of the 77th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, and his family in Richmond, Ontario.  The complete letters will be on display at the Stittsville Public Library in the Museum's exhibit honouring Goulbourn in wartime.

This is letter number two:

Bramshott Camp, England

July 3rd

Dear Mother:

                Mailed you a letter July 2nd but didn’t know our present condition.  We are now transferred into the 73 Battalion.  These are Highlanders, so we will have to put on the kilts.  This is looked upon as the best Battalion that ever left Canada.  All the 77th is being broken up too.  Some fine big men out of the 77th have been turned down for the slightest drawback, such as weak heart or eyes.

                We are now in one of a string of buildings similar to those of the Ottawa Exhibition, which is much better than tents.  Tomorrow we expect to go to the range to shoot for about a week. Sunday evening we went over to Hazlemere, a nice little town, in a motor.  The roads seem very strange.  They are good but very narrow and both sides are lined with hedge or bushes….

Best love to all,

Sefton