BX October 23, 1915

Huts Replace the Tents at the Shorncliffe Camp – Troops Have Gone Into Winter Quarters and Find Them Much More Comfortable – Pte. Thomas William Weller Joined Lindsay Regiment at Toronto and is Now as Shorncliffe Camp

October 5, 1915

T.W. Weller, No. 413098, Bandsman 
39th Battalion, C.E.F.,
Sandling Camp, West Kent

I take the pleasure of writing these few lines to you, hoping you and all the Brantford populace are well. Being a constant reader of The Expositor I thought I would pass an idle hour away in letting you know how we are getting along. To begin with, I never enlisted in Brantford. I tried, but having failed; I went down to Toronto and joined the 45th Regiment of Lindsay. From there I was sent down to Belleville to join the 39th Battalion. We crossed the Atlantic and are now in training at Shorncliffe. I have seen quite a few of the Brantford boys, as our Battalion is in the same brigade as the 36th Battalion. I guess you have heard by this time of Col. Ashton’s promotion to brigadier over our brigade.

We are in huts now for the winter. It is quite a change after being in tents. We are comfortable now. We have mattresses to lay on now instead of boards and, believe me, that alone is like being at home. Then again we have tables to sit down to instead of sitting Chin-Chong fashion on the floor, and the food is better, although we cannot get much of a change. We get soup everyday for dinner and bread, jam and cheese for supper. I have gained 15 pounds in my weight since I’ve been in England.

We get lots of rain here. Some people say it is because there is so much cannonading over in France. Sometimes when we get a nice still day we can hear heavy cannon rolls quite plainly. I see by the paper that there are quite a few Salvationists enlisting from Brantford. Some of them I used to play side by side with in the band, being a Salvationist myself. I am now bandsman in this battalion. Our band is 30 strong. We are doing some good work by playing at the hospitals, also for convalescents. There is little news, only we are all well and hearty, with the hope that this awful war will soon end, for the sake of the wives and mothers of our boys who are training to defend King and Empire.

T.W. Weller

BX July 12, 1917

Experiences of Brantford Boys – Bandsman T. Weller and Corp. T.W. Ross At Ypres, Somme and Vimy Ridge

Bandsman T.W. Weller and Corp. T.W. Ross, with the 18th Battalion Canadians, write an interesting letter to The Expositor, as follows:

June 12, 1917

Just a few lines to let you know we are enjoying the best of health, trusting all the old friends in the home town are enjoying the same.

In the first place we wish to state the period of time we have served in France. Corp. Ross has been out 16 months and Bandsman Weller served just one year. During the time we have been together we have had many exciting times.

In the Ypres salient, where the Canadians first made their name, we helped to put a portion of Belgium into sandbags to keep the Hun at bay. This was very hard work, but it was successful, as the last weeks have proven. One day we got our moving orders for the Somme where after two weeks of hard marching we arrived at Albert. We went into action on Sept. 15, 1916, for the first time. We added further glories to Canada’s fighting forces the second time we went into action in October, 1916. We drove the Huns a little nearer to the Rhine. During these two events we captured Courcelette.

Then we changed for another part of the line, and on April 9, stormed and captured the famous Vimy Ridge, on the enemy’s strongest positions.

I must say a few things about our boys before they went into action at Vimy. For ten days our guns bombarded his position. Never was there such a sight for the human eye. I was standing one night watching it from behind the lines. The thought ran through my mind of God’s promise. (“Never again will the world be destroyed by water.”). But I must say it seemed as if it were being destroyed by fire. Every foot of ground was placed with a gun and for miles, as far as the eye could see, it was like a burning furnace.

But to come down to the sight before the attack, it was Easter Sunday and the guns had been quiet for a while. Our boys were lined up ready to march to the front line. Everything was quiet and I said to my pal, “This is the calm before the storm,” and believe me it was, too. They went in and at dawn the guns opened up worse than before. Over the top with the best of luck was the order, and they went and imagine what they felt like after standing in four or five feet of mud and water all the winter, standing too, for 15 hours every night and no  place to lie down during the day to sleep. They never hesitated for the moment. They were out to make Fritz pay for those wintry nights, and they did too.

You have read the accounts in the papers of the battle, besides printing it yourselves but nobody can describe it fully, only those who went through it, and even they say too much that it is almost impossible for them to give out their experiences.
Now we are out for a well earned rest in a nice little French village, having a good time while getting ready for another slam at the Hunnish savages.

I will close now wishing the Expositor every success, I remain yours truly,

Bandsman T.W. Weller