A Letter From My First Battle On The Western Front

My Dearest Mother,

I know you have been worrying about me, for I have been worrying about you as well. Before I left I promised to write you about my first battle on the Western Front. My experience here has been a real eye-opener, the things I have saw, heard, touched, taste, and felt are revolting and painful. My first day in the battle was terrifying, being in the trenches while eggs were being thrown, land creepers were shooting as us from all directions, blind pigs were being fired at us from left and right, and the suicide squad after us. After being in the trenches day after day having the same thing happen over and over again you build a thick skin.
The closest thing I have to home is the trench that I am in all day. The conditions of the trenches is sickening! Every night you can hear the moaning from the wounded men, the rattling of the cans, the sloshing of mud, the crying and screaming from the helpless, the piddle paddle of the rain, gunshots, and the running around of the
trench rats! Being in the trenches at night you have to sleep with one eye opened because trench rats will eat you. These rat growed as big as cats, when you were wounded and could not defend yourself the rats would go after you, they would start with your eyes then go from there! I miss the smell of the city it does not compare to anywhere else I have been. Everyday I smell the same unpleasant things: gasoline, stagnant mud, latrine buckets, unburied stiffs, half buried stiffs, rotting sandbags, stale human sweat, urine, fumes of cordite, and the sour; stale smell of body itchy coos. Body itchy coos are little tiny bugs on your body that cause much discomfort; that cause red itchy skin.
Our food is awful, just as everything else! We eat dog and maggots, bully beef, and hard biscuits. When we drink the water I can often taste gasoline, chloride of lime, mud, and dirt; sometimes I can even taste blood! Before I left I disliked eating bombardier, axle grease, and dog and maggot all the time, but now I miss it more than ever. You never really know what what you will eat and drink here. This experience has not been all bad, there is some good parts, like when I get to use some amazing weaponry.
I get to use land creepers, a lid, a machine gun, artillery, an egg, a blind pig, and mustard and chlorine gas. Land creepers are very large and are equipped with other weapons; but they move very slow. A machine gun is a great defensive weapon, it shoots hundreds of rounds per minute; I mainly use the machine gun. Mustard and chlorine gas is very deadly, you never know when the gas will come.
I cannot believe some of the things I have saw, they are both unspeakable and horrendous, unfortunately for you Mother I want to share these awful things with you. In my time here I have saw trench rats, body itchy coos, dead bodies flies, rotting sandbags, trench foot, food scraps, snow, ice, water, mud, diseases, and rats eating human flesh! Although I try to forget what I have saw, the images are permanently stuck in my brain… One does not forget the vile things she has
saw! I often wake up in the middle of the night panicking that soon my life with be over! I have endured many sufferings here day in and day out, I feel the pain of the body itchy coos (the constant scratching), the pain of trench foot (the constant numbness and swelling), the pain of the trench fever (the constant dizziness and rashy skin), and the pain of the high fevers. I feel isolated, scared, and tired… I feel sweat dripping down my face, tears rolling down my cheeks, bugs crawling over me, the mud underneath my feet, the rain, snow, and ice dripping down my back, and the wetness of the trench. I can feel the rats presences at night and sometimes I can feel their presences feed off the lifeless men! Being here at times you feel like you are suffocating, like you have nothing to live for, but that is when you have to keep in mind the people whom you love.
My sweet dearest Mother, I shall soon return home and rest in your loving arms, something I have been yearning to do for awhile! Mother do not cry for me because I will be alright, for you have taught me all that I need to survive in this damn hellish place, the memory of you is keeping me alive, I fight for you, and I will return! When I return I will be old sweat that will live to tell the tales! When I return I will visit the rest camp where my fellow soldiers are! Pushing up daisies shall never be forgotten, their names shall be spoken with honor and great pride! Until my time here is done I shall write to whom I love, the one that gave me life, my sweet Mother!