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Is Now With Canadian Forces and Writes Parents an Interesting Leter Donald Wishart, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Wishart of 69 Granite street who is with the Canadian forces in foreign lands, having en listed in Montreal in 1916 and as signed to the 24th battalion, has been seeing a lot of the country. Recent letters to his parents tell of conditions in Germany and in Bel gium. In his last letter home dated Belgium, Feb. 6 he tells,of the cold weather in that country although unable to give the degree because he hasn't seen a thermometer. He says the room he occupies has a win dow with the glass smashed in and the broken panes covered in places with paper. There is no stove and the bed is damp every night, but he considers it better than a trench and doesn't mind the inconvenience very much. He paints a vivid word picture of devastated Belgium by describing the condition of the family with whom he is living in that particular place. The husband of the landlady died during the war leaving her with four children the oldest of whom is 14. The children have but little to wear during the cold wintry weath er. Speaking of their condition he says ‘This morning there were six or eight inches of snow on the ground and it is pathetic to see the children traversing to school with no head covers, no gloves and most of them haven't even coats. The youngest one his whooping cough too. “The people around here have had an awful time with the Germans in occupation since 1914. The vitzies used to take any extra clothes the Belgiums had and helped themselves in every way to anything extra they wanted. One young man across the way had his arm cut off by a Fritzie ‘bayonet in ‘14 and there are others whose husbands and brothers were lined up against the houses and the women and children brought out to see them shot. In the market place of the town 656 men were lined up and shot with a machine gun and the marks of the bullets are all along the side of the church.” Conditions found in Germany are much better than he found in Bel gium for in a letter to his parents dated Jan. 13 he speaks of the troops occupying good billets and he speaks of the room he was ocupyi ng at that time as being a good one as he took special pains to pick out one that would be satisfactory, As is able to speak German better than any man in the company and can converse quite readily in French, Wishart writes of the scarcity of soap and says he wishes the whole thing was over so that he could get back to Bath among his own peoples once Inore. In a letter dated Dec. 3 (Continued on Page Two) DONALD WISHART
Newspaper Details
Bath Independent
Bath, Maine, US
Sat, Mar 15, 1919
Page 5
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Clipped by
Scott W.
