Letters From the Front

Sgt. John Robert Mould, 27595, 15th Battalion C.E.F.

Sending Home Souvenirs of the Ypres Cathedral and a Dugout Explosion

Toronto Evening Telegram Published: May 4, 1915

Transcription from introduction as it appeared in the original newspaper article that published this letter. Note: this letter probably dates to sometime in March or early April 1915.

SOUVENIRS OF YPRES

Sergt.-Major Mould, 48th, Wounded, Sent to His Wife Here.

Mrs. Mould, of 46 Alcorn avenue, North Toronto, has received the following letter from her husband, Sergt.-Major J. R. Mould, in France with E Co., 48th Highlanders, and who is now, she is afraid, among the missing. In his letter he tells of some very interesting souvenirs he has sent to her, one being pieces of the broken window of the Ypres Cathedral, and another, a small piece of the broken bell of the Cathedral.

Dated: May 4, 1915

I am sending you a little box of souvenirs. A small piece of the broken bell out of the cathedral at Ypres, which I broke off myself. You will see how the shell tears things apart. It broke the big bell, and it came down through the tower, and made a hole about 20 feet across. Nearly all the images are broken. It is an awful mess, but the city hall across the street is worse.

There are two pieces of glass out of the broken window of the church, and there is a piece of shell that I got out of one of the men's dugouts on the 7th March. It was the shell that came three feet over my head and burst on the corner of their bunk. It tore everything to pieces. Good job they were out, or they would all be dead now.

If I get back all right I will have lots to tell. I was in town yesterday, and saw a lot of the Royal Scots walking back from the trenches, all wounded. They have had a big battle, but we never know any particulars, not as much as you know in Canada, so we all try to get an English paper to see what really has been done.

Transcribed by: M. I. Pirie