These Post Cards were sent by Private
Aaron Hubbard to his family while serving with the 28th Battalion. They are
being published with the kind permission of the
Sept 15th
Dear Mother
I thought
when I was writing to Willie I would send you a card to let you know that
I have not forgotten you. Tell Dad that I seen some of the finest country this
afternoon that I ever saw it was great. One would be a long time getting around
there before would see it. I suppose that there is not much sports going on
there this Time. I guess Willie is pretty lonesome at times. I often think of
him.
I will say goodbye with all good wishes.
From Aaron Hubbard
Dec 18th, 1916
Well Ma
I received you letter a few days ago and was glad to hear from you. We are all
well at present. We have got no parcels yet. I don't know if Jimmy has or not. I
have not seen him for over a week. I think some of my mail has gone to find
Percy's for I don't seem to get some of it. Well good bye Ma give my best wishes
to Dad and the rest of them.
I will write.
From Aaron Hubbard
This Post Card was sent by Private James Lavender to his family while serving with the 28th Battalion. Courtesy of the Chapple Museum
Sep. 6th 1916 Pte J.W. Lavender
From. J.W. Lavender 198535. 28thBattn
S.I.F (Removed by Censor)
Army Post Office
Am quite well. Am at base yet
Hope you get letters O.K. This is for my little Ma. Expect to go to the front
shortly. Will send Willie & Pete ???? one later on. Will write again as soon
as possible Love to you all.
By By
The next post card is from an unidentified
member of the 94th to a Miss Marjorie "Midge" Hayes of Barwick. The
writer could possibly be James Lavender. It is interesting to see that the card
is from
Another card from "Jim" to Barbara Hayes. We have been unable to find out who either person is and what happened to them.
Somewhere in
Aug 29/8/16
Dear Barbara
I am well hoping to find you the
same.
I am as your every lucky
Jim
More cards sent by "Jim" to someone in Barwick or Chapple in 1916.
With kind regards to you.
From Jim.
Somewhere in
1916.
From Boy Jim, Wishing you the very best of good wishes. S.I.F. 1917 & 1918
Dear Friend:- Sep 8 1916
Pt 198844 A. I Gordon
Just a line to remind you of
I sent you a card before but maybe you East Sandling Camp,
didn't get it. I heard you were in the kilts
How do you like them? Suppose you
will be in the trenches by the time you get
this and I wish you all kinds of good luck
(Sender Unknown)
16th Batt BEF,
Patriotic post cards
were made for specific units were a popular item for the men
Post card sent by the sister of a soldier from Dryden who was serving in the 94th. Courtesy of Barb Toskovitch.
Post card sent by a member of the Dryden detachment to his family, probably after he arrived overseas. Courtesy of Barb Toskovitch
Dear All In Rememberance
Well, how are you all. We of me
are fine and dandy so far
and are having a fine time.
Lots of love to all.
Fred
Post card sent by a member of the Dryden detachment to another
soldier.
Front of a post card collected by a member of the Dryden detachment
(Letter to Ray Argyle, author of Turning Points: the Campaigns that
Changed
A Soldier’s Memory: Vimy Ridge
The battle of Vimy Ridge, fought Easter Weekend,
April 8-9, 1917, was one of the turning points of World War I, when the Canadian
Army stormed what had been thought to be impregnable German positions in
northeast
By 198747 Percy Argyle ,
1st Canadian Mounted Rifles Enlisted in the 94th Battalion, Canadian
Expeditionary Force, Rainy River, Ont., January 11, 1916. Discharged as Lance
Corporal, February 8, 1919.
It is hardly possible to
put into words what we, who went through this experience felt at the time. Age
had a habit of dimming names and places and names of people but it can never dim
the sights and sounds of what we experienced. The shelling, the mud, the
apparent confusion out of which grew a single purpose, take the Ridge or else.
In reserves every
battalion had a mock up of the ground we were to take and every day for weeks we
practiced going over the Ridge. The evening of the 8th we the 1st C.M.R. and our
supports massed at
At zero hour it seemed as
if the heavens opened with one huge crash, it became as light as day, and after,
only one thought: press on, get going. I do not remember how long we were
getting to the top of the Ridge but it did not seem very long. By this time it
was broad daylight and we could see right across the plain to the towns and
villages on the other side. I do not know how far it was but it seemed to be
about five miles to the opposite side.
The Germans thought the
Ridge could not be taken, the dugouts and shelters themselves were impregnable
to shell fire, but what are you going to do with someone sneaks up to your back
door and lobs a Stokes mortar down your stairway. I would say lots of Germans
were buried alive this way because after a Stokes mortar exploded in a dugout it
caved the whole thing in.
There is room for lots of
argument over Vimy one way or another but I would say it was a walk over for us,
the shelling had been so long and persistent and we had followed it up so close
there had been no chance for Fritz to do anything about it. The artillery was
massed wheel to wheel and in depth as well as it is not hard to imagine what
happened when they all opened up at once. It was possible on a still night to
hear a bombardment on the English coast that was going on in
It is not easy to write
about this, we did not have an overall view of what was taking place, it was
limited to what we could see ourselves. I did see just before we went in the
line that time, we were out in rest. Close by we had five observation balloons
up, a German flier in a Fokker came by and shot the whole lot down just like
that 1 2 3 4 5 and off back to his own lines. That was at Mont St. Eloi.
Percy Argyle
Creston, B.C.
January 2, 1962