Letters From World War One Trenches

Soldiers wrote letters to their families during World War I. They often didn't talk about how scary and terrible the war was because they didn't want to worry their families. There were rules that said someone had to check the letters before they were sent.

Harold Chapin wrote a letter about how busy he was helping hurt soldiers. He talked about how hard it was to carry them through the mud and how much he and the soldiers didn't like the mud.

In the 1930s, Guy Chapman wrote about remembering his friends from the war. Some of his friends didn't make it home. He talked about how he used to check their letters and now he remembers their faces and the things they used to do.

Arthur Savage remembered how scary the war was. He talked about soldiers getting really sick from standing in cold, wet mud, getting itchy from bugs in their clothes, being scared of big rats, and seeing friends get hurt or not make it.

Philip Gibbs was a reporter who wrote about the war. He talked about soldiers who were very scared because of the loud noises and scary things they saw. At first, some people didn't understand how scared these soldiers were, but it was a very hard thing for them to go through.