Letters From World War One Trenches

During WWI, soldiers sent letters home to their loved ones in Britain. They often didn't talk about how bad the war was because of a law that made officers check their letters first.

Harold Chapin wrote to Calypso Chapin on May 23, 1915, about how busy he was helping wounded soldiers. He talked about how hard it was to carry injured men through the mud and how much he hated the mud.

In the 1930s, Guy Chapman shared his memories of the war. He looked at an old list of soldiers and remembered their faces and stories. Some had died, and others were missing. He felt sad about how he had to check their letters quickly and miss out on their personal stories.

Arthur Savage remembered the war as a scary time. He saw soldiers upset about getting sick from the wet conditions and losing limbs. He also talked about the bugs, rats, dirt, and seeing dead bodies around him all the time.

Philip Gibbs, a journalist, wrote about how tough it was to see soldiers with shell-shock, a condition from the trauma of war. At first, people thought it was just cowardice, but it was a serious issue that made strong men shake and lose control.

These stories from WWI show how hard and scary it was for soldiers, and how they tried to protect their families from the worst details in their letters home.