Letter sent home from the First World War by Owen Ashton of Llawryglyn, 31 December 1917 [page 1 of 6]

Description

In this letter, Owen describes the cold and the good layer of snow on the ground. He has moved twice since his last letter. The day after Christmas he was working up the line from 6.00am to 9.00pm, with nothing to eat except two small packets of biscuits that he had with him. He was not back in camp until midnight. He is now a long way from the line; they travelled by train for five or six hours, then had a fourteen mile march, with nothing to eat after breakfast and nothing when they got to the camp. According to Owen, many could hardly walk by this time. Owen had a drink of coffee and a piece of bread before they set off. The men ate snow on the march but the fact that they were moving away from the guns kept their spirits up. He mentions a young man from Ffestiniog, whom he had met at Sutton on Hull training camp, who was killed the previous week. Owen had seen him a few times since they were in France; he was in a tent with others, singing, when a shell dropped and he was hit on the back of the head. Owen writes a postscript to this letter - he is going out for a cup of coffee for supper 'Trae Bon, Madam'