Corporal H. Williams, D Company, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, with the British Expeditionary Force in France, writing to his mother, Mrs. Williams, College Street (formerly of the Amman Valley Café, Wind Street), on September 12 th , says:
I received the newspapers quite all right. Pleased to have the Amman Valley Chronicle . It is like being at home again by reading the paper, and I hope you will be so kind as to send it every week.
We are still in the trenches, and we are all getting used to it by now. It is quite all right if it keeps fine, but very uncomfortable if it's wet.
We have had a blanket given to each of us now, so it will make things a lot warmer, as the winter is not so far off. We all do our own cooking, and I will make a capital cook by the way I am getting along. If these whiz-bangs would not interrupt, everything is going along nicely.
I received a letter from Walter last week, and he is still in the hospital and getting much better. I am very sorry to hear that one of his chums, Joe Carruthers, has been wounded. Well, let us hope it will soon be over and drive these Germans back.
They have done a lot of damage to this part of the country. When we look over our trenches we can see for miles. Once a beautiful country is now nothing but a wilderness houses, trees, all destroyed.
I was in charge of a party of men the other evening to fetch water from a village about a mile from our firing line, and it was something shameful to see the place. All the houses blown practically to the ground, and the poor people must have fled in a great hurry, because we could see all their furniture about the place.
As we went along we came across a church with hardly a wall standing; all the lovely tombstones smashed to atoms. The most remarkable thing was the Crucifix, standing about 14 feet high in front of the Church, without a mark on it.
We could not remain there very long as we were expecting a shell any moment. The Germans keep on shelling the place. They are nothing but a destructive lot of monkeys; but they will get some iron pills, as we call them, before very long.
We have got some fine guns behind us ready and waiting to give them something to go on with. We go out at night as a working party in front of the German lines, and it is amusing to hear them calling over to us. They are very inquisitive; they wish to know all about us. They speak English very good.
We have got to keep well down, as their snipers are hidden all over the place. They are only watching a chance to have a shot at us. I have drawn a little sketch of a part of the village, so you can see for yourself how the place looks like here.
FIRST NEWS OF AMMANFORD BOY'S DEATH.
In a subsequent letter, dated September 27 th , Corporal Williams writes:
Just a line to let you know that I am quite well, and thanks for the parcel, which I appreciated very much.
We have been in action the other morning, and I have come out of it without a scratch. I am one of the lucky ones. Jack Williams, of High Street, who used to be in Higgs, the barber, at Quay Street, has died of wounds. We were in the same engagement. I am very sorry for his people, because on of his brothers was wounded the other day.
We are still in the trenches, and hope to be out for a little rest before long. Some of the men need it very much. I received the newspapers quite all right, and it is a treat to read the news about Ammanford. There are a good many boys from Ammanford and Glanamman, and they are all very anxious to see the paper.
The next time you send a parcel, please don't put any fruit in it, because there are trees loaded with fruit out here; and we are getting tired of them.
