August 22, 1917 Cable to Bill’s Brother Orville Skilling

Bill sends a cable home from England to reassure the family. Tomorrow I will be posting his long letter refered to here which gives details about what has happened to him.
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August 17, 1917 Letter from the War Office

Without explanation, the War Office sends Bill’s father a letter saying only that he is sick. The letter goes home to Teeswater and is then forwarded to Neepawa, Manitoba where John is visiting his daughter Floss Skilling Guinn. He receives it on September 7th, nearly a month after Bill has fallen sick.

 

August 10, 1917 Notification Card Sent to Bill’s Father

Bill has collapsed and been evacuated to Abbeville Hospital.

 

March 20, 1917 Somewhere in France

Bill writes to his sister Mae exactly 1 year after leaving Toronto. His mood is jaunty as he describes a fine banquet for the Adjutant of the Brigade and his anti-smoking and drinking views.

 

February 24, 1917 Quiet On the Western Front

Bill writes a long letter to his father John Skilling in Teeswater, Ontario from somewhere on the Western Front. He goes into a lot of detail about the pay system, frustrations with sending cables and remarks several times about how quiet it is there. Unknown to Bill, his brother Harold has been shot in the abdomen during the Battle of the Somme. Someone had already written their condolences to him “on the loss of his dear brother” before he learned the truth that Harold was in hospital in England.

 

 

February 13, 1917 Somewhere in Belgium

   

Bill writes to his father from somewhere in Belgium where the General of the Divisional Artillery paid a surprise visit when the Captain was away and Bill was in charge.



February 5, 1917 Somewhere in Belgium

Bill writes to his sister Mae mostly responding to news about the family. He mentions hearing of the death of Lincoln George Hutton, a friend from Victoria College at the University of Toronto. Bill is in A Battery, 180th Battalion of the Royal Field Artillery, British Expeditionary Forces in Belgium.