Letter sent home from the First World War by Owen Ashton of Llawryglyn, 25 July 1917 [page 1 of 6]

Description

Owen writes to his Mother and tells her that he needs a good rest as he has not had any proper sleep for a long while. One of the huts was blown in before daylight, with men inside and Owen slept in a field last night, afraid that 'he' would shell the camp. Owen is sorry to hear of the deaths of Uncle Cefn Golau and Mr Bennet Owen's brother, and goes on to say

"but it is better to see one being buried like that, than to see the poor fellows is going under here every day [crossed out] well this is a terrible war and not much sign for it to come to and [sic] end, we are in a very bad part here, one the worst I here [sic] them say, and it will be awful here in a few days as they do tell, well I hope we will be out of it, when the Bombardment will be on".

Owen hopes that God is on their side and that they are not going on 'in their own way', he thanks them for the hymns and tells Lizzie that he thinks of her when on the road going up the line; and that he would like to be back sleeping in a good bed without anything disturbing him. He does not know when they will be shelled, 'its awful' he tells his dear sister. He tells his father not to work too hard and asks them if they have had any holidays this summer. He also writes that he may send his watch home as it is of no use to him as some sand has got into it.