Frederick W Heath Letters Home

The primary source document I am choosing for this week’s assignment is a letter written by Private Frederick W. Heath. The letter was written in the trenches of Le Picantin shortly after the Christmas of 1914. Private Heath’s family, upon receiving the letter, had the letter published in the North Mail on the 8th of January 1915. The letter was recently found and transcribed by Marian Robson. Private Frederick W. Heath died a Major in London on the 30th of June 1962.

One of the important points that I derived from this letter was how quiet it was at night. Private Heath talks about how “only the squelch of the sodden boots in the slushy mud, the whispered orders of the officers and the NCOs, and the moan of the wind broke the silence of the night.”1 Another thing that caught my attention was how Private Heath talked about

I can’t help but relate and notice that every Soldier daydreams and reminisces about better days. Private Heath was pulled from his memories by the faint lights that were popping up in the German trenches. The Germans were putting up Christmas trees and started to call to the British Soldiers: "English soldier, English soldier, a merry Christmas, a merry Christmas!"2 Another interesting things from this letter were how the Germans were the first to initiate the truce. The Germans put up Christmas Trees, were the first to call over to the British, the first to sing songs, and what I think is crazy, they were the first to get out of their trenches! I know a lot of bad things have been said about the Germans in WWI but that was a very brave, and could have been a little foolish thing to do. Now, the most profound part from