WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier

October 7, 2007 3:42 PM

WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier This blog is made up of transcripts of Harry Lamin's letters from the first World War. The letters will be posted exactly 90 years after they were written. "Dear Kate, Just a line to let you know I’m going on alright. We had an exciting time and this time up the line. We had only been in about six hours when fritz’s came over to us. We had an hour and a half of it but we beat them back and they lost a good many men too not many got back I can tell you. We lost #### (pencilled out –censored?) which I’m sorry to say and about #### wounded. I think the mug will be all right for Willie which Jack is getting for him. If you send me anything it will come in very nice the chocolate is very good I should like a bit of cake, if you could afford it really gets crushed so if it is not packed careful. With best love from Harry"
posted by feelinglistless (6 comments total)

Great concept for a blog; I'll be interested to see if he has any reaction to the Bolshevik coup in a few weeks. (It did, after all, remove one of England's allies from the war.) Nice post!
posted by languagehat at 5:01 PM on October 7, 2007

Fascinating, thanks. I'll be sure to send students to it in the spring when I teach WWI poetry as part of Brit Lit 2.
posted by FelliniBlank at 5:06 PM on October 7, 2007

Really neat. It is a great concept for a blog. I'm glad I'll be able to see the story unfold in real time.
posted by mosessis at 9:32 PM on October 7, 2007

That's pretty cool. I wonder what other things you could do in a similar format?

Not a bad teaching tool, and I think taking primary sources and putting them in a familiar format (i.e. a blog) makes them a lot more approachable to a modern audience. That's a great thing in my book, because I can't think of a better way to appreciate history than through primary, personal sources.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:02 PM on October 7, 2007

Pardon the self-link, but my 1947project colleagues and I have been time travel blogging LA true crime and oddball news since 2005, synching up with 1947, 1907 and currently 1927.

Also, there's the Pepys Diary blog.
posted by Scram at 10:22 PM on October 7, 2007

The Brits must have been much more lenient about censoring than the US was (that, or Grampa didn't want to concern his "best girl"). My gramma kept the letters that Grampa sent her while he was in training and then on the ground in France. There's very little mention of military action, and no mention of anyone in his unit being injured or killed. The letters are still an interesting read, though.
posted by jlkr at 3:48 AM on October 8, 2007