Somewhere in France – 16th January 1916

I chose this link because I wanted to share my favorite source of research: Correspondence and diaries written contemporaneously with the passage of events. I suspect that many of you will identify with this more than any novel or textbook even though it is taken from another time, another war than the one you fought. One of my favorite diaries was written by a chaplain with the Confederate Armies during the American Civil War. It was full of the mundane details of daily life in camp, on the march, and in battle. However, every few days, when the chaplain was feeling low, he would think of the man who (in his opinion) caused the war, "That Son of Satan, Abraham Lincoln". He would then vent his spleen for a full page until the mood passed and then return to the mundane when he again took up his pen another day. Did you keep a diary while serving? Did you or someone dear to you preserve your letters? Hold them dear. They may be someone's treasure some day...