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Letter from Edward Packe to Mr Hollins, headmaster of his Prep. SchoolDiary entryIn the Trenches 9.XI.14 (9th November 1914) My dear Mr Hollins Thank you very much for your letter & the list of "O.G's" now serving. It was awfully jolly getting your letter, somehow I seem to have been awfully slack about writing lately; but it hasn't been because I have forgotten the Grange. Each summer I have meant to come down & see you but something seemed to turn up each time. Next summer, all being well, I hope to come down. I am writing this in a hole dug in the ground for although we are in reserve for the present & are having a rest, we are by no means out of the way of their shells. I hope you are all as well as I am, in spite of not having slept under a roof for 10 days now & of being practically soaked through, I am flourishing. I expect you still play football & in a way it is rather a pity so much of it has been stopped in England, because what one wants out here more than anything is to be in good training on coming out, otherwise you don't stand a chance. I have been very lucky so far & have not had to go sick. I have walked through one pair of boots, & only slept with my boots & putties off once since we came over (Aug 21st) & I would give anything for it to be my bath night at the Grange. I wonder if Mrs Fishwick remember what a long time I used to be in the bath! Christopher is awfully sick because he has not got out here yet, & I whom he calls a '5 minute soldier' have been out here 10 weeks. I haven't seen Colonel Seeley since the time I wrote that letter as we have shifted a good way from where we were then, but we used to see him pretty often while we were there. I wonder if M.Lambert still comes up for French. I can remember the look of his "rewrite" in red at the bottom of my exercises as well as anything. It would make him laugh to hear me trying to talk to some of the civilians. It may amuse you to hear that I have been raised to the rank of Lance Corporal and at the same time was offered the command of a section, however I refused the command & asked to be allowed to get used to being a Lce. Corp. first before I actually took charge of any men. The Germans are absolute devils, there is no other description that fits them; at least the Prussians are, the others aren't so bad. Only yesterday about 50 were caught wandering about in our uniform. In fact I don't think there is any rule of civilised warfare that they have respected. Rat Miller has turned out quite a good wicket-keep since he left the Grange, as far as I remember he never used to 'keep' while I was there. When I went to Haileybury I missed the coaching that Mr Dobson and Mr Fiswick used to give us & I never seem to have been able to make runs or bowl since. Please excuse very bad writing but it is rather cramped in here & every now & then the Germans send shells over & it makes me jump even now when I'm not thinking about them. We infantry do not like shell fire, while our artillery don't seem to mind it a bit. But we don't so much mind rifle fire, which the artillery aren't any too fond of. It's partly the noise that I think upsets us, it's bound to make you jump when you hear an enormous noise quite close to you when you aren't thinking about it. A rifle is a much nicer weapon, it does its work without a quarter of the fuss. Please remember me very kindly to Mrs Hollins & Violet & all the masters: and thanking you again so very much for your letter. Yours affectionately Edward A Packe Written by Lnc. Corp. Packe on Nov 9th Passed by Censor No.105 Signed by G.A.Putenay (?) Posted at Army P.O. Nov 10th 1914
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