Letters From the Front

Dated: March 21, 1918

Halifax, March 21, 1918

On my way overseas I arrived here on the 20th, and I've had an auto drive thru the area destroyed by the awful explosion. It surprised me, for I had expected nothing quite as terrible. Miles of homes, workshops and factories have simply been wiped from the map, blown to pieces. The number of deaths was frightful, for bodies are still being recovered. For one to try to describe the enormity of the catastrophe is impossible. To realize its magnitude and nature you must see it for yourself. Old soldiers say it was worse than any battle and a snowstorm which followed made life to the survivors unbearable. The hospital presented harrowing scenes, people dying on the operating table, others dead before reaching it, lay where they fell, for the rush and necessity was so great that their bodies could not be removed for days. Tho I read the newspapers describing the smash, I had not comprehended just what it meant. I saw a little girl with a distorted face, the doctors had put more than 200 stitches in it. Many are blind. The relief committee, soldiers and doctors did heroic work and are continuing it. Buildings have been erected to house the destitute and more are going up.

Leslie