Dear Doris: the letters and the diary
Between February 1916 and October 1918, Murray Robertson wrote to his cousin Doris in California. The site holds eighteen items from that correspondence, including one letter from Doris herself. This path reads ten of them, several beside what he wrote in his diary on the same days.
- 1. February 26, 1916 To Doris
“Every thing is very quiet along the Canadian front just at present”
In the diary“General atmosphere of something impending.”
Both written the same day, while he was laid up after a typhoid inoculation. This is his first letter to her in the collection.
- 2. March 20, 1916 In the diary
“Censored some mail, retired early.”
A Field Service Post Card let a soldier cross out ready-printed phrases and write nothing else, so no operational detail could reach the enemy if it was intercepted. The same day’s diary entry has him on the other side of that system.
The Field Service Post Card he sent that day → - 3. July 1916 To Doris, July 30
“It seems as if my head is too thick to be penetrated by mere shrapnel.”
In the diary, July 23“Persuaded me that I needed a rest.”
The letter says he was “ditched with a shrapnel wound on the forehead.” The diary, which has no entries for July 18 to 22, puts it far more mildly: on July 23 the medical officer has “persuaded” him he needs a rest, and he is sent to a clearing station.
- 4. January 1917 In the diary, January 4
“Well here I am a bloomin’ M.C. and lord only knows what for.”
To Doris, January 10“I don't know what the mischief I ever did to deserve it.”
Later in the same letter“The only reason I came was that I was afraid someone would say I had cold feet if I didn't.”
The Military Cross is awarded for gallantry in the field, and in both the diary and the letter he says he cannot think what he did to deserve it. The letter then undercuts the honour himself: his feet, he jokes, get colder the closer he gets to the front line. It is a very different picture of himself from the one the decoration records.
- 5. February–March 1917 On the loose sheet, February 26
“Hit 12.20”
To Doris, March 15“a bosche sniper plugged me thru the neck”
The notebook page for February 26 is blank except for the words “Written up sometime afterwards.” The entry itself is a few fragments of pencil from a loose sheet, and the next day’s note on the same sheet has him leaving for a casualty clearing station. The letter, written from a hospital run by the Duchess of Westminster, tells it.
- 6. Letter · November 19, 1917
“The artist was one of my warriors who is a signpainter in civil life.”
A Christmas greeting to Doris, with a drawing by one of the men in his unit, who painted signs before the war. The drawing is of a ruin.
Read the letter → - 7. Letter · January 17, 1918
“I can't see anything either tragic or heroic in a fellow's joining up.”
The longest of his letters to her. In the same letter he tells her that most people call him “Red,” and explains the Military Cross ribbon and the two gold “gore stripes” on his sleeve, which are for wounds.
Read the letter → - 8. February–March 1918 Doris wrote
“The things that to you are the common occurences of life, are, to us who are far away from such things, very interesting.”
Murray answered, in notes on her letter“Our duties consist chiefly of supervising Tommy's efforts at digging, wiring, etc.”
The only letter from Doris in the collection. He answered by writing on the back of it and in notes keyed to her lines, including an explanation of what a “sapper” is.
- 9. July 9, 1918 To Doris
“They call me "The Admiral" now as I command the Divisional Bridging Unit”
In the diary“Hadn’t realized till then how much I wanted leave”
The letter tells her about his new command, with its pontoons that the men call “the fleet.” The diary entry the same day is a trip to Boulogne.
- 10. Letter · October 10, 1918
“I sort of dread the finish and going back to the old life.”
The last letter in the collection, written in the weeks when the diary is mostly silent.
Read the letter →
The diary’s last entry is on December 2, 1918.