Prisoner of War

My dearly missed wife,

How are you? I truly miss you so very much. I’m quite surprised I’m still alive but my fellow boys and I have fallen into a weekly routine. I’m used to the strong odour, the pests, the scarce food, everything. I am just thankful I am still alive. Today, we have captured some German soldiers. Surprisingly, our General has decided to put them to work. My colleagues have informed me that the German and British army has an agreement that no POW’s will be used at front lines. The soldiers we have captured will first be shipped off to Germany and then be assigned work and paid with a salary equal to how much a soldier of our own would receive. Most of the German soldiers captured are well treated in England. Some are sent to our home country in Canada. They will work around the Northern Ontario and Quebec region, building roads, railways etc. Unfortunately, our soldiers have also been captured by the German army and they are not treated as well as our prisoners of war. They are not given enough food, and mistreated. Some of them are starved! This way they are so weak, and the Germans expect them to work?! It boils my blood to hear such cruel things. But again, I must remind myself, at the end we are all humans and no one deserves to be punished.

 

Jacques DuBois

 

 

Sources:

Canadians at War 1911-1918 By: Donald M. Santor

World War 1: Prisoners of War - Wikipedia