Etc. -- Young's letter to Cook
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A lightly edited transcription of a page 3 article in the 19 Sep 1918 Simcoe Reformer newspaper.

Found Own Letter on Battlefield
Pte. J. W. Young Writes to Toronto 
of a Peculiar Experience
Toronto News

To pick up on the battlefield in France a letter which he had mailed in England to a friend at the front four months earlier is the novel experience of Private J. W. Young, a 1915 graduate of the University of Toronto, recorded in a letter of inquiry to a sister of his comrade.

The letter was found on the Amiens battlefield shortly after the famous 8 Aug 1918 battle. 

The soldier to whom the letter was addressed was wounded in that action, and Pte. Young will be so informed, as his anxiety over his friend's fate was aroused by the discovery.

Whether the letter actually reached its destination is not known for certain, as verification cannot be made until inquiry is made of him.

The addressee is Pte. C. Earl Cook of Port Rowan, Ont., at present in hospital suffering from wounds in the left leg according to a cable of 21 Aug 1918.

Sending a crumpled and partially burned leaf of the letter to friends here, Pte. Young merely comments "I picked up a letter here on the field which I send to Earl four months ago, and am sending part. Is it not wonderful? Have not heard from him for a long time. Will send you this piece for a souvenir."

Writing to Pte. Cook's sister, a teacher in a Toronto business college. Elsewhere in his letter of 16 Aug 1918 to her is evidence that the "find" was made in recaptured territory, for he writes that he had been translating  German letters as they were taken from the pockets of enemy corpses which lay around. He does not indicate that the other letter was found on a German.

The pages which have been sent back tell of Pte. Young's hopes of transfer from the P.P.C.L.I. to the 54th Battalion to join his brother, Pte. Frank Young, formerly a school teacher near Boston, Ont.

After writing in April from Seaford, England, the author joined the 54th in France in May and found the letter between Aug 8-16, not having heard meanwhile from Pte. Cook.

The whole series of coincidence -- although much is yet to be explained -- is considered as remarkable as the fabled experience of the draftee in this city, who, finishing a tunic at the tailoring bench, put a slip in the pocket bearing the words "Good luck to the wearer," only to find the same message in his own handwriting in the first brand-new tunic which he donned.

Private Young, a son of Mr. W. Young of Hatchley Station, Ont., graduated from university in modern languages and later trained with the C.O.T.C. and at Exhibition Camp, before going overseas last year. 

Pte. Cook's father is lighthouse keeper at Long Point. He went from the 133rd Norfolk's Own to the 14th Royal Montreal Battalion.

The two soldiers concerned are in different divisions, as well as different battalions, and the part taken by the various unit in the Amiens area being, as yet, unrevealed, the explanation of just how the letter came to be on the field where is was found is awaited with interest.

There were millions of men in the thousand of square miles of the British area on the Western front, any one of whom might have found or destroyed the letter. It is a remarkable coincidence that the writer arrived in France in time and came to the right spot and then noticed his own writing.


 

Copyright 2015 John Cardiff