James Cecil Sandercock
1898-1918
4th Canadian Mounted Rifles
Canadian Expeditionary Force
“I guess you will have heard the news of my brother’s death befor this letter reaches you…” Cecil Sandercock, Belgium 1917
August 25th 1917
Dear Mother and Father
Just a few lines, hoping you are well. I guess you will have heard the news
of my brother’s death befor this letter reaches you. Bill and I went out on a
working party on the night of August 23rd. We were both together working
when a shell lit in the trench. Bill was killed. I got a slight wound in the knee.
I was lucky i was not killed too.
Now mother, i will write again in a few days, when the Battalion comes out
of the line.
CECIL
Note from Brian Massey: The letter above is from a postcard sent by James Cecil Sandercock to his parents, Samuel Sandercock and Ann Jackson (my great-great-grandparents) back in St. Marys, Ontario. His brother Bill had just been killed at his side. Cecil himself was killed in action almost one year later to the day on August 28th 1918.
25 Aug. 1917 in Belgium. Letter to his parents in St Marys Ontario about his brother’s death
28 May 1918 in France. Letter to his sister in St Marys Ontario 3 months before he was killed