Kiss the kids for dad, Don’t forget to write

Between 1916 and 1918, Lance-Corporal George Timmins, a British-born soldier who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, wrote faithfully to his wife, May, and three children back home in Oshawa. Sixty-three letters and four fragments survived.

These letters tell the compelling story of a man who, while helping his fellow Canadians make history at Vimy, Lens, Passchendaele, and Amiens, used letters home to remain a presence in the lives of his wife and children, and who drew strength from his family to appreciate life’s simple pleasures, when they were afforded. Transcribed and annotated by Y.A. Bennett, Timmins’s letters offer a rare glimpse into the experiences and relationships, at home and abroad, of a Canadian infantryman. Its story of quiet heroism and the brotherhood of the trenches will appeal to anyone interested in how ordinary soldiers experienced and survived the First World War.