ww1 letter assignment

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Letters from the First World War, part one

How did these men experience the conflict (1915), teachers' notes, introduction, external links.

About this classroom resource

Download documents and transcripts

There are 32 letters and 16 photographs in this resource. All letters have been transcribed, and selected letters have an audio version too. The documents should offer students a chance to develop their powers of evaluation and analysis. Teachers may also wish to use the collection to develop their own resources.

You may spot spelling or grammatical errors in the transcripts as we have transcribed the letters as they stand. Unusual or technical terms have been defined within the text. However, we have not included full images for several letters as these would have proved too difficult to read online. In such cases we have shown part of the letter in order to provide a sense of the original.

Across the online resources Letters from the First World War, part one (1915) and Letters from the First World War, part two (1916-1918)   it is possible to find more than one letter from the same person, or find references within the letters to those who have written. For this reason is it is helpful to see the letters as a whole group to get the most out of them and appreciate the nature of the collection.

Letters from the First World War, part one (1915) is based on the first half of the RAIL record. We have labelled each letter according to a theme from the First World War. For example, some letter writers have detailed their experience of the trenches, injury, or active service in the Dardanelles and India or training prior going abroad. Others have touched on the technology of war, the movement of troops or conditions at the railheads in France. There are three accompanying PDFs, each containing a collection of letters on the themes of the  Dardanelles , training and the trenches .

Railheads were the nearest points to the front from which men and supplies travelled by train and were then taken to the battle line by motor vehicle or horse. The Great Western Railway Company formed four companies of Royal Engineers as many men from the company, including these clerical workers from Paddington, had enlisted to serve. Due to their knowledge and understanding of the railways, many became Railway Troops based at railheads.

Unsurprisingly, in the letters many men showed a keen interest in all matters connected with railways or engines, other Great Western Railway ‘fellows’ and the Great Western Railway Magazine. Some soldiers mentioned having received the magazine or asked for it to be sent out. It included photographs of all those who served in the First World War from the GWR as a whole and employees could catch up on company business and news of sporting or social events.

How to use this resource

• Discuss any of the suggested questions below on a group/individual basis.
• Assign groups of letters on a given theme to groups/individuals in order to explore and interpret.
• Students could curate their own exhibition on the letters based on a theme/question of their choice using additional original material/secondary sources.
• Carry out research on the life of an individual soldier. Our  research guide  can help get you started.
• Use this resource in conjunction with our second online resource including letters from the later war period  Letters from the First World War, part two (1916-1918)  to consider further themes and ideas.
• Student work could be presented via various media for example Powerpoint Presentation, video film, radio documentary, newspaper article, role play interview, poster, blog, web page or classroom exhibition.

Suggested questions:

• How does their experience of the First World War vary among these letter writers?
• What training was carried out before they were sent to fight?
• How did the men feel about their experience of training?
• What can be found out about tactics/weapons/equipment used in combat?
• Do you get a sense of what these soldiers miss from home? Is this unsurprising/shocking?
• Describe conditions for those in the trenches on Western Front.
• What were conditions like for those who were sent to the Dardanelles?
• Can you get a sense of the experience of those who fought in Greece, India or Egypt, East Africa?
• How was the treatment of the sick or injured organized at home and abroad?
• Is there evidence of what the men thought of those whom they fought/or of their comrades?
• Do any soldiers give their opinion about the war?
• Do you think these men are typical of those who went to war?
• Can we find out anything about the characters of the men who fought from these letters?
• Have you found anybody who has written more than once, or spot any links between the letters which highlight particular friendships?
• Considering who the soldiers are writing to, can you explain if this has influenced the tone or style of the letters? Give examples.
• Is it clear if any details have been left out/put in for particular reasons?
• Can you discover a difference between what is being said and how it is being said in any of the letters?
• Which letters have you found the most interesting/funny/moving to read?

Working with written documents

For help on how to work with the letters you could take a look at the  student section  of our website where you can also find a brief guide on working with records.

You could also use the  Start here  section of our website  The Victorians  as an introduction on how to work with the sources, although all the examples in the site relate to the Victorian era.

Working with images

When studying the photographs and postcards in the collection, it is helpful to explore the idea that they were produced to provide a particular message. Pupils ought to consider the purpose and audience for which these sources were intended.

Thus for photographs it is useful to look at key aspects of their composition such as lighting, pose, background, foreground, formality, lack of formality and so on and evaluate the original caption if given. A further group of images from this National Archives record can be viewed on our Flickr board  First World War letters .

Connections to the curriculum

• Key stage 3: Challenges for Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day.
• Key stage 4: History B Modern World OCR: Depth Study The causes & Events of the First World War.
• Key stage 4: History (A) Edexcel: The Making of the Modern World: Unit 1 Peace and War International Relations 1900-1991. Teachers could use these letters to support contextual study.
• Key stage 5: A/AS Level English Literature courses with options to study the ‘War Poets’. Teachers could use these letters to support contextual study.

‘ Well old chap, I am glad I am wounded to get out of that hell, and if you ever meet a chap that says he wants to go back call him a liar ’

These few words written by Albert Edwin Rippington, from a hospital in England, come from this collection of letters from staff at the Audit office for the Great Western Railway (GWR) based at Paddington, London, who had enlisted to fight in the First World War.

What makes this collection of soldiers’ letters so different from all others is the fact that it reveals the stories of a particular group of men who varied in class and education, who were writing back to their colleagues and bosses in the office while on active service during in the First World War. Many men enlisted from the GWR to fight, but these letters come exclusively from those worked at its Audit office. Staff at Paddington covered a range of different roles in insurance, accounting or ticketing for the Great Western Railway.

The letters (catalogue reference  RAIL 253/516 ) belong to the RAIL series (which includes the records of the railway companies) at The National Archives. They are arranged in 12 carefully bound folders, rather like a series of scrapbooks. Starting from August 1915, each part represented what was known as the office newsletter, a collection of letters, photographs postcards, field cards and contemporary newspaper cuttings from those who had gone to fight.

Every newsletter opened with a news section listing those who had written and sent photos to the office and those who recently left to company to serve at the front. The totals of all men in khaki from the Audit office were given too. The news section also provided information about those who had died, been injured, visited the office on leave or been promoted.

The newsletters were circulated within the office departments and read by men when they came home on leave. Friends or relatives who had been sent their own letters or photographs often lent them or typed them out to be circulated as part of the regular Audit office newsletter.

The Audit office raised enough money through collections and the sale of Christmas cards, to create a temporary roll of honour for the office at Paddington to commemorate those who had fallen in battle by August 1915. Photographs of the Roll of Honour were sent out to several employees as their correspondence reveals.

After the war had ended and troops had returned, the GWR was able to quantify the contribution that it had made to the cause. The contribution made by the Audit office was high: 55.5% of male staff enlisted, whereas the average rate of enlistment across the GWR was 32.6%. This amounted to 184 men, 17 of whom lost their lives.

On 11   November 1922, The Great Western Railway War Memorial, dedicated to all 2,524 staff who had died in battle was unveiled on platform 1, Paddington station.

The First World War Digital Poetry Archive includes primary material from major poets Wilfred Owen, Isaac Rosenberg, Robert Graves, Vera Brittain, and Edward Thomas.

The National Archives Teaching the First World War , highlights The National Archives and other resources from the web.

The ‘ A Street Near You ‘ project maps individual soldiers’ records to their homes, globally, allowing us to see who served in the war on a local level.

Related resources

These are all aimed primarily at KS3 and KS4 students.

Letters from the First World War, part two (1916- 18)  Part two of this online resource, which covers the later period of the war.

Great War soldier’s record  is a lesson for use in the classroom.

Great War 1914- 1918 website on the themes of outbreak, experience, peacemaking and remembrance.

All Pals Together . National Archives video conference session.

Soldiers practice stretcher and bandage drill

Somme tales, great war 1914-1918, great war soldier’s record, letters from the first world war, part two, medicine on the western front (part one), medicine on the western front (part two).

• Teaching secondary
• UK history and literature
• First World War

Letters Home

Use this lesson plan with A2 level learners to understand letter-writing during the First World War. 

Introduction:

This lesson looks at letter-writing during the First World War. It gives students practice identifying and using present simple and present continuous tenses through the medium of letters. The letters help to bring the period alive and also provide a backdrop for a discussion about censorship.

Learning outcomes:

• To develop students’ reading and discussion skills
• To give practice of present simple and present continuous
• To introduce the concept of censorship during the First World War

Age and level:  

Time:  .

You can download the lesson plan, PowerPoint presentation and student worksheets below.

• Write the word ‘Letters’ on the board in a circle. Draw lines coming out of it, like a mind map and ask students to tell you different reasons for writing a letter. 
• Suggested answers: thank you letters, letters of condolence when someone is sick or has died, job application letters, letters of complaint, love letters, letters giving a reference. 
• Ask the students which kind of letters are the hardest to write.
• Ask the students if there are some occasions when they still write letters.
• Ask the students if they like writing letters/receiving letters.
• Ask the students if they have relatives who work in another country. Ask them how they keep in contact. Ask them if they sometimes write letters, or if they always Skype/email etc.
• This short quiz is to introduce students to letter writing in the First World War and raise their awareness of the idea of censorship, which will be explored further in Tasks 4 and 5. 
• Distribute the handout.
• Put students in pairs to discuss the multiple choice questions in Task 1 and complete the quiz.
• When students have finished, go through the answers. 
• Elicit feedback about the quiz. Ask the students if they were surprised by any of the answers. 
• Ask them if they would feel comfortable about someone checking their letters before they were sent home. 
• Answers for Task 1: Quiz about letter writing in the First World War 1.a 2.c 3.c 4.a 5.c 6.b 7.a
• This exercise is to introduce students to conditions in the trenches where letter-writing took place and provides a backdrop for Task 3 – Dear Albert: Present tense grammar practice. 
• Hand out Task 2 – Life in a trench.
• Show students the PowerPoint slide show (‘Letters home photos of trenches’) and tell them to circle the adjectives in the box that would most accurately describe life in a trench.
• Check the answers as a whole class. Suggested answers: noisy, damp, uncomfortable, dirty, dangerous, crowded.
• Ask students if they can think of any other adjectives (smelly, cold in winter, hot in summer).
• Ask students to read the letter and decide whether Tom’s life is hard (yes), and ask them if they think they could manage to live in a trench. 
• Tell them to read the short grammar presentation and check understanding 
• Then ask students to read the letter again and find two sentences which use the present simple and two which use present continuous. 
• When students have finished, elicit and check answers.
• Suggested answers:
• Present simple ( Example: We wake up early every morning.) I hope you’re well. I’m fine. It’s very noisy here. We don’t sleep much at night. After breakfast we dig new trenches. After lunch we repair the road. I feel too tired.
• Present Continuous ( Example: Are you working hard at school?) Living in a trench is difficult, but I’m making friends. Right now we’re having a rest. Some of the soldiers are playing football. I’m not playing today. Other soldiers are smoking or cleaning their boots. My friend Sandy is mending his jacket.
• This exercise gives practice in reading skills and more exposure to present simple and continuous. It also prepares students for Task 5 – Censoring a letter. 
• Hand out Task 4 – Missing words. 
• Write the verb: to censor on the board. Ask students if they know or can guess what to censor means (to change or delete something). Tell students that letters sent home from the war were always checked for sensitive information. Ask them what sensitive information might mean. (Anything that might upset/worry those at home or help the enemy). Explain to students that an officer, or someone in charge, checked, or censored all letters. The officer crossed out any sensitive information, so it could not be read by the soldier’s friends or family.
• Ask the students to work with a partner, read the new letter from Tom to Albert and try and match the missing words to the gaps in the text. 
• Elicit answers.
• This exercise allows students to practice their speaking skills and also gives them a hands-on approach to censorship that will help to stimulate discussion during the Extension Activity. 
• Ask the pairs of students to join with another pair to make a group of four. 
• Tell them to imagine that they have the job of censoring the third letter from Tom to Albert.
• Ask them to read the letter as a group and cross out anything that might upset Albert and his family or help the enemy. They are only allowed to delete five words and so they must decide as a group which five to choose. 
• When they have finished, ask groups to feedback their decisions to the whole class.
• Class discussion – Ask the students if they think it was fair/unfair to censor Albert’s letter. Ask them if they feel guilty about censoring the letter.
• Ask students to imagine that they are a soldier in a trench. Tell them to write a letter home using the present continuous and present simple to describe their everyday routine, feelings and experiences.

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Lesson Tutor: A Letter from the WW1 Trenches: a history and language arts assignment

A Letter From a World War I Trench By Melanie Marshall

• Read about soldiers in the trenches in World War I.
• Research the meanings of terms such as no-man’s land, airplanes, and gas masks.
• Determine in your own mind who fought whom.
• Where did battles take place? Where were the German troops? Where were the U.S. troops?

Now write a letter home from the perspective of the soldier in the trenches.

Alternate assignment: Keep a journal of five days in the trenches during an ongoing attack.

An example of this assignment follows, courtesy of William Marshall, 6th grade student.

Dear Mom and Dad,

The day before yesterday, we advanced to a nearby town, which we garrisoned in. We woke up with our eyes burning and the taste of mustard in our mouths.  A call came in that we had just been gassed and to put on our gas masks. They told us that the enemy was advancing and that we would have to protect the town. So we set up everything we had. Unfortunately, we only had about fifteen 10mm rifles with 500 rounds each, one mortar with 100 rounds, forty grenades, and a scope! But only twenty people.

When the enemy finally came, they were huge! We used all the grenades and mortars we had, but they just kept coming! We finally had to retreat, seeing that we were highly outnumbered, outgunned, and we had lost fifteen men. As fast as we could, we ran to our outpost to warn the others. But when we got there, it was deserted! So we ran back to headquarters. But while we were going there, a German plane flew over us and dropped a barrel in front of us. When it hit the ground, all this gas came from it. Unfortunately, some didn’t have a gas mask, for it had been destroyed. Those people died.

Our number was now two and it was ever growing smaller as the Germans were taking us out one by one. We finally reached headquarters at dawn, seeing that we didn’t sleep. They were all surprised that any of us had survived. They took us to the hospital where we have to stay for a while.

Signed, William

For more articles on Language Arts : Grade 6  Click Here For more articles on History: Grade 6  Click Here

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Captain Harry & Bess: Letters from WW1

• During WW1, the only way to correspond with someone any distance from you was either sending a telegram (a short little “blurb” with NOT a lot of information), or a letter. Phones were available; however, calling anywhere outside of one’s city or town was not feasible, let alone from overseas. So, letter writing was done by all, including future president, Harry S. Truman.

By April, 1917, the future leader was an American soldier, a “Doughboy”. He was a captain of an artillery company stationed in France. When Harry wished to communicate with his girl, Bess Wallace, back home in Independence, Missouri, he would write her a letter, often quite long in length.

Assignment: Students will be divided into groups of three or four. Each group will receive three/four letters written by Truman to Bess Wallace. After each person in the group has read each letter, the group will discuss what they read, then answer the following questions collectively. Students will need to choose one group member to write their answers.

Letter writing has become a lost art in our world of instant communication. Students will hopefully come to realize how long it sometimes took to write & receive information from someone they wanted to talk to.

• Analyze century old letters written by a soldier to his girl. In so doing, the student will become familiar with words, terms & phrases which they will possibly not be familiar.
• Come to understand the difficulty of communication more than a century ago. It was not instantaneous such as it is today.
• Appreciate that even future presidents were/are people often just like we are.
• Language Arts: MA1: Students will use agreed-upon rules for informal & formal discussions in small & large groups.
•   MA 2.5: Summarize in a coherent way information & ideas learned from a focused discussion.
• Movie: “Truman”, 1995, produced by HBO.
•  Notes from class

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• Select WW1 letters from Capt. Harry S. Truman, AEF, to Bess Wallace.  https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/papers-harry-s-truman-pertaining-family-business-and-personal-affairs Scroll down on this page to find the exact dates you need
• Dates to be used: April 17, 1918 ; April 28,1918 ; May 5, 1918 ; June 14, 1918 ; July 31, 1918 ; August 13, 1918 ; October 30, 1918 ; November 29, 1918 ; December 26, 1918 ; February 18, 1919 ; March 15, 1919 ; April 24, 1919 ; May 31, 1919

 Questions to ponder.

1)    From what location is Truman writing Bess? Why do you think that does’ he not always tell her exactly where he is?

2)    Can you tell from his letters any feelings that he might have for her? Cite two examples directly.

3)    What is the mood, or tone of his letter? Happy? Sad? Other? Again, cite two examples.

4)    Can you tell from his letter s if she has recently written him? If so, what is his response? Cite an example.

5)    Are there any words or phrases Truman uses with which you are not familiar? If so, which?

6)    What must it be like to wait a month to find out information about someone for whom you care?

7)    In general, what topics does he discuss with her? Anything intimate, at all? Provide two examples.

• Collectively, each student in his/her group will receive both a participation grade & a homework grade for the activity.
• Participation grade based on my observation of each student’s involvement.
• Homework grade will be based on a thorough answering of the question associated with the assignment.

• Research Articles

Letter Writing in America

• World War I Letters

As the second decade of the twentieth century got underway, the fight for freedom became an ever-present theme in America. The Great War dominated American minds and hearts, especially after the United States declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917. As American soldiers began to pour across the Atlantic to help the Allied cause, letter writing provided a crucial connection between these men and their families back in the states. Letters passing between soldiers and those left behind included everything from passionate declarations of love to parental support to the simple daily news of home and the front lines. Often it was difficult for family members to let their soldiers go, but one of the best ways to keep them as close as possible was through a regular correspondence.

Letter dated July 21, 1918—mailed from Paris by an American private writing to his younger brother, pages 1 - 5.

Kate Gordon, mother of three young soldiers fighting in Europe, wrote regularly to her sons, offering them bracing words along with her maternal sentiments. In a letter to one of her sons, she wrote, “And when you do come marching home old fellow bring me back the same boy I gave my country,--true, and clean, and gentle, and brave. You must do this for your father and me and Betty and Nora;--and most of all, for the daughter you will give me one of these days! Dear, I don't know whether you have even met her yet,--but never mind that! Live for her or if God wills, die for her;--but do either with courage,--'with honor and clean mirth!' But I know you will come back to me.” It is impossible to tell which of her three boys Kate Gordon was addressing in this letter, but only the youngest Gordon boy, Jimmy, was killed during the war. The other two did indeed come back to their mother.

Letters not only allowed parents on the home front to support their sons in uniform, they also provided a way for soldiers with their own wives and children to remain present in the lives of their families. Young children, in particular, often have a difficult time understanding the concept of war, and many fathers, uncles or even older brothers overseas worried that the younger children in their families would forget them or get angry at them for staying away so long. General John Pershing, whose wife and three daughters perished in a fire in the family house three years before the United States entered the war, made sure to write often to his only surviving child, Warren, who was living with an aunt in Nebraska. Through his letters, the general tried to explain to his young son what he was doing so far away, and why it was so very important.

In a letter dated October 18, 1918, Pershing wrote, “I want you to know while you are still a boy something of the fine patriotism that inspires the American soldiers who are fighting over here for the cause of liberty.” Having previously promised to use his considerable clout in the army to arrange a voyage for his son to visit him in France, Pershing explained, “I want you to see some of the battlefields of France with me, over which the American soldiers have fought in carrying out the great purpose of our people. It will enable you to realize later in life just what sacrifice means and just what degree of sacrifice our army is called upon to make and which they have made and are making bravely and courageously.” Reaching out to his son through the letters they exchanged allowed Pershing not only to remain close to the growing boy but also to help Warren understand the work his father was doing and the commitment it entailed.

• Early American Letter Writing
• Public Political Letters
• Letters of Westward Expansion
• Civil War Letters
• Manuals That Teach Letter Writing
• Letters of the Great Migration and the Depression
• World War II Letters
• Methods of Communication that have Threatened Letter Writing
• Letter Writing as Art
• The Future of Letter Writing