Blog 8

Harry Lamin was a soldier in World War I. He is a brother to Kate, Mary, Annie, and Jack. He served in the 9th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment seeing front line action in Flanders and Northern Italy from the end of 1916 to January 1920. He wrote letters during his time in his Battalion about his war experiences, conditions during the war, and keeps in touch on family affairs. His letters allude to many of the rough conditions we know were prevalent in World War I. For example, the short trousers that they had for the summer months, may make sense when thinking it is hot outside, but when you learn what was in the trenches and what they were standing in, often water, mud, remains, long pants would have surely been welcomed. Also,the letter mentions the trenches being a cramped place where bullets were flying and enemies were constantly bombarding. The secondary source about the battle of  Passchendaele talks of mud so deep they had to take six men to carry wounded or dead soldiers off of the battlefield. This specific battle had approximately 250,000 deaths because of the atrocious living conditions. The men were forced to live like barbarians because they were short of food, shelter and had to deal with over three feet deep mud. The summer that year was the rainiest one on record in years which was why the battle was so drawn out. The mud made for impossible battle conditions and it was the most the soldiers could do to stay alive. Harry seems to avoid going into great detail about these moments. I can understand why this particular battle might have been one he would most happily forget, to see such destruction and to be living in such a horrible environment must have been life altering. Therefore he chose to leave out many of the details for the letters he wrote back home about. He shares the simple things that happen more openly and tries to cover sad moments with a nonchalant response. Specifically when talking about his CO dying he called him a good man and did not elaborate more. I would assume that these letters were Harry’s way of keeping a connection to reality and a grip on his sanity. It seemed in his letters when he would ask for news on such trivial things, it was a way for him to have some peace of mind, that not everyone lived as he was at the time, that there was life happening “normally” even in the midst of the war. His style is shirt, friendly and as positive as any soldier could muster I am sure.

One of the picutre of the muddy battle of Passchendaele

Labor Leader

"When people ask me why are the immigrant families so poor?" I wonder if they are blind or just that naive. They are poor because of the outrageous hours and pay the industry owners pay them. They work until they are hurt or sick, they work hours no sane human would choose to work, and they get paid hardly enough to survive on. I feel sorry for those with families to take care of, they are having to put their children into the sweatshops and are living just to work. THese immigrants all came over to this country in hopes for a better future. They were under the impression anyone could make in America. They did not realize they would be the ones working in factories with little to no guidelines or standards for wages and treatment Therefore, poverty being a part of the immigrant life was almost not a question. They went where they could get work and then were taken advantage of because they were seen as basically expendable. I for one feel that labor unions are a undoubtable art of the future. Once you treat someone as an animal for long enough they start to lose their desire to work for such a leader. No one wants to be poor, everyone just wants a fair chance to make it.