Museum, Herald present letter from local soldier

EDITOR’S NOTE: During the First World War, the Penticton Herald published a number of letters from local men serving in France. The Penticton Museum & Archives has assembled a number of these letters from its digitised Penticton Herald database. Over the next two weeks The Herald will run a series of these letters from Penticton First World War veterans, some of whom never made the journey back home.

Most of the letters were written as thank yous to the Penticton Soldiers Comforts Fund, a volunteer organization that sent knitted goods, candy, tobacco and other items to local men serving in France. Other letters were sent to parents and family members with the understanding that they could be published in The Herald and shared with the community. The importance of community, friends and family is a common theme. Many letter writers took care to mention other local men they met, reassuring families that all was well.

The Penticton Museum & Archives hopes that Herald readers will enjoy these letters, which complement the museum’s current exhibit, British Columbia’s War, 1914-1918, on display at the museum until May, 2017. (Letters were not edited.) Penticton Herald February 8, 1917 Dear Mrs. Brown [Penticton Soldiers’ Comforts Association],

I have just received a parcel from the Penticton Soldiers’ Comforts Association and want to thank you and those connected with you for your gift and kind remembrances. I have been here almost three months, but am now discharged and will leave very soon for our reserve base. My wound is quite all right, but has affected my left hand so that it is still somewhat numb and stiff. However, that will come right in time and I will then be ready for another turn at the front. I have spent a most enjoyable Christmas and have, I believe, been in one of the most comfortable hospitals in the country.

With my return to my depot I shall be able to secure badges of my battalion and shall be pleased to send you one as requested.

With all best wishes for a bright and prosperous New Year, I am, yours gratefully,

J.W. Dalrymple Captain James Whitney Dalrymple was killed in action on May 4, 1917. His occupation was given as Master Mariner. He had settled in Penticton and became an orchardist. The Penticton Herald described Dalrymple as “a comparatively young man, with a very sociable and likeable nature and his loss is much deplored”