Dear Maurice

Dear brother,

...It has been awhile since we have last written each other. I recall your poem in the previous letter. It almost brought tears to my eyes. This line has stayed with me since I read it: “Till at long last, the Victory won, the terrible price full paid/As mark the crosses row on row, where Vimy's Dead are laid.” I did not realize how the terrible loss of life would affect the future of our city. Mothers losing sons, wives losing husbands, and daughters losing fathers. This will undoubtedly have a lasting impact on Vancouver. I remember you saying “It is not an easy thing to go around among your friends of the day before lying there face up and in all manner of grotesque shapes. It is not a thing you soon forget.” Even though I will never understand the horrors you’ve been through, I want to help you cope and move on. It will be some time until our community heals from the many wounds inflicted upon us from the great war.