Let your sons do their bit

Patriotic letter from a Ware soldier, 1914

Hertfordshire Mercury, December 1914

The following letter has been received from Driver Arthur Akers, by his parents in New Road, Ware.  “Dear Mother and Father, I have been thinking about what a proud mother and father you ought to be, having five sons (soldiers) fighting for their dear country.  You ought to tell every mother of Ware to let her son do her bit, as I know Ware men were never frightened of anything, and I’m sure they would not be frightened of the Germans.  Now the German cannot fight you unless he has got about ten to one on his side, and then they would sooner kill one Englishman than four of the others who are fighting them.  I remember people telling me that Ware men took London people food when the plague was on years ago, and they were not frightened then, so I think the Ware boys will keep the same pluck up now and join the army and navy, and show England they have still got some of their forefathers’ pluck in them. I wish my mother had five more sons fighting.  I feel when I read the papers and see what the Germans say about England, that I would like to get out of my bed and go and kill the lot of them, but I am sorry to have had the misfortune of being in hospital a fortnight.  I think they are going to send me home as I am not getting much better.  As soon as I do get better, and if the war is not over, I shall have a good try to go to the Front again.  Now Hertfordshire, what do you think of the Ware boys now?  Buck up Ware.  England for ever.”

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