After a choppy but uneventful crossing, Edward Wirt and his unit arrived in England in mid-July of 1918. Life in Great Britain during World War I was difficult. Because of the effectiveness of German submarine warfare, which drastically cut Britain’s supplies of food and fuel, and the need to support a huge army in France, the British public underwent severe rationing. Wirt also notices the lack of men. Britain fielded an army that took far more men per capita than the United States, and its losses were enormous: more than 3 million men were killed or wounded. In contrast, the United States lost 321,000 killed or wounded. There are ninety letters from Mr. Wirt to Miss Bartlett in the PVMA collection, some of which are included on this site.
Wirt, Edward Roswell. WWI letter to Emily Gladys Bartlett. July 13, 1918. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, American Centuries. https://americancenturies.org/collection/l01-014/. Accessed on October 16, 2024.
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