December 25th 1915
Dear Diary,
The darkness of the trench walls feels as if they're closing in and suffocating me.
Did I make the wrong choice? Was this war fever a scam to make us Brits think fighting in this war was fun…
Today is Christmas day I will always remember it in my heart.
Usually we normally only get to eat corned beef and we are required to soak it before eating I can't describe the taste it's just horrible. And to some people, it was the best thing they have ever eaten. Luckily today we got bacon, cheeses and jam to share, all the gun fire has stopped. Though I never realized how quite it really is without men crying and the gun shots down my ear every single second.
My partner sent me their homemade Christmas cookies with a lovely letter from the family telling me about home. However what I really want for Christmas is clean water to have a proper wash. As I'm full of lice and other small insects and it's causing me to be really itchy. I also think I'm getting trench-foot as my feet have started to swell and all the skin's peeling off around my ankle, the pain's killing me. Although that never stopped me from playing a game of football and having fun with the Germans as a truce was called because of it being Christmas day, We spent the full day talking about our families back at home, we became great friends and even swapped gifts and pictures. Some of us even swapped Addresses. However at the end of the day we had to go back to killing them again. There were a number of people refusing but the general said if we don't carry on he will shot us…
How can I carry on? I moaned about them killing a comrade. How can I kill a friend?
Arthur Kirkland
