Letters from Samuel Bodger

Samuel Edmund Bodger, gunner Royal Garrison Artillery, trained at Portland when he enlisted for the War. His wartime correspondence with his family offers glimpses of his life at the front.

In his letter written from the trenches the day before the Spring Offensive, March 20th, 1918, he complains about a girl's failure to write to him and mentions picking flowers in the trenches. He encloses a dried leaf (violet) and a butterfly. These were subsequently kept in the family bible.

Samuel also sent some embroidered postcards home which have been kept and displayed by his family since.

This story and the letters were shared by Samual Bodger's niece, Hazel Mills, through the Europeana 1914-1918 online archive.