Thanks for a Munitions Worker

Workers making shell cases at Robinsons Basket Factory, Leighton Buzzard, 1914-1918 

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Tuesday 10th September 1916: Many girls from Leighton Buzzard are now helping to produce munitions and it appears some of them are personalising their work by including messages with the ammunition. One girl, Miss M. Underwood of 19, Friday Street, has received the following letter after inserting her name and address into the top of a fuse:

“Dear Miss Underwood, Please excuse the liberty I am taking in writing to you, but finding your address inside a fuse, thought I would let you know that it had arrived out here. I cannot say where it is now, as it was fired into the Hun lines a few hours ago. This Battery has been out here since the war first began, so we have been through the mill a little bit, and nothing gives us greater pleasure than to send souvenirs over to Fritz with the compliments of our munition workers at home, and I can assure you that we are not giving them much rest at present. All of us out here are very proud of the way our girls at home are keeping us going, but we can still do with millions more rounds of ammunition. At present we are paying back a few debts we owe them from the days of Mons, Marne, and Aisne, and I think we are doing it fairly well. I mustn’t forget to thank you for the good wishes; next time I fire I will send a few compliments over to Fritz for you. I must finish now, wishing you the best of luck and hoping you will make thousands of more rounds, and remain, yours truly, G. Randall (Sergt.), R.F.A., B.E.F.”

Source: Leighton Buzzard Observer, 10th October 1916