I can't remember how much I wrote or just what I said in the first letter. A lot we were not allowed to say you know. My pay book I lost that day [of battle]. I could see what was happening and saw little show of getting out so thought I'd hide on my person a 100 Marks & 75 Lirea that I had picked up in my pay book and photos. They would have been useful in a prison camp if I could get them inside. While I had my pay book out things happened fast and a 3" mortar shell landed close enough to me to cover me with dirt and rocks and the first Hun infantry came over the ridge 20yds from us. We shot the Huns and cleared out in the gathering dusk and when I reached B Echelon [body of troops] my pay book was missing. Whether I dropped it when the mortar landed or lost it from my pocket later, I don't know. As for my watch I had just broken the strap and had to put it in my pack and all the packs were on the platoon truck. The truck went up in smoke the next morning. I was flying too fast for me to risk salvaging even a keepsake from you darling. It took enough effort to get up and run when old Cappy Brown [Captain Brown] gave the order to the poor remnants of us to get out as best we could. I'll never forget a moment of the mad scramble that followed. It was hectic.