A First World War soldier writes home to Oshawa

OSHAWA -- Lance-Corporal George Timmins was a British-born member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War.

From 1916 to 1918, he wrote his wife, May, at home in Oshawa with their three children. Sixty-three letters and four letter fragments survive. They tell the story of a man who, while making history with his compatriots at famous battles at places such as Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele and Amiens on the Western Front, was intent on remaining a presence in the lives of his family.

Y. A Bennett has transcribed and annotated the letters in Kiss the kids for dad, Don't forget to write.

The book is launched on Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. at the Oshawa Public Libraries' McLaughlin Branch Auditorium, 65 Bagot St., Oshawa.

For more information, contact Melissa Cole or Laura Suchan at the Oshawa Community Museum at 905-436-7624.