Dear Billy, Dear mother,

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1 Dear Billy, I am writing to let you know how much I am missing you. I have some good news. I am going to be an auntie. I am so excited about finding out what my sister is having. I am very proud of you, not only me but the whole world. I hope you re keeping yourself safe. You re always on my mind. I don t stop worrying about you. Wishing you would hurry home. Hope you re not lonely. How s it going out there handsome? I haven t heard from you in a while. Really hope you re okay. Hope you re keeping safe and well. I think you are very brave. I know I have said I am very proud of you in the letter already but I am. I think what you are doing is amazing, you re my hero. I am missing you lots and lots. Please, please come home safe and well. Dear mother, I m writing this letter to let you know that I m ok and for you not to worry. I have met some good men over here and have become good friends as we are going through the same thing, away from our loved ones, so we all keep our spirits high. Hope to see you all when we get home. I have your photo and the things you send me from home. It s not what I thought it would be like, as there is a lot of suffering and people dying. They moved me down the trenches, sadly we have lost good men but I m safe and we are all sticking together and trying to keep each other safe. We are proud because we are doing it for the country and for the people. I hope you re proud of me and hope it won t be long before I will be coming home.

2 Dear soldier You stand so tall, you stand so high, I want to hear your thoughts as you watch the world go by. You hear them whisper you hear them laugh but do they stop and appreciate our past? What would you think of the world today? It s what you fought for, what would you have to say? Would you take pride in the choices we have made? Or would you hide and be ashamed of our mistakes? How about your family who are still here? Have they been accepted, protected and respected? What would you do in our world today? Would you be happy, accepting and just say okay? Or would you be angry, rant and shout all day? When I seen your statue towering over I thought will my little boy be there one day. If he is will he be remembered in the correct way? But his mammy will just be happy that his pain has gone away. Dear solider:- I am writing to you to praise you for your bravery and courage fighting in the. I think you are war a very strong and brave man and I really admire your strength. It must have been so frightening for you facing life and death challenges every day and not knowing what each day may bring. I often think about those like you on a daily basis. I think about how you managed to eat, sleep and even focus on your daily activities. As a woman and also a mother I would dread to see my son or daughter have to fight in war for others to survive. I have 3 daughters and my ambition is to become a nurse but I could never face the suffering of front line injuries. I watch the news daily and it s very distracting to see what is happening in some countries today. There are always documentaries on about what is going on in the world and I think everybody should be aware of what soldiers have to go through. It s a very cruel world we live in but I think one day there will be peace. I hope that one day all the fighting in the world will stop and there will be civilisation. I also wish that all your sacrifices will one day benefit others and gave you a safe return home to your family and loved ones.

3 Dear Unknown Soldier. I am writing to you because it is a hundred years since the start of World War 1 and there are a lot of events being held to commemorate this. I imagine that men thought it would be an adventure and a chance to visit different places. I don t think they realised what it was about. The reality must have been awful. In the trenches, cold, covered in mud and surrounded by the smell of death and destruction listening to the sound of gun fire and explosions. They must have felt fear and loneliness missing their families and burying their friends. World War 1 was meant to end all wars but there was another world war and there is still fighting going on today. How many more people have to die? Why don t people realise that war is pointless? War is so expensive. The cost of weapons and soldiers is enormous and this money could be spent on other more important things. There is also the loss of life which is so unnecessary and causes so much suffering. It was stupid and pointless. After a hundred years we do not seem to have learnt much. Dear Unknown Soldier, I write this letter to you as I recently heard you were of to war, so just thought I d wish you luck and hope that you come back safe and sound to your family. War can be a dangerous place. You will come up against a lot of artillery firing from all directions, and there will be people who will not think twice about killing you. To avoid this, make sure you stay down in the trenches and make sure someone has your back at all times. Don t hesitate in getting the first shot out as they will not show mercy to you. Stay safe my friend, hope to see you soon.

4 Dear Unknown Soldier I hear that this year is the hundredth anniversary of the war. It is a sad and happy moment for some people. I also heard that most of the soldiers were all so young. It must have been a very difficult time for you and your family as you were away a lot of the time. I bet you were very frightened being in a war at such a young age because there was so much shooting, bombing and also seeing your friends die right at your side. It must have been a very hard place to been in. At this moment, the war you were in and all other wars have not made a lot of difference to most people as there is still a lot of anger about who s country is whose. So there are still a lot of people dying in wars that are still happening today. I hope you had some time to yourself every so often to write or go home and see your family as they would have been missing you so much especially as you are so young. Maybe you also had brothers and sisters to see and write to I am writing this letter on the hundred year anniversary of the First World War. Too many of the people who grew up after World War 1, still call it the Great War. When you went to war, you were told that it was the war to end all wars. If only that were true. Since then we have had another world war and even more conflicts as they are called these days. Even the way we fight has become much more sophisticated but no less terrible. In the first world war tanks and planes were new. Now they are common place and becoming obsolete and new modern weapons can be used just by pressing a button. The technology we have today would make you think it was something out of a novel of H.G. Wells. Since the first world war ended there has been a memorial every year to commemorate the loss of soldiers like yourselves who have sacrificed themselves for their country, with the moniker of lest we forget. Although we may have not forgotten, we still have not learned anything because there is still conflict. I am sorry I could not comfort you and tell you that you fought for a noble cause. I am not blaming you or any of your comrades but until we, as a people, realise that killing is not the answer, there will always be war.

5 Letter to the Unnamed Soldier I have looked at a picture of your statue in Paddington Station and I have imagined that the letter you are reading is from your mother. I have two sons and they enjoy a lot of different things. They are both learning to play instruments, and get involved in a number of different activities at school. These are things that they have asked to do but I nearly always say yes to any activity they want to be involved in even if it seems a bit risky because I want them to be happy and enjoy every opportunity. Recently, however they asked to join the Air Cadets. I said no, no way; under no circumstances; this was not negotiable. The reason I said no is because I do not want to be responsible for encouraging an interest that may lead them to join the armed forces. I know I cannot always protect them. I know they will grow up and make their own decisions and that is as it should be, but while I can influence their lives, I will do what I can to make their future choices safe ones. I do not want my boys to be shot and I do not want them to face the trauma of having to shoot someone and I will do everything I can to stop that happening. I know that the armed forces provide excellent training and wonderful career opportunities but I would rather they picked litter, if I am honest. So I think of your mother writing that letter. The country was at war so you probably didn t have a choice. I am sure that she was proud of you being a hero for your county but I wonder if she would rather you were less of a hero but safe. I hope you came home safely to her and had a happy life. Dear Unknown Soldier, I would like to thank you and all the boys and girls who went to war and lost their lives. I understand that the war was a very bad one and lots of boys were in the trench. It is a shame that you lived at a time when there was a war. We would like to think you weren t in too much pain and you did get in touch with your family back home. I hope you had some good news and some pictures of your family to help you get over your day to day duties and the letters that you got from home had lots of good news in them. I would like to think a lot of your friends made it home, not too badly injured. As for you, we all think of you as a hero and all the girls and boys that were there and have died. You gave up so much and we do think about what you have done for us. So we all would like to thank you and you will be a hero in all our hearts until we go over to the other side. You will never be forgotten.

6 Dear Unknown Soldier, I write this letter to you as I recently heard you were off to war, so just thought Id wish you luck and you come back safe and sound to your family. War can be a dangerous place, you will come up against a lot of artillery firing from all directions, who would not think twice about killing you. To avoid this make sure you stay down in the trenches and make sure someone has your back at all times. I want you not to hesitate in getting the first shot out as they will not show mercy to you. Stay safe my friend, hope to see you soon.