'Goodbye Dear Mother' Letter May 1915

Cork

5^th May 1915

My Dear Mother,

Just a few lines to let you know I received the letter safely.  I am very grieved to hear you met with an accident.  With the help of God you will get well again. I told you in my last letter I am going to the Dardanelles Turkey this week but you did not take any heed of it.  Do not answer this letter as it will never reach me.  

I mentioned that Cecil went away on Monday. I could not get away with him as it was too late to see about us.  I am under orders to go any minute.  I could get home to see you only they might think I was trying to get out of the draft but I am not a coward.  I would rather go first.  I suppose it will be 3 or 4 years before I will be home again .  I hope all will be well when the war is over. 

Well, Dear Mother, you have always been my best friend.  I could never forget you.  If I get killed, don’t forget to claim whatever I have … (illegible)  I think that is all for the present.

I remain your loving son Leonard.

P.S.

Don’t answer this letter.  Pray for your poor son’s safety.

Goodbye Dear Mother and Kit. xxxxxxx

Leonard Carolan did not attend The High School; he was a young man from Kildare.  However, he  is the Great Uncle of his namesake, Mr Len Carolan, a Mathematics teacher currently teaching in The High School Dublin.  The Carolan family have kindly shared this poignant letter with us; written by a 19 year old son to his unwell mother.
His sweet words reveal a youthful innocence and tenderness that one does not often associate with the soldiering life.  Yet Leonard Carolan was not a career soldier, and while he seems to acknowledge in the letter that the war would last 'beyond Christmas', there is a reluctance in his tone, and we somehow sense that he would rather be at home in Kildare, than sailing away to Gallipoli.
Over a dozen High School soldiers died at Gallipoli, and reading this soldier's letter is a stark reminder that for many, leaving home and loved ones was a difficult thing to do, but men enlisted regardless.

Lance Serjeant Leonard Carolan was killed in action, 5th April 1917, in Belgium; he was just 21 years old. He fought at Gallipoli,with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, but survived, and then served with the Royal Irish Regiment 6th Battalion.  He is buried in Belgium. .

Letter and photo are reprinted here courtesy of the Carolan family.