17th March 1916
“I don’t think I told you about our insect friends here. We are sleeping in dug-outs & they are simply swarming with fleas, lice, mice & rats & many an hour’s sleep we lose with them. They don’t trouble me a great deal but some of the men are red all over with bites & any time they like to take off their shirts then can catch from half-a dozen to 20. I examine my togs every day & so far I have not caught one but very often at night I can feel them advancing in extended order across my back & occasionally one or two start digging themselves in, but by morning they are all away. What surprised me most was the number of rats & mice here. They are racing about all day & all night. It is a common thing to feel them running about our blankets at night & twice they have run across my face.”
Len Shepard – Letter 29 – Suez Canal
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