Remembering a Veteran: Private Frank (Mayo) Lind, Royal Newfoundland Regiment

Francis T. Lind (1879–1 July 1916) Lind, who at age 35,  gave up his successful career as an accountant and became a member of the “First Five-Hundred” Newfoundlanders who signed up for the war effort. Through his highly personal letters home, published in the St. John’s Daily Mail, he quickly emerged as the “Unofficial War Correspondent” of the regiment. 

Mayo as a New Soldier, Second from Left

Thirty-two letters were published during the war and eventually published in book form after the war and reprinted in 2001. His initial combat  experience  was at Gallipoli. He was wounded there and evacuated to Malta. After his recovery, he returned to the Newfoundland Regiment when it was deployed to France in 1916. While in service, he earned the nickname "Mayo" from his frequent appeals for Mayo Tobacco.

Here is his last letter home, written and sent just before moving up to the Somme front.

Sources: The Letters of Mayo Lind: Newfoundland's Unofficial War Correspondent, 1914-1916; NewfoundlandandtheSomme.com