Letters of Note: A final message from a son to his mother

The First World War was a terrible time for so many young Canadians, and part of keeping themselves sane meant getting and writing letters to families.

But there was also another kind of letter that the soldiers would write: the letter to their family in case of their death.

Moe Hill of Kapuskasing has that letter from 1916 written by his late uncle Fred Skelton, his mother's older brother.

The letter opens laying out the intent of the message to family back home.

"My dear mother, should you ever receive this letter you will know that I am dead. It seems rather foolish of me to be writing such a letter as this, but some of the boys will see that it will go and it will not keep you waiting so long for news," the letter reads.

Hill said reading the letter gets him choked up, and said he wished he had an opportunity to meet his uncle.

"He was quite a guy," Hill said. "He was only 22 years old and just beginning his life."

LISTEN TO HIS STORY AND WHAT WAS IN THAT LETTER HERE

If you have a special letter to share for this series, you can contact the producer at jan.lakes@cbc.ca