It Takes Two To Carry A Stretcher: A Letter To Mother From The Trenches.

Even a world caught up in the chaos of war cannot sever the connection between mother and son. Based on actual events, It Takes Two To Carry A Stretcher: A Letter To Mother From The Trenches, is Terra Bruce Productions’ tribute to the fallen, told through the lens of one ordinary Irish family’s experience, interspersed with the timeless lyrics of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, written by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971.

In a haunting, heartfelt performance, Terra Bruce Resident Artist Mark Whelan weaves the story of his Great Uncle Christopher (Christy) McQuail a young man of 17 years from the town of Drogheda Ireland, when he enlisted in the British Army Medical Corps In 1914 to help fight the war to end all wars.

In January of 1916, having recently been retreated from the horrors of Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey, Christy sat down in the light of a candle in an abandoned church in old Macedonia and wrote a letter to his mother (Mark’s grandmother). That letter became the impetus for this video. You’ll hear excerpts from Christy’s correspondence from the trenches interspersed with Mark’s poignant rendition of The Band Played Waltzing Matilda.

It Takes Two To Carry A Stretcher: A Letter To Mother From The Trenches is the story of one family, and of all families affected by war. We thank Mark for sharing his family’s history with us. And we dedicate this video to all who fought and served with honour, including those from Newfoundland and Labrador and the rest of Canada. They too sent letters home to mother from the trenches, and you’ll find two beautiful examples below.