The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1916-01-16
Canadian Captain Clues
Intimate Account
Of Fighting.

! +
Probably the most intimate touches
through letters home from the
trenches. This missive. written at
first hand, usually come nearer to
telling of the tragedies and comedies
|of warriors life than the reports Of
descriptions of the war correspond
ents.
There are some Keokuk people who
receive letters from the trenches and
they are always priced possessions.
One family in. particular has been re-
ceiving regularly, some singularly in
innate accounts OF the war from a
relative who is medical officer in the
Canadian expeditionary force who has
been with the British army Some
where In Belgium" for three months.
The Gate City has been able to Sc
cure some interesting extracts from
this valuable correspondence, which
| from Canada with the Canadian vol
iunteers last June, and was sent to
| the battle front in October He has
| is a medical officer with the rank Of
.SopSdAis anu ultuOuSll llOS olatAoiSu -
| the first line trenches, is directly to
the rear of them. The wounded from
the first line are brought back to
these stations for their first treat
ments
| With each battalion, which is COM
posed of 1000 men, there is a medical
officer Letters are received here
weekly from the captain at the front.
Tn ofe crNad i6oa IF the
English Tommy's life. The soldiers
serve eighteen days at stretch, six
on the firing line, six on the second
line, and six in the reserve force.
After the eighteen days comes a
| weeks rest in the rear where he re-
ceives a hot bath and a change OF
! clothes, for the first time in his
eighteen days.
story Of Bombardment.
Here is a letter dated from the
trenches, December 10, 1915, telling
of bombardment:
This is rather an interesting
day l think-it is Sunday. We
were walked up early this morning
| by the most terrific bombardment
| have yet heard. 1t was one
continual roar without any cessa-
! ticn at ALL So I jumped out of
/ bed and went upstairs to hole
in the roof from which we can
see the German lines. 1t was
dark and there was continual
flash from the guns around Ypres.
Over the German lines 1t must
/ have been a perfect hell. | could
see the shells bursting. Farther
i back j could see the flash of the
German guns. The prettiest part
of all was the storm Of star shells
which were being fired. These
| 20 IN between the lines, hover In
| the air and burst into very
bright light which lights UP things
for almost a mile around. we
| never had anything like them In
| any Of our fire works. ! could
see the whole country side from
| where I was, there were so many
| OF them. But what missed, be-
ing up so high. was the fact that
the Germans were using gas. We
only got on the edge of it but it
was strong enough to make our
eyes smart and the tears flow and
to give us rotten headaches. Inc
main attack was north of here.
! Our artillery pounded them SO .
that I think they did not follow
it up, but news is not certain yet
We had quite bad casualty last
night-a corporal shot through
the chest hope he pulls
| through all right. The ride In
the ambulance is so rough that
II shakes them up pretty badly
and often starts hemorrhage.
One of my men, who had a
| very close call the other day-a
bullet Just clipping his cheek,