Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-10-02
DR.. PETIT EXPECTS
AMERICAN. FL|ERS.
TO WIN WORLD WAR
MEDIC NOW IN FRANCE
GIVES VIEWS m LETTER TO
PARENTS OF WHAT WILL De
FEAT GERMANY.

The part acroplancs will play il
bringing home the bacon 10 Uncle
Sam, in his present little tilt Will
Germany, is shown by Or Roswell
Petit in his last hotter to his parent,
from somewhere in France"
Petit expresses confidence that Ii,
American fliers viii conquer Germany
as soon as Iney are TUNED lose on tn,
Boches. He says:
This is Sunday afternoon and
believe ! wrote you Just week
ago. Since writing you last we
have moved again, this time into
rather quiet area and we are
located in another quaint old
French village. | have room
over little shop in the VILLAGE
and our mess is in a farm house
just out of town, ! am the only
American that has been in this
locality and the natives are quite
excited at seeing me here; they
have great hopes that America
Will soon end the war. This is
a typical old French town; narrow
streets, brick houses with tile
roofs and dormer windows and
wish you could see my latch
key. It weighs at least a quarter
OF pound, is six inches long, and
turns bolt as thick as your
thumb. Most of the houses have
either hard dirt or tiled floors.
beamed ceilings and large old fas.
hioned fire places. The people
are as quaint and old fashioned
as their houses. The women wear
lace caps and boys ten and eleven
years old wear Bingham dresses.
Back here away from the line
It is hard to believe war is uona
on excent for the soldiers on the
streets, the aeropIanes over head
and the distant pounding of the
big guns. Near is there IN
large aerodom and aeroplanes are
so common have gotten tired
watching them. Frequently there
are a dozen in the air at once.
THIS morning it was bright and
clear, there were eight or ten
machines up and they gave US
great show: diving, circline, climb
ing chasing each other, etc. One
fellow went about a thousand
feet, iooped.the.loop two or three
times, did couple of side turns,
and then corked-screwed down
head foremost for several hundred
feet, righted himself suddenly and
went sailing off at about 90 miles
an hour. It was marvellous.
shall be glad to see Amer-
can planes over here. The more
! see of the thing here. the more
am convinced that the war will
be war in the war and an enor.
nous fleet of airships viii turn
the trick. This is not only my
opinion, but the opinion Of al.
most all Of these men that have
been in it since the war start.
cd. The first Of the week
when the moon was full and the
nights were almost as bright as
day, a lot Of bombing was done.
a German plane dropped a bomb
several miles from here. Forum
ateiy it dropped in an orchard and
the only damage it did was to
blow off the corner of barn and
Kill some chickens. If it had been
a little more accurate. it would
have killed a bunch of soldiers,
and a family living in the house.
Perhaps you know how the farm
houses arc built here: around
three sides of a square, the house
on one side and barns on the other
two sides with the front open and
huge manure pile in the center,
Some sanitation!
! vert over the other day to a
farm house about four miles from
here to see an American that is
attached TO another unit and he
was quartered in one Of these