Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-10-03
SEYMOUR RACE
WRITES ANOTHER
LETTER FROM c. Z.
TELLS OF EXPERIENCES HUNT
ING WILD HOGS IN SOUTH
AMERICAN JUNGLES
Fort Sherman. c. 2.

Sept. %, 1917.
Dear father and brothers:
Having received no answer from
my last two letters which | wrote
while at Empire, / will again drop
you line in the hopes of this time
receiving an answer.
We are now stationed at Fort
Sherman on the Atlantic side of the
canal across the bay from Colon. l
like it here much better as the climate
is little better and being stationed
as we are, right on the bay, we have
plenty of good swimming. / also
have caught some fine fish and it is
great sport, this fishing down here
in the tropics. There is an abun-
dance of all kinds of fish.
Our barracks are located in the mid
die of a big cocoanut grove and we
have all the cocoanuts we can eat.
l made myself pair of climbers and
| wish you could see the way l go up
these trees.
! must tell you of a hunting trip /
took in the jungles last week. There
was a party of we fellows and we
went back into the jungles about ten
miles. In some places the Jungle is
very thick and we had a hard time
to get through but we wanted to get
as far back as we could as the hunt
ing is better. Between the four of
us we killed wild hog, deer and a
mountain Lion. killed the wild hog
myself. There was enough meat to
make a nice meal for the whole sqad-
ron. The deer in this country are
small but pretty plentiful.
l have been pretty busy for the last
three weeks. Starting a new squad
ron you know means some work. l
am in the supply department. / like
the work and am getting along nicely
with it.
From what l can read there is
plenty of excitement in the states now
about who is going to enlist and who
isn't. Well / am glad that / am in
the army and especially glad that
/ am in this branch of the service. 1t
is absolutely the best branch of the
army. There is better chances of ad-
vancement. the work is more agree
able, and in fact the general condi-
tions are much better than in any 9TH
er branch. We have all been held
back for some time on account of not
having any machines but we have fin
ally gotten two and things are begin
ming to move along.
We have had quite time with
bunch of Australian troops who stop
ped here on the way to the front.
There were six boat loads of them
and they were anchored in the har-
Dor for about week. They would
come over here in small boats to the
beach to swim. They were pretty
good bunch of men as a rule and all
seemed to be happy. Some had been
over before and were going back.
think once would be enough for me,
don't think there is any chance of
this squadron ever getting to France
as we are down here for canal protec-
tion.
There has been several hospital
ships pass through here on their way
front and from the looks of most of
those poor fellows the shells are
pretty thick over there. Well, | don't
know, but don't think the Germans
are weakening very much and think
it is to be a long war yet. I think
things will change some next spring
when the Sammies get into action.
They are getting some good hard
drill and should be in good shape for
the trenches next spring.
wish you would give the editor of
the Banner my new address. 1t is:
"Fort Sherman, C z, 7th Aero Squa-
dron." | haven't been getting my
papers since we moved down here.
| enjoy reading them verv much and
wish yeu would see that he gets my
correct address. Another thing /
wish you would do. If you ever see
Johnnie Arbuckle | wish you would
get his address and send it to me as l
want to write to him.
How is Albert making it on the
farm? And how is Aunt Jane. /
wish when you write you would give
me all the news. | wish you would
send me some postal cards of the silk
mills and will send you some Of the
canal.
Well, will close for this time and
expect to hear from you soon.
Love to all,
n,x D.o1