The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-08-30

and tragedy. Stationed, at the French
front near scissors, he is driving an
ambulance for the Allies and is exner-
lencing all the thrills that come to the
men II this perilous branch of service.
With a keen eye for details and high
appreciation of signifcances he has
written running account of his life
under fire, to his grandmother, Mrs.
Rouse Simmons of this city. Extracts
from the letter are given below.
French Repulse Germans in Air Raid.
This sector of the front is extreme
~ active at present and I we gotten so
used to the continuous artillery roar
that L don It notice it any more. The
most active time for fighting is of
course at night and from camp and
from our truck on the road we some
times get great view Of the proceed
ings.
We are going out tonight on an all
night convoy and expect to see some
excitement
Day before yesterday we carried
rs shells, 468 shells in each trunk, up
to within three kilometers of the
trenches. 1t was unusually quiet at
the time and we didn It even see a shell
burst.
"Later-Last night I witnessed the
best thing we seen since arriving here
"a night air raid by German planes
repulsed by French anti-aircraft guns
and war planes. About IL m. some
body in camp saw it begin and woke
the rest of us to watch it. When we
got up the whole sky to the north of
us was lit up by at least 20 giant
searchlights and hundreds of star shells.
It reminded us strongly of a fireworks
exhibition and the San Francisco Fair
combined into one. The lights were all
concentrated on one point at times,
where we could see aeroplaAes wildly
looping and circling round and round.
The anti-aircraft guns were pounding
away like mad and shrapnel shells
would burst all around the machines
with loud explosions.
"Gradually the machines got nearer
and nearer camp and we thought at
first we were in for an attack. The
Frenchmen, as usual, got wildly excited
and ran around jabbering all sorts of
things. However, the German planes
were soon beaten off and we went back
to bed.
"Things like this are happening
around here all the time but this is the
first time I we had a chance to see a
real fight It's about time $3.50 p. n.y.
for the convoy to leave, so I'll have to
cut this short and write longer letter
next time.
Makes Best of Worst.
HWe've been ushered and moved
around so much lately that / haven't
had a bit of time off to write letters
Even when we have had let-up L we
been too tired. We are moved now into
our new camp about ten kilometers
from the front and have started the
real business Living conditions are
certainly warlike. am living in
little shack on an unprotected hilltop
with three other drivers. The shack is
made of tar paper completely on a
fimsy lumber frame and has no floor
except the ground. On top OF that
comes the fact that it is just large
enough for four canvas beds, has only
one window and is too low for me to
stand erect in.
cone thing about Northern France
have discovered is that, summer or
winter, it rains about three out Of ev-
cry five days. Consequently the roads
and camp grounds Gncluding our fioor)
are a sea Of mud most of the time.
hate to think what things will be like
in winter time. No fires or night lights
are allowed on account of air raids.
"Next, the food is absolutely rank,
the worst I ever tackled in my life, and
handled abominably by dirty French
army cook. We are working so hard,
though, that we have to eat something
and this is all we have. The chef
(chief of section, the French equiva-
lent for ieutenant) has spromised us
that it will be improved and a delega-
ton of fellows has been appointed to
clean out the kitchen and give the cook
bath once a week; so hope it will be
better soon.
"Our cars have been assigned to US
and they are rather disappointing.
They have been in service since the
beginning of the war, driven by French
| drivers who We're careless about their
upkeep. However, we have all been
working hard fixing them up and they
are improving every day. All these
difficulties anyway are really only a
part of the game and [ expected few
of them to be even greater. It's all a
part of the war life and can It be helped
War is More Work Than Romance.
[ The camp life here reminds me
lot of the summer spent at Culver ex-
cept that it is more serious and a great
deal harder. There IS the war atmos-