Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1917-08-29
SOLDIER IN FRANCE
WRITES DECORAH|AN
". vi. Dawes, Friend of Ole Marsh,
Writes an Interesting Letter
From Somewhere in
France.
BEEN IN DANGEROUS
PLACES RECENTLY
Read About the Death OF Al Palzer
in the London Daily Mail. Says
Stretcher Bearers Are
Bravest of
Brave.

Dear Mr.. Marsh:
| got your letter several DAYS ago
and was certainly glad to get it, Since
July 9th, l have been in active work
hauling up stuff for the French. We
haul mostly shells (75s) and hand
grenades, with an occasional load OF
lumber and barb-wire for entang gle
ments. For the last couple of weeks
we have been working very hard, as
the French have been doing some
heavy fighting around here lately.
We live in trailers, / 1 or IL feet long,
a little over six feet wide and about
5 feet, 6 inches high. They are on
wheels and il we ever want to move
all We have to do is to hook truck
on them Three of us live in one of
these. Our hunks are al in one end.
have the lower one and am rather
crowded. We get called out for u,
IA, and Is hour trips quite regularly
now, but as general thing only
about once every other day. We drive
big Pierce Arrow trucks, two on a
truck. Sometimes our trips are aw-
fully dusty, but at present it is aw-
fully muddy and wet. l have to do
guard duty tonight over our camions
for two hours. This don't come
around more than about once every
two weeks, though, as there are 40
of us and sometimes we take night
trips. forgot to say that l got back
with my Marietta friends. We have
been in some supposedly dangerous
places and heard the shells whistle
and burst. In one pace we went up
to an unloading station one by one
and helped to unload. have seen the
Germans shefling a French battery.
A big puff of black smoke and dust
would rise as big as a house. I also
saw a couple of exciting aeroplane
fights. Black (German) and white
(French) shrapnel break all around
the machines. At night we can see the
fire works at the front. including star
bombs, searchlights, etc. Our work is
attractive AID l like it. We get fed
pretty Wei and when we want to we
can buy eggs or potatoes and cook
them On a gasoline stove, which
makes flame like plumbers blow
torch. 1t certainly makes hot
flame. 1t is made out of the bottom of
a { 3 inch shell.
That Marin Plestina is certainly a
fine looking fellow and l sure hope
he wins the championship. l am glad
that Farmer" Burns boys have en-
listed. The infantry are the bravest
of the brave. Some times the band
boys are used as stretcher bearers.
The Stretcher bearers, (real ones in
No Mans Land) are regarded as the
bravest of the brave. There are more
"Croix de queries" given to stretcher
bearers than to any other men.
certainly will be glad to learn
some more about wrestling l don't
think I'll be much bigger when I get
back, as this is an irregular a life.
However, am taking pretty good
care of myself.
Our permissioIs of leave will come
in a short while. and I'd like to go to
London on mine. By the way 1 read
in the London Daily Mail that AL
Palzer had been killed by his father.
am not coming back to the Unit
ed States at the end Of my six months
unless the war is over. IL l get a
chance to be an officer in this work
Ill stay in this. Otherwise I'll try
and get in the engineers with Uncle
Charley (Lieutenant ColoneD and
Eddie Hart (SergeanD. l also have
a lot of other friends in his regiment.
/ might go into aviation, most OF the
fellows want to do this and train for
six winter months in sunny Italy. We
are not supposed to have lights at
night because of aeroplanes, but l
have them, Otherwise l couldn't fin
ish this letter. Remember me to Mrs.
Marsh, Farmer" Burns, and the
Severes.
Yours sincerely,