Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-11-03
FORMER LOCAL.
BOY DESCRIBES
SCENES IN WAR
1ncidently> Sergeant Sends
Thanks from Front For
Smokes" Sent Him.

Smokes" Sent III"
Among the scores Of letters receives
from the boys who have neen ~ ~
smoke Of battle .soaIIsT' or even
rrIs aa IN the power Of simple de-
scrsntion of the dread scenes vs.
Sn,,e Sone through, one received I'M
week by Martin r. Mayer from se ~.
ssnt r. II. Shipley, now g eonVaAeeen y
N TootinR hospital, London. A
mis- IA the third time
shinlev has been the victim OF "6er-
man frightfulness'-and u has
ighting spirit is undaunted n A.
anxious to recover that ne may nav
another try at them. 49,
Formerly OF Grand Forks.
The letter is particularly inseiesst
because Of the fact that se{Sea,n.
Shipley was formerly q Gran4 ILL., III.
how and has many friends in this cry:
Ia was connected with the Great
Northern railway for some years,
starting as q call boy and Afterwards
Incoming an operator in the dispatcn-
er's office. He later went on the ROAD
&c q hrakeman on the runs with Nj.
MAYER. to whom his letter is ddress
ed. He went to Canada about tnree
years ago and enlisted in n OF the
first ex~peditionary forces senk 70
France from the dominion, oelng IN
the signal service. He has peen IN
| France now some two years, ana re-
ceived his promotion from the ranks
through his earnestness Of service and
personal valor. s
Told OF First Round.
-,o,,;ono 1otfnr written july
IA. he told of his first wound which
sent him to a hospital, when no was
wounded in the right arm. hip M
ankle. during the affair Of April .
and TO-" He was back in the line In g
short time then, with an advanced
; battery as a signaller at Vimy Ridge,
| and was in the first wave that went
lover the top" He said there was
Eenough iron flying about to start q
few foundries," adding "of course
someone generally gets hurt when
accounted for his having the time to
! study wireless before he returned to
duty.
Sergeant Shipley's latest lettef tells
Of his experiences at Lens in the
vicious fighting about and in that
town, where the Canadians again COW
cred themselves with glory as they
had on all previous occasions when
there was real work cut out for them
which was quite often, as h rec
ords show. The letter shows in full,
except for one place where the CEN
sors' scissors slashed out a portion OF
one page: !
London, Oct. 9Th, 1917.
My Dear Friend Martini :
Your dandy letter with the others
attached received 0. K, and was in.
deed glad to get them.
On Aug. 18th, at Lens, was wound
ed and gassed and am Still in footing
military hospital, ward a., Church
Lane, London, S. W.T.. 4.
So the cigarettes and the mail you
sent reached me while in bed. I've
been in some scraps-but this last one
was about the worst I've tackled. They
used the whole works-gas, boiling
oil. liquid fire, atrial darts, airplane
bombs and a few other odds and ends
That go to make up a pass into hell.
There were fifteen thousand dead
Fritzies in No-mans land-and 1 guess
they are not buried yet. Three or four
OF U boys sprained their wrists and
caught bad colds. y, a. -
lHere the censor got in his work.)
our artillery was something terrible,
That volume of sound will never be
reproduced. How any one aver lived
on the other side is beyond me. And
don't think for a minute that old
Fritz" cam perform either. I've seen
sights that l don't care to sven think
of-llttle less speak of. It's beyond de-
scription.
Those G. A. R. boys were playing
checkers along side of this game.
They filled my hide full Of iron at
Vimy Ridge last April and mussed IN
my hair at Lens. But he will have to
come stronger than hat if he wants
TO Keep me off the pay roll. Soon as
I'm Wen and If they don't send me
nome IN take another crack at him
We haven't got the word "peace" IN
Old Bill tied into The
wrong bunch this time.
= r,!z. doesn't like to mix with the
Wonder what he will think
"nen ne bumps into that U. S. gang
NO use talking, Fritz is rotten p
me core. He will shell a Red Cross
nag or a hospital just as quick al we
"oulo an ammunition dump.
re mas Deen raiding London repu.
q SIX Imes in succession last week.
~ Gan put ING wird up the women
ava b. s sr;.u ne only keeps us chaps
aMahe with his confetti and bricFA
that he drops, ~"" oitcAs
VIII tell you all about it on nv No
urn, ana as soon as I'm able to ha
ap0ut VIII send you some pictnrSs
London is some village.
MANY hanks for the smokes ara
mention me to the bows. ana
Yours,
Ship,
sNote-0bserve how appreciat;v.
ssnt e.ant SIMPLIFY was of "smokesY
20 sen. 10 MIN, and let it be an %incentiva
AID as sn, your contribution to. The Her.