The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1917-09-25
SOLDIERS letters
SOUTH DAKOTA BOYS WRITE OF
EXPERIENCES IN 81 xNICE
OF UNCLE SAM.

Pierre, Sept. 25.-The South Da-
kota soldier boys are good letter
writer's and are keeping the people
at home as well informed of their
activities as the censorship will per
nit. During the last few days letters
have been received from number OF
them. scattered in many parts OF the
world. Extracts from these letters
are interesting and throw new light
on the activities of the South Da-
kotans.
w. Eggers, Huron boy. who is in
Europe as a member of the Ameri-
can evolutionary force of engineers,
describes parade of American sol
diers through the streets OF London
in which he participated. The parade
was reviewed by King George.
FINALLY we passed him (the
king). ." he writes, where moving
nicture machines were taking our
pictures. and every one of us with
smile on his face We have contract
ed the habit-to cover sadness with
smile. to Joke when we are hurt.
Those Germans cannot hurt us, ana
although we are engineers. we have
the hardest part to play in the war
We would be very willing to go to
the trenches, but our services are
more valuable as engineers. On the
streets of London one sees wounded
soldiers by the hundreds. the people
fnr
heard of one woman who went among
the wounded even in the trenches
where the bottom of her skirts be
came covered with blood from pass
ing men torn to pieces from gunfire.
Eggers saw service as a regular on
the Mexican border.
Patrick Slamon, a Worthing boy,
writes from France. He is a mem
ber of Company F, Eighteenth United
States infantry. presumably part OF
Pershing's army. He writes in part:
Il haven't located my brother yet;
don't know whether he is over here
or in the states My other brother,
who is in the coast artillery, is still
located in Rhode Island. They do
most of their harvesting here with
scythes, although | saw two Deering
binders here and they were both
three-foot cut. They are heavy on
raising grapes here and you can swim
in wine and champagne. The horses
and cattle are simply grand.
Karl Bleser, Milbank boy, has
had an interesting career during the
last two years. AS a member of the
Minnesota field battery he was
among the men who went to Mexico
last year, and spent several months
on the border. He had not been
home a great while when war on
Germany was declared. and Bleser
was not slow in again getting into the
service, this time as marine. For
some months he was stationed at
Mare island, near San Francisco, but
recently was transferred to Philadel-
phia. and from there to Cuba, where
he is now stationed. He likes the
service very much. In his last letter
to the home folks he says he has be
gun target practice, and that out OF
so shots at 800 yards he scored 45
bullseyes, and 60 out of rs at 500
yards.
Otto Osmondson. Hugh Wood and
Roy J. MADEIRA, other Milbank boys,
have been assigned to the Thirty
fifth company of marines. and now
are undergoing training at a point
on the south Atlantic coast
I'VE have wooden sleeping quar-
ters," writes MADEIRA. iron cots with
springs. mattresses, pillows and COW
ers and an elegant system of shower
bath facilities and use salt water for
all purposes except drinking, as we
are right on the ocean front Our
clothing allowance is very liberal and
we have different articles issued to
us every few days. We have three
service uniforms now and all articles
that go with them. Later we will get
an olive drab and also blue uni
form. At present we are dressed
somewhat similar to the regular
army. We will complete our train
ing on this island in few weeks and
then go to a point in Virginia and
study the French methods of modern
warfare, and from there the rest is q
mystery. We either go to guard navy
yards in the east, 60 on the big yes
sells as ship guards. or to France
We have some big men here. includ
ing Congressman Denby, of Michi
gan. who resigned in April and Went
into the service as private; also ths
secretary to Senator Tillman is in ouI
company and sleeps on a cot adjoin
ing mine. We also have several Cor
nell university men in our company
Have a trap drummer off the Hippo
drome theater job in Chicago, ant
other good musicians in the com
pany."
Clarence C. Rhinehart. ParkstoI