The Mankato free press., 1917-11-23

are very odd looking. There is a
carnival here. 1t is going all the time.
The town has no street lights, the
only illumination coming from the
stores. Oklahoma City is eight miles
from us. The people there are invit-
ing the soldiers for Thanksgiving
dinner and I do not know if it brings
us boys in,N only hoping so. Sunday
some of us boys took a stroll and we
secured few pictures. The ground
is very dry, and there are quite few
hills around where we are. Going
along we saw some big hills and in
quired what the name of them was
and were told they were the Wichita
mountains. They are very steep and
rocky Below is some water and the
soldier boys were ashing clothes.
They are not allowed to bathe in it
but they heat the water in wash tubs.
We walked along and noticed path
so we climbed up the mountains to
the top. It was very steep and rocky.
After reaching the top, a distance of
three hundred feet, you could see
Camp Doniphan very plainly. We are
in the national guard now and don't
know when we will move again. May
stay here all winter Leo Kaufman
and l are the only two Mankato boys
here. Give my best regards to COM
pany C, home guards, 1 wish I was
with them. Will write again when.
get in the base hospital. Yours truly
Private August Meyer, Care of Base
Hospital, Camp Doniphan, Fort Sill
Oklahoma.
Mr.. and Mrs. G. l.. Wigen are in
receipt of the following letter from
their son Henry, who is now in
France.
Letter Dated October "a, 1871
Dear Parents and All: Here's fol
a few lines to let you know that
am well and getting along fine
hope these lines find you all at home
the same. I have been anxiously
looking for word from home every
time we get mail, but so far not have
received any. Although I know that
you have not neglected writing me
but that the mali in some way is de-
layed.
Everything is the same here as
usual; with a little rain now and
then. But lately it is getting g
little colder as we have had severa
frosts. presume, we will soon have
a test of. what they call French
winter. But then we are surely
we'll prepared for it to come. 1t will
probably seem hard to get used t6
the cold from the first, but we will
soon get used TO it without doubt
r
weather there too.
| We expect to Ea f~o soon as
we have just received some ..o~ses
Our Officers, and non commissioned
officers" are being instructed three
times a week in trench warfare. u
don't doubt but that the whole CONS
pany will be instructed soon. will
be glad when we start to drill as thai
is much better then the work we
are doing now For the past week
we have been working on our new
barracks, as it takes two of them tc
hold our company. There has beer
several rumors about the war COM
| ing to an end. But don't suppose
you can pay much heed to what you
hear. Some say that the war will
end not later than January and
others say that it will be over by
Christmas. BY the word "others,'
I am referring to several of the
French officers who made the re-
mark. For my part, | would just
as soon see the war come to an end;
but if it does not end, we are ready
to do our bit Although I don't
think we would get in the trenches
before spring anyway
suppose you have received your
first payment of the allotment of $l5
from the government by this time
AS vet we have not been paid since
we arrived in France" but expect
| to get paid about the first of Novem-
ber. Besides my allotment which
made out, l have also taken out three
Liberty bonds, that also cost me Sl5
month for a period of ten months
So you see all that / have for my
own use now is SO per and then we
only get paid as often as every two
months. This Liberty loan" is
surely a good thing and would glad
| Iy have taken out even more then
this if / possibly could. You folks
may think that find it hard to gel
along with but $3 per month, but tha'
| isn't the case as we haven't much
need of money over here for there Is
not much we have to buy. All we
have to do is live through this war
and that doesn't cost us anything.
Well, must close this letter for the
time being, hoping these lines hnd
YOU all in good health. Love to all
am your son and brother, Henry
B. Wigen. My address is, M. G. o.
Ninth Infantry, A. E. F., Par. b. {
| NJ, Paris.