Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-02
LETTERS FROM THE FIRING LINE INFRANC

7 war. but the French are brave, won.
derfully brave, and never think OF
| quitting. They come out of the
| trench covered from head to foot will
mud and blood, and never whimpel
when they are wounded.
Through Gas Attacks
| I've gene through two gas attacks
so far, one from gas shells and the
| other one a regular gas attack. II
the latter the gas rolls along in q
| thick white cloud. which has a sweet.
ish but sickening smell. 1t makes
your eyes sting and if you don't put
| on your mask you would be asphyXi-
| ated. 1t is terrible stuff. OF course
we wear our steel helmets all the
time and are never without our gas
| masks.
At night the road is pitch dark and
Just filled with all kinds of traffic
companies going to the front motor
trucks with ammunit1ons and provi-
sions, motorcycles and autos, artil-
lery, carts to carry the dead, ma
chine gun carts and drove after drove
| OF the cutest. smallest. little donkeys
| you ever saw. They go into the
trenches directly, carrying all kinds
of things. They are wonderfully
trained and when blow my whistle,
which is the only thing you can hear
above the racket, they all, at once, go
to the side of the road.
have been doing this for five days
and nights now, with almost no sleep.
So far 1 have carried over sixty
wounded. Two of the nights it has
ratned to beat the dickens and the
mud is fierce. Once | drove into a
huge shellhole and had to get bunch
Of Poilus to help me out. Another
time on a hill a huge wagon backed
into my car, put hole in the radiator
and tore off mudguard. 1 had to
slide backwards downhill and into a
ditch to keep from getting crushed
and upset.
We have had to move our quarters
that l told you about in my last let
ter because the Germans started to
shell us. We were all eating supper
when a shell hit the corner of the
house and shook dirt all over us. So
we beat it to a haystack in an open
field and waiated for the Germans to
get through. They shot forty tw o
shells and busted up half the houses
before they quit. So now we have
moved to safer place and are quar-
tered in little shacks, four TO q shack.
places for just few minutes, some-
times an hour, at a time; once in the
seat of my car, once on a stretcher,
twice on a blanket on the roadside,
in the abris, on benches, on hard
wooden bunks, sitting up, and all
kinds of places; never once on any
thing soft or comfortable Most of
the time I've been just crusty with
dirt I've eaten anything, any time
l could get it, any way at all. Lots
of times I've eaten with the common
soldiers, drunk their coffee and cheap
red wine, which is all we have to
drink most of the time. as the water
is bad and you dare not drink it.
1t is very weak and won't hurt you,
and besides you've got to drink it,
The doctors make you. They won't
always let you drink the water.
Never n Complaint
In spit of all these hardships, dam
gers and excitement, l am having a
wonderful time. None of us has been
hurt so far and everybody is as brave
as the bravest. You never hear a
complaint and the officers are won
derful. Our post is the most diff
cult and dangerous in all France and
everybody has been praising our Sec
tion for the work we've been doing
We haven't allowed the wounded to
pile up, we've gone through shellfire
to take them away, we've handled
them well and without accident, and
have done more work, most difficult
and dangerous work, than any other
section has done before. In fact, we
are almost sure to be cited, that is,
mentioned in the official report, for
bravery and skill, a nd officially hon
Ored. This is the highest a
section can get.
one place on the road we call
"HelPs Bend" because every two or
three minutes the Germans drop a
shell there, and it is just the begin
ming of a long downgrade in plain
sight of the Germans. We have to
wait and take our chance in getting
by. The road is terribly rough and
all ploughed up and you have to
weave your way between slellholes.
There is nothing but soldiers, SOL
dters, soldiers, as this is the military
zcne. Every conceivable instrument
of war, and tons upon tons of sup
plies. Everything is carried on on
such enormous scale that it is as
founding. When you think that this
is only a small part of it, you don't
see how they do it. Going through
the country you see whole sides of
Mills shot away and just covered with
shellholes, trenches and barbed wire.
Believe me. c'est la vie.
| wish you would send me some
coffee, tea, tobacco, sugar and choco-
late to eat. Those things are mighty
scarce and taste fine after a hard
workout There is no duty If ad-
dressed to the ambulance and 1 do
hope you will send some as soon as
you can.
Am well and not hurt in any way.
think our section will be relieved
in two days, so we will be out OF
danger soon. Don't forget to write
soon and often and send the box.
wish 1 had some of your eats now.
Lots of love,
FRANKLIN.
p. s.: Send the box Care of Min
lister of War"