Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1917-11-09
Soldier Boys Letter

Mrs. o. E. Sullenberger has.
kindly consented to let the Recor-
der use extracts from the interest
ing letters written by her son, Carl
Sul'euberger. for long time con
nected with the Coast Artillery
service, and now in France. We
feel sure these letters will prove in
teresting to Recorder readers:
FRANCE
Oct. IS, 1917
Nv dear Mother,
The same old thing; can tell you
nothing; looks like a big bunch OF
red tape to me. We had couple
weeks wet weather, but the last
two DAYS have been nice. Had a
big frost last night. asked a
Frenchman how cold it gets here.
He told me occasionally it gets
| 20 degrees below zero Then |
thought sure we will freeze this win
ter: found out afterwards that they
call the freezing point (32 above)
zero, so y or Is above is ex;ep-
tionallv cold mere. Had our big
guns turned over to us Yesterday.
Wish | was at liberty to tell you
Just what they are.
One thing, we will have good
Quarters wherever we are, on the
firing line or in rear of it. You
know | told ,ou before | left the
81, ates what kind of artillery we are
and you can imagine from that
what our quarters will be- Expects
10 move into them in adav or two
All new ones, have never been used
so | guess we will be able to keeE
ourselves frcm getting "buggy.'
The kitchen stays right with us.
Think | have seen more aero
planes since | have been here thar
there is in the whole U. S Ast
see lois OF French Zepplines The
aeros are continually scouting
around to keep the enemy from
bombing our camps. Have little
excitement occasionally when ths
report gets circulated that some
enemy aircrafts have crossed tht
Hines, but as yet, none have shown
up. We have no street lights an
I'll windows are darkened at night
The markets seem to be wei
Supplied with meats and veg tables
Most any vegetable that grows II
Virginia can be found here. Quite
q surprise to me to see everything
plentiful so close the firing line.
| walked through the town to-
day and saw about six men IN CIV
llian clothing. Even the men VIII
are too old for the army are con.
nected in some way with the gov
eminent and wear the uniform l
went into an old church that the
Gsrmans had shelled. One explod
q inside and lite ally tore it tc
ipieces. A life sized statue of Joar
Of Arc was untouched. The French
Iconsider it a good omen. 1t is still
standing in the ruins. The statue
Of Christ resting in the arms of {
suppose) the Virginia Mary, afte
he had been taken from the cross
was pretty we'll demolished. Thu
statues are life size, Christ with
holes in his hands and feet, and
gaping wound in his side, al
splotched with red paint to imitat'
blood. Mary's head and uppe
body was blown off, 50 couldn'
tell much what she looked like,
saw similar statues in the Philip
pine churches, only in the Philip
pines they had him laid out in
hearse and hauled him up ant
down the streets on certain st
Something Days.
| certainly feel sorry for the poo
women. They are all that can bt
seen tilling the soil. However,
think the women always did much
of that in Continental Europe al
other heavy work too,
Talk about cred tape censor
ship; we have a young man writing
to his brother somewhere in
France" and his brother writing tc
him, and neither knows where the
other is, 10, 20 or hundred miles
apart. Looks foolish, doesn't ii!
There is continuous stream OF
wagon and auto trains, and soldiers
passing here to and from the
trenches. I never expect to see
such sights again andI hope that
I'm never see it in the U. S. The
horses and men seem in good con-
dition. You should see one of the
truck trains loaded with fresh
meats going to@the trenches daily
The meat is hung up in them just
as in refrigerator cars in the U. S
Young Sipe is still here. Thought
perhaps his mother might ask you
about him.