Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1917-12-20
SOLDIER BOYS TELL
VARIED EXPERIENCES
Letters to Home Folks Recite
Events in Widely Separated
Fields of Action.

Sioux Falls, S. D.. Dec. ia Mont
rose young man is with a humble OF
other boys at Il concentration camp
near the Mexican border. He writes in
part as follows: I'VE have been hav-
ing the squad drill quite regularly for
about a month and during the past two
weeks have been having considerable
bayonet practice. We arc soon going
to take up bomb throwing and instruc-
tons i'm fighting with and defending
against gas. The infantry. as it is orr
sanlzed now. contains $50 men to a
company. so, with IL companies to q
regiment. you can see how large Il regi-
ment OF modern war strength is. The
One Hundred Thirty sixth tmade up
largely of the former South Dakota
cavalrN) is the most nearly fully
equipped and filled of any regiment in
this division. 1t has not rained since l
came down here n 1T is getting ter
rlbly dry n dusty, n they say it
probably will not rain again before
spring. 1t is so dry and sandy thai al
Storm
Former Parkston Teacher.
Jonathan Weber, a former school
teacher of Parkston and other towns
IN the southern part of the state, is at
tached to the ambulance corps in
france and has been on duty there for
a period of about four months. He
writes an interesting letter to his
cousin I'm Parkston, i'm which he says. in
part: Yesterday was Sunday and 1
didn't know it until i'm the afternoon. I
was on duty and happened to get back
or the lines some distance, so 1 heard
inc church bells ringing, which, of
course, always makes me feel home
SICK. AS far as l have gone in france
! nave seen none but Catholic churches.
l met many of the priests who belong
as stfetcher bearers. They carry the
from the trenches to the posts
IRON where we get them. They also
work about the hospitals. We are al
ways among Frenchmen, though we see
no women and children here at the
'front.' only farther back of the lines"
Longs to See Familiar Face.
: layne III: Caldwell, a Spencer boy.
VINO is Il private in the quartermaster's
writes a long letter to home folks. The
reuter- passed through the hands of the
censor, and here and there through the
reuter- sections have been cut out, but
much of interest was permitted to re-
main. Since the 18th OF May he
WIltes. - have not seen n person
knew before that time. a familiar
race would certainly look good to me.
I m a~nxionsly waiting to lea of the
arrival OF some South Dakota troops,
.hen III surely try to get to see them.
IN a few weeks Il number of us are
gong to get q few hours leave. hire
a car II take a trip up toward the
lines.
French shoes are the only kind Is
sued here, so when our present sar.i-
sons wear out We'll be up against it.
a lad the other day paid 1925 francs,
ABOUT S22 for Il pair. The boys certain
W do hate the French cigarets, so
when the commissary gets some of
American make there is a big rush.
Six Deaths a Day.
Sergeant George Bursvold. n Nols:l
BOY, who is attached to the medical
corps, writes from a troop base ON the
South Atlantic coast.
There are about $500 sick i'm this
hospital he writes, mostly from
measles. but there are quite a few
cases OF pneumonia and spinal menin-
Sltls. averaging about six deaths per
day. Ihat is not very bad taking into
consideration that they are short of
help. There are about 80 to 40 Rec
Cross nurses here. They are a great
help to those who are sick and posi-.
Oily to US who are not sick. AT any
rate, we would welcome a lot more OF
them. There arc rumors that the camr
viii be moved for the winter on ac.
count OF the poor water and poor sew.
erage, but these rumOrs are unofficial
and cannot be relied OH. All l have
to do is to inspect the barracks ant
see that everything is kept Clean"