Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1917-11-16

Sullenberger for permission to use the
following extracts from recent letters
written by her son, now in Fl ance.
SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE
Oct. IA, 1917
My dear Mother:
About the only thing can say
of interest to you is that | am in
excellent health, getting plenty to
eat and have good place to sleep.
The censorship is so very rigid that
one can hardly say anything, you
know more about the war than we
do here. We get couple little
papels every day. published in
English, from city close by.
Can't even tell you the name of the
town. We get some little news
from the States through them. l
have gone over some of the battle
fields in this vicinity and collected
some souvenirs, such as hand gre
nades, gas masks, steel helmets. i'll
fact all kinds of abandoned equip
ment; man need the gas mask and
steel helmet pretty soon myself
However, look for peace before
we get into actual conflict. | hope
so at least | have heard from
some of the French soldiers horri-
bic experiences of the trenches.
Each battalion has an interpreter
and one of them boards with my
battery. He has been wounded
twice, therefore unfit for further
duty as a soldier. A very nice,
educated young man. Was two
years in England and talks good
English. He tells me lots of inter
esting things also get informa-
ton from him that will do me lots
of good.
This is one of the rainiest coun-
tries I ever struck. The natives
say it rains and SHOWS from Octo-
Der to April: The German prison
ers are putting a new roof on our
huts. They still think US E 'glish
in U. S. uniforms. Some of tie
fellows know a little German and
chew with them. They ale better
satisfied as prisoners of war than
they would be in the trenches, and
they don't hesitate to admit it.
Everything in the food line seems
to be plentiful, a little high,
though. This is a grea fruit coun-
try. Never saw so many apples
and pears, lots of ounces too.
October "a, 1917
Ny dear Mother:
The Germans have been pretty
busy sinking ships recently, and it
wouldn't surprise me much if some
Of my letters, yours too, are at the
bottom of the sea. There is great
rejoicing here over the capture and
destruction of all those Zepplines
recently. | suppose you saw that
the Antilles, one of our transports,
has been sunk on her return trip to
the states. I think she carried lots
of mail too, some of mine, perhaps.
| had intended to send you some
souvenirs for Christmas, but we
can send nothing, absolutely moth
ing but letters. Can't even send
our own photo. I was in several
moving picture scenes the other
day. When you 60 to some city,
you will perhaps see me on the
screen. The Y. M. G. A. is doing
fine work here. Doing all they can
for the entertainment and comfort
of the American soldiers. How
ever, the French soldiers enjoy the
same privileges as ourselves. We
get along pretty we'll with them.
They look upon US as their only
rescuers, and believe me, they show
their appreciation in more ways
than one. Nothing is too good TO
us. We loaf around their camps
and they ours. Fr"nch is hard to
learn, much harder than Spanish.
Nothing sounds like it is spelled.
Every one of them that can raise
a moustache has one. And lots of
them boards, young men, too.
You ought to see them come out
of the trenches. Our population
was considerably increased yester-
day by the presence of another big
bunch of German prisoners. You
should have seen them, couldn't
tell what they looked like for mud.
Even had mud in their hair and
whiskers. When they get rested
and cleaned up, they will look like
different men. Most of them that
have been here for some time now
believe that we are really Ameri-
cans. They admit that the Ger
man people are being deceived
Lots of our men talk German and
we get quite little out of the Ger
mans by pumping" them. Some
of them are old men, Others mere