The midland journal., 1917-05-04

Needless to say how pleased was
to receive your letter and postal
card dated Nov. .2S and Dec. Z. 1t
was very kind of you to write to me,
as I was just longing to hear about
you all over there, and am sure you
have no idea how interesting your
letter was to me. l often think oil
you all, and can assure you the lew
years that I spent amongst you IN
that lovely little corner OF Maryland,
will always be amongst the most
pleasant memories. ! shall
certainly come over and see you all
again If ever I get out of this awful
war; am quite looking forward to it
A few lines as to myself-We are
sti.i fighting the Turks here in Mes
bots, or the Holy Land as they call
it here; the inhabitants that live
round about are wandering tribes of
Arabs, who live in much the same
style as they did hundreds of years
ago; a more thieving set of individ-
ua1s you never saw.
For the last two months and more,
we have been at it hard, just to give
you an idea, last week my Battery
(four guns) fired over 1000 shells,
and yesterday for instance we fired
1900 rounds, so you can guess we
are "going some.
Most of my old pals ars now either
killed or wounded and very few of
the original crowd left. have been
wounded four times myself but all
very slight, yesterday rifle bullet
grazed my eye-lid and the bridge OF
my nose, rather lucky one, but no
damage done fortunately. Two days
ago I had an exciting time, had to
Jump the parapet" with the Infan-
try in an attack to take a telephone
wire across. I lost both my opera
tors, one killed and the other
wounded, rifle bullet went through
my periscope thatiI was carrying, one
through my arm, and one grazed my
hand; how one ever came through l
can't imagine. I have been in many
of the blood-battles but it would
take too long to tell you about them
all; anyway will be able tell you
heaps when I come over to see you
all again. Three days ago I lost my
best pal, we went over together with
the Infantry, and taking our tele-
phones, which are connected with
the Batteries, he was shot in the
back, and we lay for some time
amongst heaps of dead and wounded
and not able to move. After a
while I managed to get him on my
back and carry him in under most
hellish fire, but sorry to say he died
soon after; we had been together
for over two years. I could tell you
pages of thrilling and exciting times
that I have gone through, but will
have to save until later. A Turkish
shell has just burst in Battery and
killed one of my gunners and wound
ed two more; this frequently hap
pens. There is also an alright go
ing on overhead; quite a frequent
sight nowadays. We brought down
a Turkish aeroplane few days ago;
it dropped just outside our lines,
but we destroyed it by shell fire.
Must get along now, as we are going
to set the guns to work. There are
four guns in this Battery, and I am
in command of two of them.
I will be pleased to write again
later when I can find time, and can
assure you I shall always be pleased
to have few lines from you any
time. I would like to express my
deepest thanks to you all for helping
to make my stay most pleasant and
interesting while living at Principle,
and which I certainly did appreciate.
Best wishes to all,
Yours very sincerely,