The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-04-12
LET TIERS FROM The
BOYS IN ARMY CAMPS

81 saw pretty fight in the air here
a few days ago" wrote Corporal Pc
ter S. Banner on active service with
] the British in France. under date OF
March 10, to his sister, Mrs. Flo
Westenhaver, OF Belgrade avenue.
! Six of our planes and nine Ger
man planes took part in the fight
Old Fritz lost six Of his, and we lost
/ two. One Yankee plane brought
down two German planes. It's fight
ing here all the tme but the worst OF
all is at night. When we think we
are going to get little rest Old
Fritz comes over with his bombing
planes and drops high explosive and
gas shells, and we can't see where
they are coming from. 1t sure gets
on the nerves. | wish you could see
us some night with our gas masks
! and steel helmets on. You would
think we were a bunch Of devils by
! the way we look.
"The Spanish American war was
a joke compared to this. We lost
more men in one days fighting here
than we lost in the whole Spanish
American war" (The writer of the
| letter enlisted at the outbreak of the
| Spanish American war and served
until its close, and at the outbreak
of the present war enlisted in the
, machine gun section0
I 81 have been in France over two
months now, and believe me we have
been pretty busy. We are back of the
! lines now for a short rest, and we
need it, as we have been in the
trenches for six weeks, and no rest
night or day After that person can
stand little rest. It is sure hell here
sometimes, but we are going to make
/ the Fritzies pay for it. Did you get
my last letter? Mail is very uncertain
! There have been three mail boats
sunk just lately, SO ] hear, and
know there were letters and pack
ages for me on some of them.
"The place we are in now is eight
miles behind the front It is. CT
was, a place about as big as Roehos-
ter, but there is not one whole build
ing left standing. It is just a mass
OF ruins, and it is the same ell along
the front lines. In Belgium there
isn't q town left. That brute Oft Ger
man kaiser will have something to
answer for when this war is over,
and there isn't 9 man of us but who
would like above everything, else to.
puncture his hide with our bayonet.
but no such luck He takes good
care OF his old hide and stays in q
safe place.
1--WE are having nice weather here
now, a regular summer day, but ii
was very cold up to q week ago. and
terribly muddy | wish could tell you
where we are. but il is net allowed
Well, they call this war Of civiliz 4
alton, and maybe it will be after we
get the kaiser, but | tell you man
gets TO. be more like a beast than a
human being after he has been over
here fighting for awhile, and sees
what those devils of Germans have
done, as their awful deeds would be
bevond your comprehension. There is
little mercy shown them, especially
when the Canadians get chance at
them" The writer is a member Of
a family that was well represented in
the Civil war. His father who died
last winter, was the last of a
family OF six brothers, who fought
with the northern army, and also had
six brothers in-law serving Uncle
Sam during that war.
Mr. and Mrs. A Olson Of Az Van
Brunt street, have received a letter
from their son, EngWal Olson, stat
ing that he had arrived safely with
the United States troops at a rest
camp, somewhere in France, and the
soldiers were taking short rest aft
er the tiresOme journey over. He
stated that he would like TO have q
Ford and go Sightseeing over the
French cities, as everything was filled
with interest and there were many
places which he would like to visit
while he had the chance. He said
that the boys were having lots Of
funny experiences in changing their
! American money into French money,
and that they all tried to keep q good
supply of pennies, as the French
children followed the soldiers and
asked for American pennies.