Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-06-05
BERT MILLS WRITES
INTERESTING letter
FORMER MANCHESTER BOY TELLS
OF GOOD CARE RECEIVED BY
THE BOYS in FRANCE.
ENTERTAINMENT BY Y. NJ. c. A.

Corp. Mills Letter Will Set at Rest
Any Uneasiness About Care Boys
Receive in France.
Through the courtesy of Mr.. and
Mrs. Charles K Reading The Demo-
crat is able to give to it's readers an
interesting letter written by their
nephew, Corp. Bert Mills, well remem-
bered by many of the young people
of Manchester. Corporal Mills writes
as follows:
"a E. F. in France, May 8, 1918.
"Dear Aunt and Uncle:
IT received your letter of April Sth
this morning and from what you say
I judge you have not received any Of
my letters. I am over here all right
and O. K, but by in the midst of
the big things you mean on the front,
why guess again, Aunt. The only
guns l have heard over here have
been on our own machine gun range
Just at present myself and four others
from the battalion are attending a
signal school. We have only one hour
of drill day, one or two lectures and
the rest of the day is taken up In
practical work. The work is not hard
but there is enough of it so that time
does not drag on our hands. don't
know where we go at the end OF the
course if we pass. 1t is either back
to the old battalion or up to some
outfit on the line. will probably
be out of school by the time you get
this letter unless it travels faster
than your letter did.
"a miricle happened over here the
other day-it stopped raining for two
consecutive days. It was almost too
great blow for us to stand up un-
der as it has only rained practically
every day since we landed, including
the day on which we, landed. The
man who named this country sunny
France must have landed here on
sunny day and travelled all the way
across the country just ahead of the
rain. We have good quarters for
France though, and plenty of clothes
and lots to eat, so we should worry
about the rain At present we are
billited in a big chateau here with a
fine park and two big Y. NJ. c. AS.
In these we have lectures, programs
and picture shows Last week at the
opening of the newest and biggest
Y, the famous American comediene,
Elsie Janis, gave us an entertainment.
1t was some entertainment, too. She
was on the stage about two hours
and enjoyed myself more in that
time than / had since came to
France. One Of the regimental bands
is giving a concert just across the
street. They play several times each
week in the square just across from
this Y. Just a week ago today they
held big division athletic meet here.
It was big day and all the spread
eagle men of both the French and
American armies were present, to-
gether with some other nOtables.
Among those present was Johnny
Overton, now lieutenant in the ma
rine corps, who holds the worlds in
door mile record. He ran mile
against relay of four men. each run
ming a quarter, and beat them. All
events were run in uniform with our
heavy field shoes and some took place
in heavy marching order A French
general who was present could hardly
believe that any man could run a
quarter Of mile in heavy marching
order in the time the winner made it
and was so pleased that he gave the
winner special prize. 1t was reg
.ular field meet in all ways, money
prizes, medals and everything. Had
three military bands in attendance.
"About those packages you want to
send-we have received notice that
no packages will be accepted for ship
ment in the U. S. to the A. E. Force
without an approved request for same
from the soldier for whom it is in
tended. l don't suppose we can get
a request approved unless it is for
something pretty necessary. We can
get almost everything over here any
way, and we can get smokes cheaper
here than you could buy them in the
States. The government operates
cash commissaries for US and we also
get a tobacco issue. We are not suf-
fering for anything, you can bank on
that.
by the way, do you know whether
Rays outfit has come across or not?
haven't heard from him for long
time and thought maybe he might be
travelling
81 will close, with love to you and
regards to all my old friends in Man
chester.
CORP. BERT MILLS,
list Corps, Depot division, Signal
School, A. r. F. France"
O. K, w. e. Lind, 1st Lieut., Sig.
Corps, U. S. r.
AT THE PLAZA.
Thursday, Marguerite Clark in
s'Rah'c Diary ~