Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-02-06
Mrs. JnO. A. Jewell Received Two
Most Interesting Letters From
Relatives in Her Old Home
in England.
ONE BROTHER DIED
FROM SHOT IN SPINE
Has Nephew Blinded Lying-in Hos
pital i'm Havre, France. Letters
Contain Much First
Hand News.
Continued from first page)

sence from home on that day Aunty
| begged hard for Christmas leave
AunE, but we couldn't all go; l am
told off for Zeppelin picket. am a
few miles out; it is shocking wealth
er, our breath freezes on our lips and
| cannot feel my rifle, but don't tell
mum. When we come off duty tomor-
row we are to have a good blowout
and | shall write and tell her all
about it. but / did not know l should
lever miss home like l do. But keep
smiling and try to take mothers
her mum had heard from Jack and
she said that she had, so | insisted on
seeing it, for my letter was altogeth-
er too flippa1t to be true and that
is how | got to the truth but | say,
God bless our boys and the spirit CIV
en- them to endure their hardships. He
is big fellow now Minnie, foot IL
and bSoad. | don't suppose you real
iZe what it means to be in a raid. |
will try to give you some little idea.
You hear the warning, then suddenly
the sky is all alight with searchlightS
then the guns start; it is almost deaf
ening Huge pieces of shrapnel start
| falling and in a few minutes all the
streets are cleared of the public. OF
course all are in total darkness, we
just try to amuse our Riddles. All
| in one house get together and set a
graphaphone going to deaden the
noise and trust to a higher power our
house is spared, but. of panic there
is none. We have got so used to it
now, unless there happens to be di-
rect hit on alyones home. Then will
| ing hands to comfort are not want
ing; and then the poor fools of Ger
mans think we shall sue for peace,
rather than endure. They forget our
sons have been enduring for over
three years, and we have our teeth on
the bit, but now please God we are
ready to give them a taste of their
own medicine. They had their first
dose on Christmas eve; you may
think it is wicked of me sis but that
was the finest Christmas box l have
| had; and if you had seen the poor
| little Riddles from school with limbs
blown off when they bombed school
in London last September you would
be quite as vildictiye as we are. l
IOI OlI0 0WCdI l. Will DCfCl IdhC tuC
hand of German again, whether it
be man or woman. Why sis IL this
last push in France 200 of your lads
were in it and showed their mettle;
after the battle they went to collect
their wounded and found one of the
Americans with his throat cut from
ear to ear. That is what they call
fighting Poor Fred told me enough
about their tactics. When he was
marching through to the village Of
Ypres in Oct. 1915 he said little chill
dren were impaled and young women
were stripped naked and nailed to
their front palings, disemboweled;
just imagine what our fellows feeling
was. Poor Fred said they nearly
went mad and not a single German
was given quarter that crossed their
path He told me before he died
tie horror of it never left him; he
lived it all over again every time he
Iclosed his eyes. | sent his holly
wreate up Christmas morning; his
grave is in good condition SO is
poor old dads; they lay very close
together in Acton cemetery. l
thought you might like to know they
are not forgotten. Now sis / shall
shave to tell you all the news but don't
get tired until you have finished it.
Vena and Edie (Fred's wife, and
the Riddles spent their Christ
mas with us. made it as
bright as possible. They had plenty
to eat and a bit of music and nice
fire AID had paid into a club all the
ha turxnu and fnW
bon bons, 81 cents per ID. for the
bird and 81 cents for IL bon bols,
but the fun they had with the caps
and masks repaid me. They dressed
Uncle Jack (my husband) up until
you could not see him for paper,
then we had swing round to amuse
them until at IL o'clock they were
all asleep, then we laid them on the
beds and sat round the fire ourselves
talking and we had a nightcap, so
everything went off very nicely.
Fred's littlest one followed me about
she is getting on so nice
ly now. | am pleased, poor old sis Is
still very dicky. / have sent their
letters round and will divide the mo-
ney as soon as I get it changed.
Vena is working now making gas
masks for our boys; she earns S5.VO
per week and is a good girl to her
mother / am glad to say. Brother
Jacks wife | have lost sight of for
nearly a year, but / hear from Jack
himself regularly. / am sending you
his last letter SO will forward yours
on to him early in the new year II he
does not get home by then. His
boy Jack is blinded, he is laying at
Havre in France in hospital. Poor
boy | doat know the details and it
is too painful to inquire; he is only
22, all his life in front of him. Broth
err Jack thinks he will be sent to
France himself then he will let me
know all about it. His other son is
exempt and the other three are girls,
one has left school year the other
has Just left and they are all well.
have a photo of them all, l will send
YOU Minnie. His wife and Riddles
were taken in England and he was
nut on it in Malta. JEANNE sent me
one: the other picture is Nancy and
Fred's little girl Marie. ! will also
enclose one of my boys in his new
uniform and hope they will reach