Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-12-07
Friday, Nov. 1, 1918,
MY Dugout,,"
Somewhere In France"

1910 P. M.
We are now in our new camp and
there is a great difference in our way
of living as we now live like field
mice. We are dug in the side of a
bank so as to be out of the way of
shrapnel as q shell breaks and sends
it flying all around. We have been
under shellfire ever since we landed
here, which was Monday. have
written to you every day since then
but am waiting for blue envelopes to
send 1t as 1t is n long letter and
do not ant to botIGwr the officers as
we are awfully busy. This Is some
life, as we work from daylight until
nightfall and then crawl into our
dugouts and go to sleep, as we are
not allowed to have a light at night
on account of the airplanes. 1t is q
great life. / do not know when the
blue envelope will arrive so l am go
ing to send this one through our Of
ficers, so you will know why you
have not heard sooner. When you
get your blue envelope you will have
nice long newsy letter to read. l
believe the war will end or the
fighting will be over by Christmas
and then l will be coming home to
you soon.
Well, l have been all over what
was No-Man's Land n few weeks
ago. Talk about souvenirs-helmet cts
and all things. Little graves scat
tered all around and 'unexploded
shells. It's a wonderful sight and
cannot be described. Barbed wire
around! l have been under shellfire
and it is n great experience. When
we hear an Austrian whiz-bang (big
shelD coming we all duck for shell
hole and you should hear the shrap-
mel whistle. l have piece that fell
about ten feet from me. It's not
dangerous "ducking" shells, so do
not worry as we will be out of range
of Fritz's guns if he keeps moving
Us he has lately. l wish you could
have heard and have seen the sight
did last night. At midnight our
army started q heavy barrage and
it has been going ever since. II
sounds like the roll of a base drum,
only it's much louder. My ears ring
like a bell and / didn't sleep wink
from midnight on, as my little cot
just vibrated all the time. The sky
was full of shooting stars, ETC., ana
the nOflZOn was Il name Ol ISu' ~
as one OF the most wonderful sights
have seen. Every now and then q
shell would burst, screaming over
our dugout. No one can realize what
war really is until he gets up here.
It's a big job. Sherman said war is
hell, but his was an old-fashioned
war. | wonder what he would call
this one! It's worse than hell.
sure did see a pretty sight yes
terday morning ! saw Il Boche plane
brought down out of the air. Be
leve me he Will never make raid.
/ have also seen two balloons go
down in flames. / have so much to
tell you, but am not allowed to. You
will have to wait until | come home
then I'll tell YOU heaps of things.
BY the time you get this letter
think Fritz will be quite n few miles
nearer home. He's not such a long
way from Berlin now and the front
is getting closer all the time. l am
now seeing things that / have al
ways heard so much about. Well,
guess / lost that little bet we had
between us that Metz would he taken
by the first of November. ., well,
the Hun is licked and knows it. The
Hun tried hard to get Verdun and
never did and we haven't even tried
to get Metz. This is a great old war,
believe me.