Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1918-04-26

licity in tho state. 1t is ono Of tho
most striking that has come from any
source. The committee prefaces tho
letter with these words:
"Thc following letter from n young
american captain TO his mother shows
the spirit, the courage and the resolve
OF our men over there.
"Shall We not do our part, when they
meet death smiling3 Shall We not
stand behind thcmf"
This is the message sent home:
Franco, Dec. %, 1917.
My Darling Mother:
1t is all little hopeless and uso-
less, but hero goes again ms It ia
Christmas, and that should bring luck.
Every now and then long-looked-
for letter arrives and then a little ioy
and then silence.
am just back from "out thcrcr
and how good n little French room and
firc seem once moro, and water to
wash In, lots of it, and clean sheets,
nnd hot food and greatest Of NIL tho
silence of small town.
havo clean clothes once moro,
nothing In them but me md today IS
Christmas and I should be thankful.
"Peace on Earth good will towards all
mankind" God, what joke, but some
day peace is obliged to arrive and
things become normal.
Don't mind if l rave in this letter
little. / have so much to tell, so very
little ! can tell, and in all probability
you will never receive it, so hero goes.
Ages ago it seems 7 arrived over
here and have lived about six lives
since then. We 20 Mt breakncck speed
and there will he no let up until the
Bochc is whipped, and he is n hard
devil to whip. I have seen him in
all his majesty, his dirt and filth, have
sccn tho remnant of his handiwork
God help them) heard his hymn Of
hate, seen him on tho battle field.
heard his cannon roar, his machine
gun sputtcr, gone through his gas,
have been Knocked down and cold by
his shells, watched his star shells turn
the world green, have seen him rot on
no mans land, have seen him In all
possible forms and conditions, and al
though he is n good soldier wo havo
him whipped. He is fighter and Il
good one, but he has met n better one
than he is. have seen my men after
four days with no sleep, in mud almost
to their waist, lousy, little hungry,
very, very tired and in place no sane
man would like to be, crack Jokes
when 4 shell hit n little too far off,
laugh ut death, and wounded, wonder
how long it will he before they could
return to hit ut him onco more. Ho
will never appreciate the spirit of our
troops, for what the Bochc doesn't pos
sess he can't understand, and the spirit
of our men is something he will never
possess.
There was an affair on the 18th of
certain month (look at your Army
and Navy JournaD and being on the
18th of course / was in it. The Jour
nal has it wrong-things get twisted
going from here to America, hut in
that little affair saw one man 20 with
smile on his face into pure death and
he knew it. What the Rochc had in
tended for big thing ended in farce
for them. A few, very, very few of
us whipped he'll out of God knows
how mSny of them. We have got them
whipped, Mother, and they will soon
find it ont.
Listen, no ono who has not been
under shell fire can know anything
about it I have an overcoat or what
is left of it, wish you could sec),
but / have seen my company under it
and for more than day of inccssant
firing and I have yet to see one of
them show any signs of cowardicc.
They AFRO afraid, of course; everyone
is afraid little, but when the noise
of bursting shells was so great that 1
would have to lean close and yell to
DO heard they always had smile and
q Joke in reply.
I have told you before that am
captain, and my company of $50 men
arc just the best in the world. They
like mo and I idolizo them, and We
certainly pull together. God help the
Boche when we hit him, for we won't
We have given him small sample
of the meal he has vet to eat, and he
is going to strarglc over it.
GIVor 10 Hell