The Vashon Island record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1916-1919, 1918-12-26

was received by Mrs. Eva Furhush
of Ellisport from her son Edwin C..
Furbush, now in France;
American EXpeditionary Force
France
November II, 1918
Dear Mother;
Well, ii is all over now. Word
has come in that hostilities ceased
AT eleven O'Clock today. The
American boys sure did things in
this last drive; drove the boche so
fast and so far that the front line
was lost for several days. The ar
tillery had to cease firing.
| have been at the front line
nearly month-quiio different
from our work hack at Camp
Louge.
Well, TO write this letter in a
consecutive manner: We left
Camp Louge on October 16. Went
up to Camp Genicar, where the
company assembled. Left in few
days for the front. Travelled five
days on cattle cars. Hommes 40,
! Chevaux 8.
/ Well, we struck the devastated
zone, and it surely was devastated.
| The streets We're heaped high with
Iirefuse and the roadway wound
Earound through the debris.
We unloaded at town where
there was not house standing.
Had a cup of hot chocolate free
gratis at Y. NJ. GA. post.
We had been relieved OF our
BARRACKS bag carried all our be-
longings on our back two blank
/ cts, suit of underwear, five pairs
socks shelter half, gloves, two
towels, mackinaw. toilet articles.
an extra pair of shoes aid rain
coat. This with our rife made a
sixty-pound pack. y
We started out at two o 'clock
and hiked Is miles. Did not follow
the soad; across fields, through
swamps and mud and over she'll
torn areas. Finally reached our
objective point at ten o'clock al
night, dead tired.
saw my first airplane battle on
that hike. The guns were booming
fahead OF us, how Far we did not
!snow. We rolled up III our blank
cts and slept only as the dead tired
can sleep. Just as we were turning
in some shells came screechiug
through the air over our head.
We were so ignorant, we thought
they were shells from our own
ilong-range guns going over to the
Germans. We did not know they
were boche shells going over our
heads and landing a short distance
from us.
In the morning when we woke
up we found we had camped on a
battlefield that had been fought
over just two weeks before. There
were German trenches, barbed-
wire equipment, guns and all
kinds Of equipment; graves of
both German and American dead .
also two American tanks that had
been knocked out by shell fire.
There was a town there had liter
ally been wiped out by shell fire
rot even walls standing.
Well, the next day we proceed
ed to pitch our pup tents and set
tie down.
There was heavy artillery fire
all day long The Germans were
gust five miles ahead Of us. There |
were several American observa-
ton balloons up one anchored |
just half mile away. A boche
aviator shot one down in flames.
The observer jumped and his par
achute saved him.
That night we were under shell |
fire again. was on as gas sentry. |
Down in the river valley below US
The gas alarm was given, But we
had no gas on the hillside.
The next day another balloon
was shot down and a boche plane I
was brought down in flames. Both
German and American aiiplanas
We're flying over us at all times.
The anti-aircraft guns We're pop
ping all day long. That night /
there was an air raid. The sky was
criss-crossed with search lights
looking for the ailplanes, The
bombs landed about half mile !