The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-10-10
Denmark Boy Gassed.

From Denmark comes al apprecia-
tive message from Mr.. S. T. Calif,
enclosing a bright, newsy letter just
received from his brother, Corporal
J. w. Califf, with the One Hundred
and Seventeenth engineers in France.
It will interest the friends of the
young man throughout the State.
Corporal Calif enlisted with Com
pany G., engineers, which was or
ganized at Spartanburg and went
over with the Rainbow division:
France, Aug 26, 1918.
"My Dear Tindal: 1 have been in
tending to write you for a month, at
least, but it was an impossibility up
to the time they sent me back here
to the base hospital for gas. The
Germans thought they had my num-
Der, but they didn't. They tried for
a long time before they could put
me out and they did not complete the
Job then, but boy, that is some feel
ing when you get that stuff into
your system. The first Whit tastes
and smells good, but just wait a few
seconds and the nausea is awful.
When that is over your chest, throat
and eyes worry you, but 1 will be
back 500 to try the Boche again. II
I could tell you half of what l saw
before I left the front you would
hardly believe it, but you should see
the way our boys go into the battle,
the way they face the eDutchmen.
You never hear Of any of our men
getting shot in the back; it is always
in front. If one walks over a Held
where American troops have fought,
the ones you see dead always die
with their faces toward Germany and
never toward France. The spirit
they show is something wonderful
and one of the greatest sights to be
seen is Yankee and Frenchman fight
ing side by side. There is no KAN
Grad in either of them and they will
stick until the last. Very often our
advance was too fast for supplies to
reach us Immediately and when the
boys found no 'chow" they only
smiled and said "Well, boys, Well
monkey food (if we have it in our
packs) and make out until the Chow
comes You never hear them grum-
BILE. 49,.
Every often I have seen as many
as ten airplanes in a scrap. You al
easily see that we have the best avia-
tors by the way they maneuver up
there. They get the best of the
Dutch in nearly all of their en-
gagements. The fact is, I have seen
a great many fights and have seen
only one Allied plane come down yet.
That may not sound exactly correct,
but it is. I have seen the Germans
come down in flames, forced to earth
and Dutch aviators taken captive. I
guess you are tired reading all about
this, eh?
"The nurses here have certainly
been fine to us, and it seems that they
cannot do enough for us. We do not
see how we can even halfway show
our appreciation. The funniest feel
ing I have had since I came over here
was the day they put me in bed be-
tween two white sheets, and let me
eat out of a real dish. I had slept on
the ground so long that I wanted
some rocks put in the bed so I could
sleep. The Red Cross have treated us
royalty and that is one of the great
est organizations there is, so when
you r asked to give you may feel
sure that it goes to make some SOL
der happy.
"Tell everybody hello for me.
your devoted brother,
"WEITERS."
Corporal J. W. Califf. Co. c, 117rh
Engineers, American Expeditionary
Forces.
Sunday News, October 9Th.
"