Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-07-03
SERGT. H.F. THOMPSON
WRITES FROM FRANCE
Son of Mr.. and Mrs. f. l.. ThOmp-
SON Sends Them I'M leresting
Letter From Somewhere in
France
WAS ON MARCH
FOR TWENTY-FIVE HOURS
His Horse Played Out and He Was
Compelled to Abandon Him and
Get Another to Finish

June 8. 1918.
Dear Father and Mother:
i No doubt you think I have forgot
ten all about you by this time, but
to tell the truth 1t has been impos-
sible to write lately, as we have
been on the move. We did some
tall travelling too, for we averaged
20 miles a day and that is going
some for an animal drawn outfit. 1t
was prettey hard on everybody, and
especially on the horses, but we all
arrived safely in spite of the trip.
My horse gave out on the last day so
l had to swap him for another one,
but think few days rest will fix
my old one up alright. At present
l am not with my company as they
sent ME to ore of the artillery regi-
ments with three ambulances. That
suits me fine as its the same ress-
ment was with once before al. :.
we live pretty good here At present
1--WE are staying in small town anil
Enot doing much Of anything, as very
few Of the boys are unlucky enough
to get hurt. The food is fine here
and have a good place to sleep so
l am inclined to think that am
pretty lucky in being sent to this
place for duty. Rex is with the rest
lof the company, wherever that is,
and he was alright in every way the
last time I saw him. You mustn't
waste any time worrying about us.
ires We ere perfsatiy alrigl-s .nnshing
| Is going to happen to us. or course
1t gets little lively around here
onss--i.A a while, but then we are in
the army and have 70 take few
chances. Fritz hasn't been very
active lately, sending over just a
few shells to let us know that he is
around, but our guns return them
with a great deal of compound in
terest Night before last they had
regular fireworks display, which
lasted all night and was a great
deal wonderful than any fireworks
that have ever seen. On our road
coming to this sector we saw some
thing entirely new to us, namely
refugees. There were hundreds of
them on the road going dack to a
more healthy section of France and
it quite pitiful to see them plodding
along with nothing in their carts but
a few bare necessities. As we ap-
preached the front we went through
town after town where you could
see from the condition of the houses
that their tenants had picked up
and left in very great hurry. For
my part I am mighty glad that trip
is over. for 1t was about the hardest
work ever did in my life. The
first day out we travelled for %
straight hours without stopping to
eat or rest, so you can see how big
a hurry We were in. An outfit like
this usually makes about Is miles
a day, so ours was a forced march
to say the least.
The weather is fine here now, as
lit stopped raining and warmed up,
so we are enjoying life, that is when
Fritz doesn't shoot at us. l wish
could arrange it so that I could be
home about next month when all
tfis garden stuff is good. for sure
do miss the green stuff. We get
very good food here, but you know
the army doesn't furnish green vege-
tables, so they are necessarily lack
ing. BY the way, IL you haven't re-
ceived my insurance policy yet on
my allotments. perhaps 1t would be
a good idea to write to the war de-
partment and enquire about them.
The allotment started Feb.1 and is
$40 a, month. My Liberty Bond will
be paid for now in couple of
months and that should come home
too, as l told them to send 1t to you
when 1t was paid up.
We haven't had any mail for two
or three weeks now. When 1t does
CONS though there will be big
bunch Of 1t and that Is some con-
ISOLATION. Well l am about out Of
conversation now so am going to
call it enough for this time. Give
my regards to my s. s. class and
everyone else. Tell the girls hello