Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1918-09-20
Letters From France.
Aug. 10, 1918.

I
sat either got out of the humor,
,f something else stopped me be-
lore finished. Your letter dat
: July 2ist came today and
sure enjoyed it. and as things
are quiet now, I'll answer It
l get your letters in
good time-tlien again they are
delayed.
AS you know, we have been
busy lately trying to keep upl
with the Huns, who seem to llavel
developed rabbit blood, that II
haven't had time to write at all.
When you say You think we
are right i'll the fight, you have
guessed exactly right. We made
a wonderful showing on the
Champagne front, even though
we had our hospital blown to
pieces. Papa, it was shame
the way they shelled us. After
some of the wounded were oper-
ated on, they were killed. We
kept OH operating the hospital
under fire until we were so dam
aged we couldn't operate. We
|had some narrow escapes, but
We didn't lose man out OF the
company. How we came out
alive, | don't understand. Since
that fight up there, which start
ed the l4th of July, we have been
in this other big drive. We are
now expecting a rest, and believe
me, we need it, too, for we have
been IN ever since February.
Can't tell exactly where | am at
present, but. you are a good
lguesser. l will tell you as soon
as we move out and get to our
rest camp. Suppose you people
over there are proud of the show
ing the American boys made,
especially the Rainbow Division
| We have been we'll shot up. but
we delivered the goods. Captain
Hudson was killed by gas shell
You know him, he was the cap
Itain YOU were talking to when |
Itook my physical examination.
| l sent you two papers which
Iare printed over here, which are
called the Stars and Stripes and
/ am sending you two more now.
You can get a lot of news about
the A. E. F. out of them, and /
think you will enjoy them. l
Subscribed for it, and as soon as
Ii get a chance l will subscribe
for you and have it sent direct.
You will notice in the paper
the picture of the emplacement
of one of the big guns that has
been bombarding Paris. ] tried
! he other day to get souvenir
off of it to send you, but could
not find anything convenient to
send. German souvenirs are very
plentiful In this part of the coun-
try, but I don't fool with them
now, l am going to wait until l
get into Berlin before l start my
collection. ] atm glad Mary has
been with you, aud hope you
can go back with her for the
winter. She can take good care
| of you, and as you have made
some friends there you will enjo,
Yourself. Some people think old
acquaintance are the best, but
think new acquaintances are the
best. The old ones know too
much about your business.
will certainly appreciate a
home when | get back aud I GER
tainly am going to take good
rest. Papa, l haven't time t.
write to everybody right now,
but you can tell them l will try
to catch up with my correspond
ence when we get back to the
rest camp. hope we will be
somewhere near Paris, so we can
have some pleasures along with
our rest. We will probably col
back for about four weeks.
Papa, they won't allow any
more packages to come over, but
| wish you would send me about
two magazines week. Reading
matter is awfully scarce.
Give my love to Aunt Nellie,
and tell her when this war is
over I'll be back aud tell you all
about it. Will close for this
time. With love to all. Write
to me often.
Devotedly,
LESTER.
+. Spy the way, your letters
are not censored, so You can
write anything You wish.
Lester N. Koontz,
los Field Hospital,