The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1918-11-12
LETTER FROM over THERE"
September, 1918.

oepbemDer dnu nave uOI Hau
chance to write since then, the
French and Germans can write but
we can't. Il seems like month since
/ wrote to you and expect it was.
Well Mother, we had 4th Of July
the other night. Il started about 10
o'clock and lasted for 80 hours ana
believe me, it was some fire works,
they fired any where from one inch
TO fourteen inch shells, so you can
imagine it was some noise.
! think you will read about what
we did in the last ten days for it
was one of the largest drives the
Americans ever pulled off. We freed
$50 square miles of French soil and
don't know just how many French
men and women but it was a lot OF
them, and you should have seen the
Germans we captured. / think every
American that was in this drive got
something that belonged to the Ger
mans. / got a little pistol holster
and a searchlight, also a piece Of
six inch bullet that hit in about three
inches Of me.
Mother, I know you are worrying
about me but please don't do that for
| will come out safe for after they
put few sixteen-inch bullets in old
Metz the war will be over and then
we can come home. After / get there
I am going to be "bum," for can
sleep out in the woods and l can
live on one box of hard tack a day
and I can walk from one city to the
other for l have walked all over
France and part Of Germany.
Mother, you talk about being dirty,
you haven't seen any dirt yet. I have
not washed for ten days and / have
not had my shoes off for about two
weeks so you see what we have to
go through with when we are making
a drive.
It is hard enough to fight men but
it is much harder when you find wo-
men working machine guns and try
ing to kill you and have to stick a
knife in her or shoot her, but they
haven't any right of putting them
there.
l am going to try and send you a
little gift with this letter, so write
and tell me if you got it and also I
am going to send you a clipping out
of the paper and you can see what
we had to drink when we got over in
Germany.
Mother, in your letter you said /
have had lot of experience, yes,
have, but it don't amount to much.
You said you went to Holy Com
munion but it has been some time
since l have been to it. I haven't had
a chance to go, we have been on the
move for a long time and have NOT
been in any towns.
You asked me to tell you how it
is over here. Well, it is just like being
in He'll some time for we have to
sleep in woods and one night we
stayed in creek but it was for our
own good for we were trying to fool
the Huns and we succeeded.
You said you were going to save
the motorcycle for me. Tell father
to save a little cash for me too, for
1 want to go and spend a month at
some hot springs for if ! don't l
will be worse than Pete Peri when I
am about 35 or 40 year old.
I received the home paper and one
card and two letters but I was on
my way to the front and did not have
time to answer them. Yes, I can
speak little French.
You said father was glad to hear
from me. Tell him to hold himself
when he gets this one, and tell old
Fred that l got enough Huns to
please the whole town. I got three
with my bayonet and I don't know
just how many with bullets. stuck
my bayonet clear through one of
them for he was shooting a machine
gun and had killed two Of my COM