Evening journal., 1918-12-26
I'll BATTERY WAS
especially LUCKY
n Action Nearly Three
Months and Not One
Man Lost
CORPORAL DREW
TELLS OF FIGHTING

corporal Wlllldm III. Drew, OF Battery
| 60th Artillery. has written his father
f some OF his experiences during the
asst three months of the war. He says
Though they were in action more than
! wo months, every man in his battery
ameout safe, remarkable record. He
aid. on several occasions, they left po-
itions which were heavily sheled only
short time afterwards.
Corporal Drew Is son OF Ben r..
Drew, of No. 1903 West Third street. He
vent to Fort Dupont with Wilmington
lraftees. more than year ago and was
ent to France last April. His letter is
me of the most interesting of the hum
lreds this newspaper has ever published
rom our soldiers in France. He pays
ribCte to the Salvation Army and says
hat organization has done a wonder
ul work, The letter follows;
Somewhere in France.
Nov. 2i. 1918
Dear Dad: As today is set aside for
zach man in the A. E. +. las the bulle-
in board puts itl to write Dad a long.
mummy, victory letter and forget for
)nce. 10 make the touch for ten spot.
Well, | viii let you down on the touch
20 you viii not forget the long, chummy
art, but l will do the best l can.
First / want to say the reason you
ave not heard from me lately Is be-
ause we have been on the move so
much and the few hours we did get on,
kept us busy keeping warm around a
bonfire, so you see we had no chance
o write AS far as ! am concerned
everything is fine. / never felt better
n my life. We are located IN a small
Village for few days and last Wednes-
lay had a place fixed up. ana we got
xood hot shower and maybe ii didn't
20 good The first bath had Tor nearly
Two months. have not caught a
'cootie" yet. but lots OF the boys nave
lhem Maybe / was so dirty they
wouldn't have anything 10 do with me.
Well. we have been In the hgnting
since the ST. Mihiel drive, over two
months ago. and every man in the bat
terv came out safe. remarkable record
we have been very fortunate. couple
NJ times leaving a position that was
shelled heavily a few hours after We
are in the army artillery and all are
wearing a big "A" on our shoulder. All
of our work has been highly compli-
mented on and the Bull boards are
full of it, But the great big Is; We
have an along been with and fought
as the flrst army, but now 1t Is getting
time for honors land getting home
first" they are doubtful II we are In
the first at ALL 1t is so close that we
can't get heard or tail Of 1t. so you
can imagine what a suspense we are IN
As I said before. we were in the thick
of n ND 10 the last; in fact, the last
positfon. the ra "a, Ia OF the macnine
guns of our doughboys sounded only
stones throw of the first morning, but
thew gradually got further away toward
nightfal. We never fired a shot, we
were that close.
Now that Il all appears TO be over,
would not give my last three months
exnerience for something pretty; II
has been the hardest Of my life, lots ana
lois of hardships that had / been told
~ wear ago.I would have sworn
could moi have stood. but now that we
,re on the other side Of them, we look
bact with Measure and ] thank God /
,vas one OF Them who helped to put
ston IN the Hun" on his mad rush
1,noxy that sounds a lot different from
,he way | used TO talk before the u. ;. 1
got in IL But after being over mere
@Seeing. is believing" / am only sorry 1
shat This feht of the last few months
.,,,ld not have been on German soil
nd do IN their town what they have
dome and caused to be done here IN
France. Il is a shame; no amount OF
money indemnity can ever repay TOT II
7 have seen lately refugees going Dach
a. their towns after being held prisoners
for over four years: old women, bent
with age. having to be assisted on eltner
side 10 walk: half-grown girls VINO
have beep victims of their flendish as
saults: little children who must nave
heen babies at the time of their capture
and a few men along, who looked halt
dead from starvation and overwork
Moi Money can never pay for sucn
treatment. Yet in what other way can
she nay. She is done as fighter ana
she cannot undo what she has already
done So as the old saying goes, Cold
is a balm for all things" so maybe
she Is doing the next best thing; while
il win never heal, it can help to sootne.
There are lots of interesting things
might tell you about, but as l have Deen
fortunate enough to keep up IN my
"diaIy." l will save them until | get
home and then you viii get sick ana
tired hearing about II. Did you notice
that get home? Gee, and what II means
20 ali Of us, both on this side and over
there.
What did we know year ago when
we left our homes for this nght what
Il was going to mean to US? Were we;
as soldiers, TO give our lives on the field
Of honor? Were we to so through 1t ana
come back TO a home that had vacant
chair Of a loved one we had left De
hindu God sure has been good TO US.
II mother was living now (slthOugh
sometimes think it was one Of the rea-
sons she was taken), how happy ana
proud she would be when | came
marching home. l shave prayed and
looked upon her as my guardian
through this affair and God saw ut that
everything came out all right, so on this
coming Thursday Thanksgiving Day.,
we all have lot TO be thankful for.
From all accounts, you folks over there
were Just as much up against danger