The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-10-28
WATERBURY,
Capt H. D. Campbell Tells of Participa-
ton in Great Battle.

Ct rumors regarding the surrounding OF
he marines, letters were again received
by Mr.. and Mrs. Il. e. Campbell from
their son, Captain H. Denney Campbell. |
Interesting ones follow, telling something |
If the big battle through which he came
lniniured. The second one refers to his
10Y at the hopes of seeing his father in
France. Mr.. Campbell expects to leave
before long in Y. M. G. A. work. As a
Washington county boy, graduate OF
Waterbury high school and Norwich uni
versity, many are watching his work
with deep interest The going overseas
Of his father will also give an added in
terest to the work over there. His let !
ters are:
Rest Billets, Sunday, Sept. %.
Dear Ones: It's about three weeks now
since | last wrote you, but have found
out that lot can take place in that
same short time. My last letter was
from training camp, where we were
undergoing q severe course of instruction
and putting on the finishing touches for
Che big battle which we just recently
pulled off and which, as you know, was
most successful We were two weeks
getting ready for ii and within three
weeks it was all over and we were back
in rest billets. As matter of fact, the
battle itself was only of few days
duration and we had reached the second
laws objective on the first day. Some
different from Chateau Thierry and Bel
leau woods, but sight more disagree
able. We moved by night and also by
-, I Ahir.l- fhaf | aav n dry M n
ment for nearly three weeks and dark,
o man, | never before encountered such
dark nights. No kidding, | couldn't see
my horses head. And every night the
same old story--either marching in a
drenching rain or sleeping in the mud.
We had the stuff on EN- this time and
they knew it, And artillery, why /
didn't know that there was so much in
France. All kinds and sizes from the
trusty French rs to our big naval and
railroad guns. When they all commenced
barking at a. m. Sept. IL it seemed as
if all hell had broken loose. On top of
this was our machine gun barrage from
hundreds of guns. When the crucial mo-
ment arrived at a. m. we went over the
top, preceded by tanks and with the air
full of aeropanes We had control of
the air as well az of the ground The ar
tillery fire was deafening. 1t was ter
rible, vet wonderful. They tell that the
air was so full of lead that not even a
bird could live. One of our aeroplanes
stopped one "A our big shells and that
was the last Of him. As we started over,
one Hun aviator showed his nerve by
coming across and dropping eight bombs
in our midst. The sad part Of It was
| that he got away The most ptiful
sight / saw, however, was some Of our
machines being brought down by the
beche In several instances | saw both
the pilot and the observer leap from the
burning machine at an altitude OF over
thousand yards and hit the ground with
thud; dead probably before they ever
hit the earth We got our revenge though,
for my company brought down boche
with their machine guns, and ! have the
compass from his machine, which is GER
tainly little beauty He was flying low
and chasing French aviator, whom he
killed. Both planes fell close by.
| We passed over ground held by the
Germans for over four years and cap
tured railroads, artillery, horses and all
sorts of stores and material II was a
great old scrap but too onesided to make
| it real interesting. Our casualties were
surprisingly small.
| will enclose a few souvenirs but the
Dutchmen were going SO fast | couldn't
catch one to get real worth while re-
membrane Of the battle. Harold.
Rest Billets, Sept "a.
NV dear Dad Just line, as / have a
few things would like to say. One is
that | am very proud Of my old dad and
another is that 4 am anaxiously await
ing your arrival in France. Meanwhile
I'm try and keep on lodging whizz bangs
until I get O chance to see you or If l
can't see YOU any other way I'll get in
front of one and try to stop it and take
chance on pulling through and making
hospital, where / am sure ! would get
a chance TO see you.
The package arrived at just an oppor-
tune time. The second day we got here,
or lust Yesterday The chocolate and
cigars and cigarettes and popcorn will
surely be enjoyed while ! am here and
the ornaments will look fine on my new
uniform if ever get chance to 90 and
get it.
Oh, yes, and / was just tiekled TO death
with your picture Some of the boys
would hardly believe that you were my
dad. They said you weren't old enough.
| was mighty glad TO get the films too.
Almost impossible to get them here IN
France. Harold
The funeral of Everett Swasey was