The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1918-09-20
LITTER FROM FRANCE

nss Hospital No. H. A. P O. No. 72l
AE,F
,.s, received copy of the Gazette
10, has been on the road over two
',,bs and believe | recognize ye
,,,o,s handwriting. Am writing sew
al al letters this morning from my
Ann in the hospital. You see | am
~ again. Broke my ankle some
.ma AGO, They fixed it up and now
',.bar bunch of doctors are to fix
! m again. However. had the ex-
'.-isnce of going through the casual
I'm, First they wanted to put me
charge of bunch of prisoners
,,ilding some roads, but | wiggled out
4 ,hat You see | am back in Glass
or duty now and am one of those
,rrieged characters that are not
,,r allowed, but must use, cane
!. walk with. That means service in
mar but we say S o. l.. Then they
snt me to quite a large city and
qaued TO make me the American
sIlway freight agent. but nix on me
| hr that Then | was sent to some
aher work, but my foot couldn't
.sud the gaff, so | am back in the
hospital.
Nv room mate Is a lieutenant from
virginia. who got his in an aeroplane
A. observation work. The motor
sopped when he was over the
buches. and they had no choice in
/, landing place in their glide back
IA the lines. He will never use his
arm again. 1t is curious that all my
room mates have been aviators. except
one poor fellow, an artillery man.
Who fell under the wheels of one of
bis guns while on the move and had
tha big part of his scalp scraped off,
but he pulled through all right. My
trx room mate got his when landing
with his plane and heading straight
bf tall tree. He "zoomed" up over
/ all right. but the wings collapsed.
By all natural laws he should be
pushing up daisies now. His escape
yN miraculous, but he can never fly
ny more Then there was a French
lkutenant who jumped from his ma
chine when making a landing. 1t
aVed his life, but his folks in Paris
ne taking care OF him and always
vii. He went batty. Then they
brought in young fellow from -
sho landed all right, but ran over an
Old trench before his machine stop
ped He was batty for severa! days,
but Is back at it now, believe. But
ny sympathy goes out to the poor
fellow across the hail, He was burn
u and his head and shoulders are all
covered with bandages. But he must
sat so they left a little hole to poke
The food down.
Ny accident was with a horse. My
duty was instruction to the artillery
n certain things. was given DIFF
hfent horse one morning that was
strange to me and ! rode up to bat
sry Of heavies. Had forgotten about
The strange horse and was caught
unawares' That damned horse must
have seen the cannoner pull the Ian
yard for simultaneously with the fir-
ing Of the gun that mare was about
ivo feet up In the air, and | two feet
nlgher Came down ali right, but on
tae palm OF my saddle. Was all right
up to this point, but action was
qulcRer than thought. Swung my left
loot around, getting off on the right
Hde on some rough baked mud
ground Result both bones in ankle
oroKe and foot twisted out Of Joint.
stretcher ride. a journey to a base
hospital, nothing to eat for three
aays and a nice little anesthetic
aream. Now, they bore the life out of
ue lot getting off on the right side,
uuI then both sides go in the artil-
'ery, and then there was a ditch on
tne lelt side. However, We Americans
are 50 darned careless and take
snances. But our boys are quick and
set there" The French, who are
slow and methodical, look at the boys
!, amazement. However, I saw a
'isacnman jam cartridge into IS
r'h stick. | call that carelessness.
.'efythlng would have been all right
" ne had been careful not to hit the
primer. Result-several men injured,
s,ns, legs and hands flying in every
riectlon. 1t happened back in a
french proving ground. The French
.ap'ain '. was giving me some pointers
W lne work from shed near by.
.a' WIN this Incident we took off our
Aas 10 the doctor from Indiana. This
nsn :. saved the lives of the injured.
was his skill, determination and
~ that did it. We worship
=, reu 'nat man. AS to the poor fellow
mat ..s ald the work and lost both hands
W. suu less, the Americans in the camp
:" Jug down deep in their pockets
sau ! guess he never before had so
NUN ,~ money You see he had spent
,"o ~. iohg years up at the front with
Nv Nv scratch, and was put on duty
family ~ NO ''0'e anu
,,.' wei mere comes the nurse, lively
.. 1"' from Cleveland, to liven things
~ ss = DIT, make the beds and put a
mango . in the general atmosphere
~ ~. lor me am going to howl around
i hs'e until they fix my foot so I car
. su,. III class A for duty. or else, by
ssa ssA'' le Tor the states. No intermedi.
A'e points for me.
w. J. HOSKYN.
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