The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1918-11-14
HOME BOY WRITES
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VIVID STORY OF .RTlllERY
WORK IN THE 8 re- BIG
DRIVE OF e Is
HOW BOMBING PLANES > CT SOLDIER
Letter From Brooking, : 'ficer Now
With Machine Gunner 8 no Have
Put The Fear Il 3 -itz

L WI uuc lclIClS lCSClNOu Ny 80
L. C. Dewing from her son, Sergt. Dex-
ter Dewing, are fine descriptions OF
life on the hot front with the artillery.
We feel sure our readers will appre-
ciate these little stories of army life:
Somewhere in France, Sept. 25th,
191S.-Dearest Mother: Well, our
stay at the rest camp was very limited,
in fact W. just got nicely settled when
orders came for us to move again. We
travelled by night and to say the least
it was anything but pleasant, for it
rained continually. After five nights
of this we arrived at our destination,
our clothes all wet as well as blankets
and everything else and to max mat
tiers worse we had no sleep. I think
Sherman's definition of war was ex-
tremely mild, but nevertheless we are
making the best of it all.
We received two months pay last
week and of course it was most well
come, for all of the boys were plum
broke.
In your last letter you asked me to
tell you about the Hun bombing plane
and the methods he uses during his
night attacks. First of all, he is
known to us soldiers as the midnight
sky jazzer." The motor Of the Boch
plane has a very peculiar hum and is
easily distinguished from those in use
by the Allies; it sounds something like
the buzz of a bee, only greatly exag-
gerated. Soon after dark, about the
time we are ready for bed he comes
forth for his nightly m%arauding, some
times only one or two planes and then
again thirty or forty. At the first dis
NAL sound of his motor in the dis
lance, the order comes: Lights out"
and we all put on our tin bonpets, gas
masks at alert, and then seek the best
shelter WI can find, and tlterc we wait
for Fritzy to shovel off his load of
deadly bombs and return to his own
lines.
The hum comes closer and closer
ing cold chills up and down ones
spine, while he hugs the ground a lit
tie closer and yea there is a thous-
and planes directly overhead. Sud
denly there comes a faint sound like
the ripping of cloth and he unloads
one; while passing through the air, it
sounds a great deal like steam escap-
ing from a leaky valve. When it
strikes the ground there is a terrible
crash, a fare of light, and shrapnel
goes sizzling through the air in all di-
rections to deal out destruction. Gen
orally when he has unloaded his sup
ply, which consists of about 8 bombs
to a plane, he swoops down upon US
and cuts loose with a machine gun
after which he rises high into the air
and goes back for another load.
Then there is the Boch artillery, Of
all sizes, from the whizz bang (Which
is all that the name indicates) to the
&c. l.. can" the latter being the larg-
est %projectile in use by the Hun.
While passing through the air it
sounds something like a cream separa-
tor in action, yet when it strikes the
ground there is a terrible explosion
and pieces of shell are thrown for hun
dreds of yards in all directions. The
craters made by these shells are some
fifteen feet in diameter and seven to
ten feet deep.
Our battery has been on most every
front up to date, and in some positions
the soil has been fairly plowed up by
these shells. Well, this letter is get
ting to be quite a long one, SO / think
had better stop. 1t has been quite
a long time since we last received any
mail from the states and believe me
it will be a grand and glorious feeling
when it does come. Am we'll and feel
ing fine. Love to all. Dexter.
October 7th, 1918.-Dearest Mother:
1t seems ages since l last wrote to
you, but you must understand that we
are unusually busy at the present writ
ing, and our correspondence has to
take a back seat. This is our third
month at the front, with scarcely any
rest at all, and our present location is
a very hazardous one, in fact during
the past fifteen days we have been
in the hardest fighting that has taken
place On the western front.
During two days and one night of
last week, our pieces were so close to
the Hun lines that we fired point
blank and with the naked eye we could
see the movements OF the Boch. How
ever, we have advanced since then,
and at present u annon are in a
new position.
The roar of the guns has been ter
rife and at times most deafening, yet
when the artillery know that their
own infantry is working under that
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