The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1918-09-26
lETTER FRoa1 q. c. PIERCE,

John 3. Pierce,
Balko, Okla.
Dear Brother:
Have your letter Of June 23 and
another one written away earlier, but
there is an awful gap in between.
Suppose you wrote ages ago but
there u perhaps one chance in .
thousand that will get some OF those
old letters.
Just now we are back OF the front,
but ! reckon there 10 no human
knows how long we win stay. We
are sure getting 10 see France. Passed
through the outskirts Of Paris, I
think, on this last trip. II you read
the papers you will see that the ma
rines have been doing some good
fighting and you may take my word
for il that we do oil we get credit for.
Just to illustrate: We were up on
the front more than . month
and were hiked in out Of the woods
one afternoon. Loaded in trucks ut
dark or . little later and hauled till
about noon the next day with no
chance to sleep except sitting and
that IL no chance at all. We un-
loaded and ate some hard tack and
rested till about three then hiked un-
Ill 'about one at night and the last
half hour Of Il in the rain. Camped
in the woods. No lights whatever.
Well. We stayed there again till
about noon then moved on up closer
TO the front and camped just on the
bsre ground without breaking down
our packers and the next morning at
daylight up and on the march. About
nine o'clock we formed in three bat
tie waves and went over the top. We
advanced steadily over open fields Of
wheat, alfalfa and beets for about q
mile and half through q heavy bar
rage Of shrapnel and high explosives,
then dug In enough to be protected
and held our line there till nearly
morning again when some French
came up and relieved what were left
of us and we showed out and along
about noon went into camp back in
some woods and had hot chow of
beans, bread and coffee. That is the
way the marines go to the front and
over the top and believe me boy they
get "boco" Dutch too. That word
"boco" in French means many OF
much and we use it SO much l am
beginning to find it hard to express
myself without making use of SO
handy a word. I might also add that
when the marines hike they carry
"boco" weight on their backs. A very
brief and sketchy account of one
move and attack.
.,,ro ,,,;.h ,,o,, co,,ld ann sn,,a ~
this country. There is some of the
finest grain such as wheat, oats and
rye, here that ever expect to see.
Also good alfalfa and clover. The
wild grass is tall and thick and there
is small white clover that grows
wild on the sod land so the grazing
could not be better. Harvest is on
now and / have seen them cutting
grain with sickles, cradles, reapers
and binders and have seen the bind
| ers pulled by oxen, horses and one by
tractor. The oxen they work one
yoke on the tongue and one yoke in
the lead with driver walking beside
them and man on the binder to run
| it. The horse outfits are three
abreast and one man does it all just
like white folks.
| Now don't let anybody kid you into
thinking that big horses are no good
because here almost any of their farm
horses IL in show condition would
weigh eighteen hundred and lots Of
them above that. They raise lots OF
beets and you know the rows are
twice as close as our corn rows YET
these horses get around among then
all right and stand just as hot wealth
er Mt times as we have.
PVT. r. c. PIERCE,
| 83 Co., 9Th Marines, A. +. F.