The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-12-27
LETTERS FROM THE
BOYS. IN The CAMP

Mr.. and Mrs. Martin Wiltgen. re-
ceived all your letters UP date, also
son, Sergeant Francis Wiltgen.
{ Mailly, France, November 80, 1918.
Dear Mother and Father: Have re-
/ ceived al your letters up to date, also
the blades, but the magazines have
not arrived. Hope you received the
+ package l sent Did not send Boche
| helmet, sold it instead, but will try to
bring a German rifle with me. Have
mo idea when we will start back, it
might be two weeks and maybe three
months.
The prisoners are returning from
Germany every day, and they are GER
.(tainly in a pitiful condition. They are
half starved. Most of them have no
clothes to keep cut the cold. Saw one
chap who had pair of bedroom slip
pers for shoes. They come around our
kitchen at meal time and take any
thing you have left in your messkits,
pick out scraps of meats and bread
out of the garbage cans. They are
Russians, Italians, British and French.
Have been in the sales commissary
in this camp every since l came to
France, SO did not see any action.
!, Took trips to the front with supplies
: so saw a little excitement at times.
We were located only fifty kilometers
from the front until the Americans
started their big push at Verdun, and
the boys pushed them back SO fast that
one night we went to sleep and
couldn't hear a gun, the first time
since we had been in this camp.
Those pieces of schrapnel that l
sent you l picked up in Chalons after
an air raid That is about the best
hing the Germans could do, raid these
towns around here, killing women and
children.
!, Met Clarence McHugh last week, he
is in the 73rd Artillery. He is on his
way back now Claude Masters, Dan
Lloyd, Herbert Roos and Merle Kim
BILE left last night for the coast and
Paul Brazier will leave Monday or
Wednesday.
Am feeling fine. With love to all,
Your son, Francis.
Peter Bauer received the following
letter from Corporal Ed Subgrunski,
who is with the A. E. F.
Stenay, France, November 25, 1918.
Dear Friend Peter: l am writing
you a few lines to let you know that
1 am still alive and have not forgot
ten you yet Well how are you folks
making it anyhow? How is Ludwig
and Minnie, well l hope. Well | am
in France as a soldier of the U. S. A.
and am in the Fifty fourth Pioneer
Infantry and we sure have a good
and clean organization, all healthy
and big and fat We went through
quite large area in France stree we
have been here. / suppose you re-
member how crazy / was to get in
the army Well l tried last spring
ard they would not take me so / wait
ed until Uncle Sam called and then
I went and answered my courtrys
call and l worked myself up little
bit for l am corporal and / feel
little proud of my job. | have
squad of eight men to look after.
Well l suppose you heard the good
news by this time and what do you
think about it? Well it surely did
not take us long to put the damper
on old Kaiser Bill, he is done for
good this time. Say but they sure
did give it 10 the Germans here, they
just hammered at them all the time,
did rot give them any rest at ALL And
we were taking them all the time we
were stationed in the town named
Stenay. We are cleaning it up after
the Germans. They sure did live
dirty over here The town has about
twenty thousand population and the
Ic, nf CHI H.
other towns we went through were
shot to pieces, not a building left
standing; it sure looks queer.
They are moving the stuff from the
front Lots of cannons, big and small
are getting pulled back home They
sure did a lot of shooting, they
were booming all the time and the
way those shells went whistling
through the air did not solnd very
good, but we stood it all like soldiers.
The weather sure is fire now, nice
sunshine every day but frosty nights
and long, lot of sleep. How is the
weather over there, is it nice? l
suppose it's about the same as here.
Are you through with your fall work
yet? Well / suppose we will be
home pretty soon and when l get
back | sure will come to see you peo-
pie down there. How is Mrs. f. Ju-
berien getting along and Matt and
John? Say hello TO them for me.
Well | must close as it is bed time
ard | wrote all the news that I know.
So send you all my best regards
ard Christmas greetings and best
luck. | remain as ever your friend,
Corporal Ed Subgrurski.