The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1918-08-08
THAT HE'LL HOLE
ON THE MARINE
Lieut.. H. D. Campbell of Wa
terbury Writes of "the Lit
tie Job to Finish Up"
WHICH PREVENTED
CELEBRATING THE 4TH
Right There on the Job for
% Days-Lost All but
Three Men

Waterbury, Aug. s.--Among the many
anxious parents have been Mr.. and Mrs.
e. E. Campbell, who have known that
their son, Lieut.. H. Denney Campbell,
was at the front and in the thick of
things. Two interesting letters show
something of his experiences. Mr.. Camp
bell is hoping to 60 overseas in railroad
work, having been for many years a
popular station agent here, as well as
elsewhere, for the Central Vermont rail
road News of Lieut.. Campbells safety
is always received with much JOY by his
home friends, as well as family.
At the Front, July 2, 1918.
Dear Old Dad: How's tricksi Re
ceived letter from you last evening,
which raised my morale 100 per cent.
We are hoping to get out of this hell hole
on the Marine soon. Understand that
we are TO parade in Paris on the l4th,
which is their Independence day. |
mean the Frenchmen's. 1t would surely
be the height of misfortune to get
bumped of now with anything like that
in view, for Paris il a gay old place on
the l4th. We were supposed to parade
there on the 4th also, but had little
job to finish up here, which seemed of
more Importance. | am sending you in
this letter Boehe dog tag" Please
hang it up in your office and give your
son credit for another Hun. II seems
from your letter that you didn't know
where / was. Whenever you read of the
marines, you viii know "that's me-" We
are only small body and always to-
gether. Pershing calls the marines "the
flower of his troops" God knows if ev-
cry brigade over here would do what
this one has the war would soon be over.
Am also enclosing a clipping from the
Paris Herald, which gives what some of
the prisoners we took say about us.
Wouldn't I be surprised to walk down
the Boulevard des Italiens in Paris this
fall and meet me old daddy? We'd sure
celebrate; eh, old topf Wen, bon soir
and bonnie chance. Spud.
June %, 1918.
Dear Ones All: Received a big bunch
of letters last evening, numbering Is, of
which five were from you all and most
welcome indeed. They were dated all
the way from May 20 to June 4.
/ have experienced all the thrills of
war, even down and unto the "cootie'
or "totos,r or "trench hounds" or what
ever you wish to call them; to me they
are just plain bugs / have managed to
keep them away until recently, but since
we hit this place they found me. We
sleep on the ground in straw in small
clump of woods in the reserve line. They
say Imagination fools you, but these
were no Christian Science coolies / had
However, I had hot bath and some
new clothes and hope now that | am rid
of tl-em. ! lost all but three men in my
section and had two guns put out Of &C.
ton and so was transferred to the 18th
company in the same battalion. The old
23d got it pretty hard, you see.
| got that boche for you, Homer. as
you requested sent his picture to Dad
They were on their way to Paris all
right, but the marines soon put stop
to any such foolish idea like that. They
not only stopped them, but threw them
back, and, boy, what / mean, ! was right
there every minute in the first wave for
% days. Ny teeth are all loose from
eating bareback, but am making up
for last time now; we are getting good
chow
Dad, If you come to France, don't fail
to look me up, However, if you do come
over, I'll tell you right now you'll soon
get fed up" It isn't what it's cracked
up to be- It's certainly an excellent idea
and sacrifice on your part, though, and
at the same time would be wonderful
experience for you.
It is rumored that we parade in Paris
next month. certainly hope it is true.
VIII close and send my love. Harold.