Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1918-10-30
VIC HOEC TELLS
ABOUT FRANCE
In a Letter to Dave Thompson He
Says the Germans are Catching
Hell Now and Plenty of it
LIVING IN DOG
TENTS AT PRESENT
Tells About Seeing Big Bunch of
German Prisoners, and They
All Seemed Happy to Have
Been Captured
Somewhere in France
Sept. Ia, 1918


Sept. IA, 1918
| Dear Friend Dave:
/ received your letter last night
and was glad to hear from you. /
suppose you already know that the
report about Claude Robinson's
death is false, and / am sure glad of
1T. do not get in to see Claude
very often, as he is in ID. company
and our companies are scattered all
over the country He had been very
sick and was at the hospital long
time. He tells me he had a fine time
in Paris. 1 sure would like to visit
that place. We are camping in our
dog tents now, but / think We will
move into billets tonight 1t has
rained every day this week so the
| roads and fields are very wet and
muddy. Tomorrow is pay day and
l am going to scout around and see
what can buy. There is an Ameri-
can Y. M. G. A. and two British can
teens right close to our camp, but
there is always line block long
waiting at the Y. We can get to-
bacco and other things cheaper there
| than you can back home, l bet you
have been working hard this summer
with help so scarce and such large
crops. They sure had fine crops
here. This part of the country is
hilly, just like in Iowa, with patches
of woods here and there. 1t makes
me want to go hunting squirrels
again. Have seen several punches OF
quail and prairie chickens here. How
| is squirrel hunting this fall, are they
plentiful? Claude says after we get
home you and he and / will have to
get tent and go camping for a
week or two. He has not received
a bit of pay since he left the states,
but l think he will receive 1t all this
time. We paid one franc (20c) for
two bundles of straw, which we sleep
on. Everything is higher than
kite here. How would you like to
pay 20 cents pound for apples or
pears, 10 cents apiece for eggs and
everything else the same.
Well / got a chance to see some
German prisoners last week. They
wJre working with armed guards
over them. They all seem happy,
and l don't blame them, do you?
If they were back in the lines they
would be catching hell now and
plenty of it. l also saw my first
tank and went through one of them.
They sure do the business, never
stop for anything. / suppose you
saw Ruth Law fly at the fair. Well
we see stunts like that nearly every
day, only instead of one plane there
are dozens of them. l suppose you
have read in the papers that our di-
vision helped to capture (place
censored). You can look at the map
and get a good idea where We have
been. Many thousands of soldiers
lost their lives at that hill. 1t is
just about the same height as our
hills, but all the trees have been
blown off of it. 1t is rs bare as
bald head now and all full of shell
holes.
Well Dave / think / will ring off
for this time. Greet your folks and
sisters from me, also Earnest M.
Foltz. / am we'll and feeling fine
and hope you all are the same. Don't
shoot all the game this fall and save
a few fox and wolves fo- me. May
be will be with you again next fall.
Hoping to hear from you soon, / re-
main as ever
Your friend
VICTOR HOEG.