Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1918-03-06
LESLIE SLACK IN
letters FROM FRANCE
DESCRIBES HORRORS OF WAR AS
HE HAS SEEN 1T AT CLOSE
RANGE
LOCATED NEAR FIRING LINE
Air Raid Experiences are Part OF
Life Behind the Firing Lines.
Many Interesting Sights.


Many Interesting Sights.
Through the courtesy of Frank
Slack The Democrat is permitted to
publish the following letters which he
received during the past week from
his son, Leslie, who is with the Amer
ican forces in France. He is con-
nected with the medical corps, and
Judging from the letters, is near an
active part of the front.
Somewhere in France, Feb. l, 1918.
Dear Father:
AS we have moved again l will write
again to let you know that l am still
alive and well. Hope this finds you the
same
Conditions getting terrible here.
Worst trouble being with the aero
planes. 1t keeps us busy here. The
war is just as hot now as it was, the
Germans are pressing us hard. 1t is
spring here and we are having warm
weather.
When I left New York, sailed on
the name of "Carpathia" 1t had $500
men and 500 persons connected with
the Red Cross on board. We left there
with 3 large transports. Three days
later we arrived at Halifax in Nova
Scotia. waited two days for the rest
of our fleet, then we sailed with s
transports. All together we had 81
900 soldiers including Americans and
Canadians, etc. We had one United
States battleship with US. Eight days
later We were met by eight British
submarine destroyers. The United
States battleship then went back. Two
days later we encountered two sub
marines; a short but decisive battle
took place. One of our Canadian hos
pital transports was sunk, most OF the
soldiers were saved, as it was four
hours before the transport went down
One of the German submarines was
shot to pieces before she submerged,
the other one got away Next day
the ships separated. Six of them
went to Liverpool England. The 9th
er two, one of which l was on, went
to Glasgow, Scotland, and from there
we were carried by railway through
Scotland to Winchester, England.
from there we went to the front. Now
we are fighting hard. Have seen
thousands of United States soldier
laying on the ground, some dead, etc.
The heavy canaOn boom day and
night Aeroplane raids are getting
serious. 1t is awful to pass up many
men who cannot. live, crying for our
aid but we cannot attend to them.
Only the slightly wounded are attend
ed to first. 1t seems to me as II
have aged ten years since | have
been here.
Well Father, must close,
From your son.
LESLIE E. SLACK.
With the American Expedition Forces
Dear father and all the folks:
l am we'll and hope you are all
we'll also. 1t takes a long time to
get the mail to the United States. so
I shall write you twice week, If
possible So far have not had a let
ter from home, but then that isn't
anything as some of the boys haven't
heard from home for over six months
Each week we draw nearer to the
firing line and it is hadrer to get
our mail.
One cannot imagine what war is
until he gets where he can feel it
then it touches. l have been in two
different countries and have had tC
have our money changed at both
places 1t keeps us guessing.
Everywhere we go we find women
working in factories, dry docks. de-
pots. etc. And every family here
has lost either one or two sons or a
daughter.
Have had great number of aero
plane raids here. They do lots OF
damage, but our men in the air are
fighting them hard. They are the
daredevils and real men. The average
life of flyer is only II days so you
can see what they are paying. we
have thousands Of German prisoners
here doing our work for us.
Everything is so expensive tina,
one cannot buy anything on account
of the shortage. All lights are Out
at nine o'clock and the fires are alst
lput out at nine o'clock, due to the
shortage of coal
Father. we are called foreigners
now. 1t seems funny to be called
that. Our motto is That an Ameri
can is an American no matter where
he is" When we march down the
streets carrying the American tlas
; we are cheered by thousands. Mex
come the British Jacks. etc.
One thing that amused me in these
countries are the railway trains. The
engine is very small, about the size
, of your small ice wagon, the coaches
hold eighteen people, have three de
partments on a side with six in each
There are three doors on a side ant
an aisle on one side to pass through
There are no conductors. There is {
guard in each coach. When you ge
= on coach you show your ticket
: when you get off your ticket is taken
, the depOts are fixed so YOU can't ge
away. Many schemes are worked ou
this way on account Of the shortage
of men These trains travel very
, very fast
Well Father, | must close, and trus
that this letter will reach you some
time. Have written quite number
of letters. and hope you received then
all. Tell all the folks and my friend!
hello for me. 1 am not allowed tt
tell you where l am. but you car
guess Just follow the newspapers
Goodbye to all of you,
Your son,
LESLIE E. SLACK
Women readers of The Democrat
will note again this week what ID. }