Cottonwood chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1917-current, 1918-02-15
Letters from Cottonwood
Boys in France.


his son Ira, somewhere in
France"
Jan. 2.
We are expecting to be moved
to permanent quarters nearer our
work most any time; l hope soon.
AS it is now we have to get up at
5 o'clock in order to get our break
fast and get to work by $50. One
good thing about it, we don't
have to walk to work. They haul
us back and forth, morning and
evening, in a motor truck, but it
IS SO far we don't get back for
dinner and it is brought to us.
SO you see we are away from camp
from 8 a. m. to about 6 p. m. and
don't get any time to look after
our clothes and quarters except
after supper, which is also the
only time we get to wash our face
and hands, and sometimes not
then as the water isn't always on.
1t freezes up once in awhile, so
you see it gets cold in Sunny G?
France" the same as any place
else.
We had New Years afternoon
off the same as Xmas, but did not
get any New Years dinner. put
IN Xmas and New Years after
Moons washing clothes, and am
getting to be quite housekeeper
think, but as near as | can figure
it a soldier has to be most any,
thing.
l have never received any mail
yet but hope to soon. About all
the news we have heard from the
states is that the government has
taken over the railroads. We
don't get much news of any kind.
You people in the states know
more about the progress of the
war than we do. The only thing
we understand more than you is
of the actual doings of the u. S.
in this country. think the CEN
sor will permit me to say that the
people in the states don't know
what war is and don't have the
slightest conception of the enor-
nous problem the U. S. govt is
solving and the enormous basis
on which it is being done-and
successfully, too.
We signed the payroll the other
day and expect pay in about a
week or ten days. When we do
get it l am going to town for a
big feed. Our ''chuck" is we'll |
cooked, good stuff and enough of
it, but it gets awful tiresome eat
ing nearly the same thing 3 times
a day and we have very little
fruit. l am going to load up on
variety that the army don't pro-
duce. Am also going to feed up
on some candy too, as l haven't
had any since leaving the states.
We have quite a time getting I
our mail through sometimes. The
dope the censor requires both in
side and out is SO complicated we
forget some of it once in awhile.
The last time wrote l forgot to
put my address at the end and it
was returned to me, but the letter
was delayed only one day, as our
Company Commander does the
censoring and one day doesn't
make much difference with a let
ter going as far as these do.
Gus Maugg is in the hospital
with mumps, so | am the only
Cottonwood guy left, but expect
Gus back in a week or ten days.
We had a little snow last night,
just enough to say it was snow.
1t is still cold and probably will
be for the next month or six
weeks, but I am getting used to
the damp wind and don't notice
the cold as much as l did. One
reason | notice it as much as do
is because we are out in it contin-
ually from 6 a. m. to 6 p. m.-not
even inside for dinner-and not
much moving around or manual
labor, so that a person gets chilled
through, in spite of all the stomp
ing around he does.