The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-07-17
SOLDIERS LETTERS
SOUTH DAKOTA MEN WRITE OF
THEIR EXPERIENCES
ABROAD.

an interesting letter to his parents
The letter is in part: /.
Il have been censoring the Moth
er's day letters the boys have been
writing, and il seems that every fell
low who has a mother wrote to her
this morning. 1t would do you good
to read them, just to see what a
splendid lot of fellows America has
sent over here. We have been given
our commissions. Mine is second
lieutenant in field artillery. / was
given orders to act as battery COM
mander for a week during the abb
sence Of the commander, and during
this time had $50 men, a hundred
horses and about $500, 900 worth of
wheeled material under my super
vision. | got through my weeks re-
sponsibilities with success and was
glad l got the experience it gave me.
II have been talking with a num-
Der of American boys who have been
out in the front trenches, and they
have begun to see what this war re-
ally means, and that If we come out
OF Ii at the wrong end (Which we
will not, of course) we will be DOOM
ed to live in a hell on earth. Our
battery commander has been telling
me of the bravery of some of my own
battery comrades who had won ID. s.
o. crosses, and also of the brutal
treatment the Germans had melted
out to some of the Americans whom
they had taken prisoner, m~altreating
them in a shocking name and then
turning them loose to wander back to
the American and French trenches,
where most of them died a short time
later.
He said they can talk and preach
about u waging a war on the Ger
man aristocracy, but when such muir
derous atrocities are being committed
by its soldiery ii is about time to
make Germany and its kultur a dead
study. They make us all feel that We
want to get to the front as quickly
as possible, and yesterday l turned
down an offer l had to proceed to
odAiu a oIl 90 AiStA uAAOis dS II
would mean at least three months be-
fore would have the opportunity to
get to the front. Saumur is one of
the worlds famous riding schools,
devoted to instruction in. equitation
and hippopathology." The young
soldier states that when the war is
over he wants his father and mother
to make a trip to France, SO he can
show them the scenes that are now
interesting him.
First Sergeant Paul Calfee, a Lead
boy. who is a member of a battery
of the American field artillery on the
battle line France, writes from near
the front:
Just came back from making a
long hike with some of the boys, and
such beautiful sights / never saw as
one can see in this country. AT pres
ent the farmers (who are mostly
women) are putting up their hay and
the fields are just wonderful, so
clean and well arranged that one
would think the field a parlor floor.
Then the grain is all headed out and
the fields nearly cleared of weeds.
They work all day with little diggers
and keep the fields almost clean of
anything but crops. I'll tell you they
are a bit old-fashioned, but just the
same w all have to hand it to the
French for beauty and architecture"
Sergt. Abel Bernard, an Elk Point
boy, who Is a member of an aero
squadron now on active service in
France, writes of the death of a COM
rade and dear friend in the zero
squadron:
Zone of the best friends / have
made since I have been in the army
was killed Saturday, and buried the
following day. He was a first lieu
tenant, a pilot and was killed in an
aeroplane accident. This Lieut.. Col
burn was like a father to any man
that might need help in any way. He
was just as good to me as though l
was his son.. / met him first last
fall, and certainly can never forget
him."
Mrs. C. r. Weisz, of Hitchcock,
has received a brief letter from her
brother, Jacob, who is serving on the
battle lines in France with the Amer
lean army. He evidently had been
severely wounded in the leg during
one of the battles. He writes in part:
II am some better now, but am
still in bed. / had five operations,
SO you can imagine what kind of a
leg ] have now. / have had it in a
cast for five weeks, and now | have
1t in a sling, so 1t feels better. 1t
sure does get tiresome to lay on your
back all the time. 1t will be three
months the 9th, SO you ian imagine
how sick / am of 1t, and / don't know
how much longer I will have to stay
In bed. but here is hoping not much
longer. I think about a month will
finish mi out so that I can get out of
bed. Hope to see you soon. but God