The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1918-12-21
"CLARE.'

"Jack" Williamson, son of n. Will
hanson, wel1-known merchant of Mos
cow, has written the following ntensef,
interesting letter to his parents. The
| letter is chuck full of news and inform
alton. 1t follows:
Dear Mother and Father: Your let
tiers of the 18th of October just re
ceived and | was certainly glad to hear
from you both. The censorship has been
moderated to some extent and I'll have
quite lot to say SO I'll answer both
at once I'll start and tell you some of
my experiences since leaving the u.
S. A.
| left New York on July 4th on the
H. NJ. S. "Olympic," landing in Bor-
deaux, France, on July A. after a fine
trip. From Bordeaux we went to Cha
teau Thierry and did all kinds Of work
that could be done with a motor truck,
from hauling ammunition and towing
the big guns to transporting P. G.'s
prisoners of War). We were there
| for some time and since then have been
along the whole front from the Swiss
border to the English channel The
work was awful hard and nerve rack
ing and we had to $50 it night and day.
AT the front the roads are under fire
and full of shell holes so the driving is
very difficult, even in the day time. 1t
was too risky to send the big trucks
over the shell-swept roads in the day
time SO we'd have to travel mostly
at night and it certainly was an awful
grind You couldn't have any lights
whatsoever as even match might
bring down a barrage. If fellow ever
had any trouble with his machine he
couldn't even light match to find what
it was. Once six-inch gun we were
towing got loose from the truck and
went off the road into shell hole. 1t
was pitch dark and we had one awful
time getting that old baby out of the
hole and onto the road again. About
the scariest job I've had was hauling
hand grenades. If small she'll ever
strikes the load its all up with the
truck, driver and part of the landscape !
1t sure is a creepy feeling to hear the
big shells go whining overhead and hear
ing them burst little ways back.
got a couple of little scratches from
in my knee. 1t only kept me
in the hospital for three days and it |
doesn't bother me a bit now. I got
smell of the gas too, but it didn't trou-
bic me any.
I've had some awful experiences, but
wouldn't have missed it for anything.
/ L
got over here quicker.
Our company has been transferred |
from the Engineers Motor Transporta-
ion Service" to the "Motor Transport /
Corps" The motor transport corps does
he transportation work for all the l
branches of the service. We've GER
ainly got a bunch of trucks over here.
Practically all the work is done bv
rucks and there are very few horses.
The trucks go to pieces very quick at
he front I've had II different trucks,
angling from three-ton Packard to a
even and a half ton Mack. The roads
p there are lined with the wrecks of
rucks that have got in the road of some
German II. When the trucks come in
if the road their hoods and radiators
ire usually full of holes made by
hrapne1 and lots of times the whole
ody is shot off. A fellow is out of
lex if he gets a.whee1 or two shot away.
We are all glad to see it all over
With, although most of the fellows
'anted to go to Berlin or at least to
ne Rhine, but we didn't have to go 3
luch further than the Marine If they Z
admit stopped us we'd have been in {
erin by now The statistics show that
lere were Fl Germans taken prisoner Z
or every American taken Nobody
lows how many Heinies each Amer
an accounted for.
There's no telling how long it will be &
fore we get home, but we hope it
ont be long. The M. T. c. has a lot of
ork to do yet. The tdoughboys" will 3
the first to go home, I guess, and Z
ey deserve it.
1t will be kind of hard to say good L
e to the fellows I've been through
this with. They are great bunch r
fellows. The company has been <
led up to replace the men we've lost IN