The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-10-26
FROM THE BOYS IN SERVICE
Recent Letters Descriptive of the Life of the Boys
in Army and Navy
in Army and Navy

| y iettef from sergeant John j. EckelS,
| jr., of Company NJ, 102d infantry, has
| Just been received by his mother, Mrs.
John j. Eckels of Cedar street, which
| IS full of interest, as usual. Sergeant
! Eckels writes under date of Sept. 10:
/ Dear Mother:-
i You arc probably wondering If | am
still alive. | assure YOU that | am not
only that, but in the best of health, but
conditions have been such that | have
not been able to write before and /
| am going to make this short as | want
TO write several letters. Gee la gucrre. 7
| The past two months have been full
of excitement for yours truly and | will
have much more to tell you on that hap
py day when ! can see you all again. |
have received your letters more rcgu
larly and am delighted that things are
! going so well at home. God grant it
may be ever So
We are giving the Boche HI, and if
we can keep it up maybe II be with
you this time next year. Don't let
the papers fool you about the end being
near 1t isn't. We have the Boche
beaten, but it is going to take good
long time to convince him of the fact.
That power that governs over there
stands to lose all when the end comes
and he II keep off the inevitable as long
as possible Another thing. don't get
discouraged If things go against US once
III while. The end is going to be in
our favor. We have demonstrated our
ability to hold him when the odds were
against US and now the scale is tipping
our way more and more as the DAYS
20 by. ! say this because | have read
papers from the states (scnt to the 9th
er fellows), that create false impress
sions all the way through.
| had the extreme pleasure of bring
ing in, all by myself, five Boches. Now
don't get out any bulletins; the hardest
thing about said capture was = keep
the five from falling on my neck in
gratitude for my guiding them to the
rest camp our dear government so kind
~ provides for them. Indeed, they
were so well pleased with thcmselvc,
: that | thought they were bclittling III,
Importance Of mineself. so | tried t
put dampcr on them by mentioning
few of the harder features of the life
: they were going to, but all | could gc
ont of them was Goot, goot, Mich
boom, boom, NIGHT boom. Our regi
mcnt caught 1900 of them the sam,
day.
| see by the paper (thc soldiers pa
pcr) that the soldiers over here are get
Z ting seven DAYS leave every fou
+ months \ number of us fellows though
Z we had been here over a year but judg
:, ing by this we are either mistaken o
9 they run the calendar different owe
) here, or possibly we arc not soldiers.
BY the way. since they cannot sent
= packages unless requested l have mad
= out request and had it signed an
I" will enclose it in this letter. Ny waite
had never been of nv hand cxcep
;, when | was washing, and that was wha
;, / was doing when rush order came TO
i me to 90 out and meet a detail tina
= had already started from the opposit
direction. You have to be over here
a understand that 4 rush order mean
= ''stop for nothing literally and CT
= tirclv, and ! grabbed my gas mask an
~ helmet aud went. left NV money be-
\, with all of my tobacco and some {
IN Captain Locke s. and everything els
\ that | had. Ny watch was in my none
- belt. | accomplished what | was ser
or to do but was picked up in the field {
A. action My Il doctor and sent to 4 ho
pital and nv roommate shared my fat
and when | returned iii a month and
half | could find no trace of anythin,
There was the news of Captain Locke
death to cap the climax. | never fc
worse in my life but since l haN
learned to take things more philosop'
" ieallv aud not let the loss of con
10 rade bother me. 1t takes too much OF
IN of one. In fact. nothing that is pa
bo1hcrs me now, nor future either, II
IN present is all that / can take care Of
vi BY the way, YOU can leave the Su
rs ply of the front of my name. | askt
no for job with more doing as ] was tire
of the s. O. s. work and now | am q
i'll observer. though still sergeant. III
:, new work is very interesting and | no
5 feel that | am really soldier. | hol
Is. that | can make good.
Well. I II have to close this and sta
another. BY the way, don't any papc
= or magazines come Your way nov
- Yours truly could use large quantiti
~ of them. With best love to al At hon
: - and to all inquiring friends, your lovir
son, JOHN.