The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-10-18

have seen over here makes man
proud to wear an American uniform.
writes Private Mendal l. Hamilton. OF
Battery F, 150th Field Artillery, now
on active duty in France, In q letter
to his mother. Mrs. L. F. Hamilton, OF
near Muncie. Hamilton IS a cousin OF
Mrs. r. p. Strohm, 40S North Thir-
teenth street, of this city.
81 was truly glad to receive your
letter Of June 20th," he says In this
letter which was written on the 18th
Of August 1.-THE magazines you spoke
about are read eagerly by all.
~ was very glad to learn that you
received the vases all O. K. They
were made by French soldiers (from
whom 1 purchased them) from old
shell cases fired from the world IA
nous IS millimeter' gun Of the French,
which Is surely helping to win the
war. The carving on the shells Is
the Lorraine Cross which is seen
everywhere in this region. They
should be invaluable as, souvenirs as
they were taken from the famous bat
uefleld.
well, mother, we have been in all
The heavy fighting, and had share
III both offensive and defensive opera
lions. We have all the pleasure Of
lighting with the French and lastly
rith our own comrades. You know
BY the papers what we did to the
Noches. Germany has thrown her best
against our division-the 'Prussian
Imperial Guards'-and we have whip
bed He'll out of them three times, and
can do it again any time. They are
slre good runners when they get
started.
!. Horrors Of the Battle Field.
g"I have seen the horrors of war and
cords can not express 1t all. Our
guns took up position close to
hill and a village which had changed
hands many times during the engage
fhent four days previous, and was
over the field. It was a pretty grue-
tome sight l tell you the dead we're
Ning in rows Just as they were moved
down by machine gun fire and ar
tillery. The whole region was almost
unbearable from the stencil OF decay
ing flesh; but we got used to 1t. and
geeing dead men until we hardly no.
decd such things.
Our battery was pretty lucky, con-
sidering everything, and only had
few casualties. We had many mar
row escapes, though. and at times the
air seemed full Of scrap iron. Yours
Truly came near becoming a part OF
the surrounding country, when an II.
p. shell fell about six feet from the
TOP of my head and exploded, almost
covering me up in a shallow trench
that I was digging when 1t fell. Tne
leaves and limbs OF bush above me
were all blown to bits, and when !
brushed the dirt OF me big piece OF
iron was laying on my leg. which was
only bruised little. I had another
narrow escape or two, but those are
all in the game. At our last position
we were shelled by mustard gas, and
several of the boys received some
burns and nearly all Of them breathed
too much for their good. l got enough
70 give me the stomach ache, but not
enough to spoil my appetite. I tell you.
Mother, when those big high ex
plosive shells begin to fall near you
and the iron scraps to fall near you,
q fellow thinks OF lot of things In a
short time. / know once / Rugged the
ground SO hard in an open field that
made a dent in 1t. Ha! Ha!
Proud of Americans.
"At our former sector we were
bombed a time or two, having one man
wounded. Being bombed is worse than
being shelled any time, as you can't
tell when it is coming or from where
"A comrade and / were on guard in oul
shell pit one night when we were fired
on by by boche plane. You should
have seen us getting to cover when
the red streaks from the tracer bullets
began to fall. and zip" in the grass
near us. I took shot at one with {
German rife and some ammunition
had found. Didn't want to dirty m!
own gun. See? l could have picked
up all sorts of German equipment. i
/ had a way Of carrying anything
would have saved German helmet
but thought / might have a better
chance some time. l saw all kinds o.
air fights and many machine gun.
brought down An air fight is abou
the most interesting and exciting
thing yet.
81 tell you when you have seen wha
we have, 1t makes a man proud tt
wear an American uniform. WheI
YOU see a line of dead clear across ;
Aeld, and the last man at their objec
tive, a machine gun, and the boch'
gunner dead, you can see what stuf
the American soldier is made Of, ant
feel what they are going through TO
the right-and then think that Their
are few who still say Let George d.
its enough to make one blush will
shame.
1--WE are now back from the from
resting up. We were on the go nigh
and day almost during the drive, ant
were SO worn out that we could drol
where we stood, and sleep no matte
how heavy the firing.
French Show Courage.