Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-09-14
PRIVATE TOWNSEND WOUNDED,
TELLS OF GLISMAN'S DEATH
Plains Youth, with Ankle Shattered,
Tells of Last Days of Boy
hood Friend
Bu Special Correspondens.

| BIZ Special Correspondents.
TOTTENVILLE, Sept. 1.-two
letters from Private Richard Town
send, of Pleasant Plains, to Joseph
Oates, of the Pioneer hotel, Pleasant
Plains, tell of his being wounded in
action in August One letter was
written in a base hospital in France
shortly after he was wounded and
the last one, which arrived a few
days ago. wasSwritten in a rest hospi-
tai in London, England.
Aug. 1s. 1913.
Dear Friend Joe,
Just a line to let you~know that 1
feel pretty good. My wound is COM
ing along fine. It panied me quite a
little at first, but 1t is easing up now.
The worst of 1t is the bullet went
right through the ankle, a very pain
full place. 1 can't move my leg. be-
cause when / move it It hurts. but as
long as 1 lay still it's all right. I am
In a fine hospital. AT one time 1t used
to be a gambling house. 1t is a beau
tiful place. The nurses are fine, al
ways jolly, and the best doctors going
are here.
Well Joe. I feel pretty bad about
poor Phil. We were both in the
trench together. He went on an err
aA1 Vi SOA4GbhAh6 IL VII HIS way
there, you see one part of the trench
wasn't very deep, a place where you
almost had to go on your hands and
knees. Well, anyway he didn't get
low enough, a bullet through the
heart, n of those little exploding
bullets; the shots exploding from
rife now are ordinary rife bullet, but
when 1t hits you 1t explodes inside of
you; that's how the poor fellow got
1t. I suppose his people feel very bad
over it. I know they must feel terri
BILE. When you lose a pal over here,
Joe, you want to fight like hell.
Everybody liked Phil. 1 thought they
would go over the top when they
heard 1t.
Well. Joe old boy, the Yanks have
got them on the run all over here;
they're running the life out of them.
The Americans advanced nine miles
the other day on an eighteen mile
front; that's not so bad. That's about
all 1 have to say, but I will write Of
ten to let you know how 1 am making
out.
PRIV. RICHARD TOWNSEND,
Co. H, los, u. s. Inf,
Base Hospital IS, General Ward IA.
TheLother letter is as follows:
London, England, Aug. rs, 1918.
Dear Friend Joe,
Just a line, Joe old boy, that I am
coming along fine. I am now inLon-
don. 1t is a great place, Joe, but
can't be compared with the Plains.
My ankle is coming along pretty
good. I will be quite a while In bed
yet. 1t takes quite a while for q place
like that to heal up and besides they
took a piece of bone out of the ankle,
so / guess it will be a while before I
get out.
1 want to get well so I can get an
other whack at the dirty Dutch. I
only got two of them, but I would
like to get a couple more. I have
never run across Brownie or Walsh
over here. / wonder where they are ?
Believe me, I would like to see them.
l have not seen much of London as
l was in an ambulance when we
came through, so I could not see
much. So l guess I will close. When
p get up n around and see some
thing I will be able to tell a lot.
Your old friend.
DICK.
q. s.. Base Hospital No. 20, ST. AIMS
Road, Tottenham, London, Eng
land, A. E. r.
Brownie spoken of in the last let
ter Is Martin Oliver Brown, also OF
Pleasant Plains. who was Killed in
action on August ~. four days after
Philip Glisman, mentioned in the first
letter OF the writer, died.