Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1918-09-20
VII or Solder and Saijer Boys.


Cottl ell. . former Cresco boy, now
with Evacuation Hospital No. 8, in
France. 1t is great letter, and shows
. most sincere admiration of the
French people and without bravado
tells of the bravery of our boys and the
fighting spirit that anlmates them. The
letter follows:
Hope you are all well and happy as
this leaves me. We are now in shell
wrecked town behind the lines and, it
is some shot up place, but not near as
dangerous as it sounds because the
Germans are going on fast that the
army can hardly keep up. You know
that by now, but it does me good to
tell it anyway, and wish I was in
some outfit that could make them 60
faster. You ought to see the fellows
that come in from the lines. how brave
they are. Passed one convoy Of am
balances the other night when we were
on the move and in one car one of the
patients raised his hand and said give
them H. The thing that gives me
the tingles is the French people. We
pass shell wrecked village after village
and people are coming back to them.
At one place where We stopped for .
few minutes, woman and little boy
were walking up what had once been q
street and they stopped and looked at
what had once been their home. 1t
was just wall and nothing else. She
Just held out her hands and then drop
ped them, but when we passed she
turned to US with q smile on her face,
and think that when a woman can
smile in place like that, what can the
men do in the places they are in. That
is the spirit that Germany cannot wipe
off French woman's face ON the day
that began the fifth year of this war.
l only hope that the mothers Of
American lads will be as brave as she
because they will give up their sons
and some their husbands. But they
will never have their homes ruined by
these pests that infest all parts of the
world. As l sit here in this shell
wrecked Y. M. C. A. hut, that has
once been beautiful school and look
out upon the once beautiful city now in
ruins, and think of why it was done,
hope that this war does not end unit
every German or German at heart j:
wiped off of Gods green earth. wa:
taking to some of the boys who had I
part Of the big Fourth of July doing
in this place and they say it was prett!
hot, for the Germans had them in I
corner when new troops came over tn
hills and that was when the real re
treat began, and it sure was some re
treat. It'has taken just sixteen day
for the ALLIES to clean this place o
4 Huns'and it took them just two year
to get hare. 1t will be q grand d.!
when they 60 over the tops and take
the Rhine valley, and the boys will d
it. 1
j Well, had better ring off for now
Just give my friends the hello for mi
and tell them will be with them SOM
: day. -
Sergeant Eugene F. Barnes in I
letter to his parents writes as follows
l am just fine and hope you are al
the same. 1srrived safe in Camp Mer'
rift. We were three days and two
nights on the road from Camp Gordon.
l certainly saw some sights l will
never forget and stme beautiful
scenery. I've seen more and learned
more in the last six weeks than did in
| my whole life.
+, like it fine here. One sees a patch
of green grass once in u while, some.
thing l didn't see in Georgia. The days
were so hot it burned it off and the
nights were SO cool it couldn't grow.
[Ha Ha ~ We boys from the north
called it, the substitute grass. went
through a great many states, but moth.
ing like dear old Iowa. The state Of
Delaware was the incest state that We
went through to my notion. it reminded
me of home. that is the fields and soil.
The Red Cross certainly used US fine,
especially in the big cities. We got of
at pretty nearly every big city and
marched for exercise. There we're
fifteen coaches Of ". Frank McCar-
vile and Ssvsrt Robertson are with me-.
I hope We can stay toge her to 70 over
sea. -
saw an old trench at Atlanta, Ga =,
from the Civil War; it was pretty nearly
oil filled in.
sure got sick of looking ut cotton
and tobacco fields-that's about oil that
grows in Georgia and Tennessee; old
women and kids out picking cotton.
went through the city Of Warrington.
We were about ten or fifteen rods from
| the White House. The tunnel went