Putnam patriot., 1918-11-29
Charles A Ryan Hit In Head BY
Shrapnei But Is Recovering

oeen EaSSeu ana mt IN the head by
shrapnel He recovered from the gas
attack and went back to his company
only to receive wound in the head
He viii probably not have to so to
the front again and in this his hope
will come true, Here is what he
writes to his wife under date of Oct
90
Dear Jen -
I'm bet this will be welcome let
ter to YOU. as it is my first in over a
month You will have to excuse the
delay as was in a very bad fix and
couldn't get any writing material
I'VE were in one of the latest
American drives and we were going
all the time. Ii was pretty tough at
times, but we had TO put up with it
Our only place to sleep at night was
hole we would dig in the ground
and crowd in. | got by about Is days
and nights without anything happen
ing to me. until week ago, and even
then | was pretty lucky. 1t was
about , o'clock in the morning and
was on duty at battalion headqquart-
ers at telephone. The shells were
coming over pretty fast and one of
them landed right in back of my head.
A piece of shrapnel hit the tele-
phone and bounded against my he'll.
met, knocking it off and then going
into my head. | thought my end had
come as it turned me over. | was
picked up by one of the other fellows
that were in the hole with me and he
bandaged me up. bled quite lot
and was pretty weak for while.
started to walk to the dressing station
which is about three miles from
where | got hit. When | got there
they fixed me up and put me to sleep
until morning, when they sent me to
a hospital | have been moved most
every day since. This is the fifth hos
pital have been in and | expect to
stay here until better | haven't felt
very we'll so far. My head aches all
the time. | had six pieces of shrap-
mel taken out of the back of it so you
can imagine have some pain | am
not hurt bad, though, and expect to
be out of bed in few days. Tell the
folks | am O. X. | guess the war is
nearly over now, and hope | won't
have to go to the front any more
Every Nationality Can Say, German
No Good"
Here is the first word from Philip
Foisey of Putnam, written under date
of September 3
when | left Putnam | promised
to drop line from France. but owing
to the fact that have been quite busy
it slipped my mind.
This is rather an interesting place.
One minute | am talking with Chin
aman, the next with an Italian, and
then with an Englishman, and so on.
] guess every corner of the globe is
represented in this hospital and the
strange part of it is they all know
how to say-'German no good, and
second the motion.
/ II suppose you are expecting to
hear any day that Germany has given
up. ] guess the whole world is watch
ing to see what kind Of stunt she
will try to pull next. Also how Presi-
dent Wilson will block her in such a
way she won't know how to turn.
You've got to hand it to Mr. Wilson,
he has certainly held Germany down
in great style and they are not slip
ping anything over on Uncle Sam.
They ought to be hep to that by this
time. They are beaten and the best
part of it it that they know it but
what they don't know is how to admit
it. If they wait much longer there
won't be any Germans to admit it.
II suppose that in the states the
] tdlh IL wal anu poiIlito, anu btihi tN
cry time country gives up you cele-
brate by ringing bells and blowing
whistles. ! can see the paper boys
shouting their heads off Extra, all
about Austria Cor whatever country
it may be- surrendering. And to
think that if Uncle Sans boys hadn't
come across how much different il
might have been. 1t would have been
over a long time ago, but it would
have been victorious Germany. But
the boys did come over, and not SO
4 long ago either. Little did Germany
think when she set out on the war
path that she would run up against
an American sign Germany go
slow, bad turn ahead When she
came to that turn she was confronted
with another-'To the rear, march.
That is what the boches have been
kept doing at the front ever since.
philip Foisey.
Base Hospital sc, A. P. o. 1911"