The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-10-11
LETTERS FROM THE
BOYS IN ARMY CAMPS

following letter from her son, Bugler
Eldrick Haugen.
France, September /, 1918.-Dear
Mother and All: Today being a day
of leisure l finally have the oppor-
tunity to write you again and let you
know that / am still well and feel
ing fine / left the western part of
France soon after l mailed you that
other letter from the place where
was CHARTERED in the loft of that
winery. Since then l have travelled
over considerable territory in East
ern France (where l am at presently
and have also spent couple of weeks
ON quiet" sector at the front My
work ION the field" outside of sin
mailing and bugling, is practically the
same as that of messenger or a
dispatcher. The hazardous work of
delivering messages is intrusted to
us and sometimes in order to get to
our destination we have to run for it
from hole to hole under a constant
fusillade of shots and shells Often we
must lie under cover for long time
until we think the "boche' thinks he
has got us when we will jump up and
make for hole farther ahead, looking
for our next stop as we run. Some
times we have to go out at night when
it's pitch dark and run through woods,
across prairies and fields, up and
down hills and countless other
places too numerous to mention.
l was in Nancy one night couple
of weeks ago during hostile air
raid there but to explain everything
would be almost impossible. The
nearest | can come to it is that it
was more like hell than anything
else have yet seen. When a bomb
would hit the top of one of those
buildings it wouldn't stop until it had
lodged in the earth beneath it and
had wrecked everything in its course
downward. The anti aircraft guns
and the powerful search lights did
planes away. The next morning as
we passed through the city we could
see street after street blocked off to
traffic on account of the enormous
amount of glass and wreckage in the
way. Fire hose was strung every
where while the men were busy ex-
tinguishing fires.
In the villages in which l am now
billited the wet and mud has all
dried up and the sun shine often
(Which is something out of the erdi-
nary) There is large American
aviation field right near here and the
aeroplanes in the day are thicker
than bees in hive. In speaking
about bees, I'll say that no matter
where you go here in France you'll
always find them more numerous
than flies and also find them to be
more of a pest. l can't remember
of having eaten>one meal yet without
at least dozen of them buzzing
around my head waiting for a chance
to alight upon your food as you
carry it into your mouth.
l expect to be on the hike again
in day or so and move to a place
where it ISIS possible that business"
will pick up little, but l do not
know where and l don't care an aw-
full lot. All places look alike to me.
They can set me down in a field of
mud and inside of day / have got.
home fit for anybody to live in. l
have tried out number of sleep
ing places since being over here
sometimes I am living several feet
under ground where we can not hear
the sound of the big guns but can
feel the vibration of the earth and
other times l am living in tent,
hut, stable, barn, shed or in the
woods with my bed under the trees
and bushes where the whirring
"Fritz1es" airplanes could be heard
constantly overhead as they mapeuv-
cred for hours, rising, diving and
circling; and every now and then the
bursting Of bomb that seemed to
shake all creation or the bright glare
of a rocket that seemed to turn
night into day, would half waken me
from my sleep. But at present l am
sleeping or rather sitting here in a
shed on my comfortable bed of straw,
occasionally looking up at the twink
ling stars through hole in the roof
and trying hard to think of good
excuse to offer for not writing soon
er, but | guess the main reason for
not doing SO is just simply because
1 haven't had the pleasure of receiv-
since leaving the states.
Leaving my own personal history
for the present and going into that
of the people of France, l will admit
that for one thing they are sure full
of chatter. | have learned quite bit
from them and am getting along
fairly well with the language l
carry "a small dictionary printed in
French and English and it is USE
full, but. | wish these people could
talk good, honest United States. They
are more then friendly and while we
come in contact with only the towns
people and the peasants you would
he surprised at their peculiar ways
OF doing things. l like to watch the
women on wash days load their
wheel barrows with the family wash
and take it to the brook and get busy
Soap is very scarce and fuel for
heating the water is more so. They
wash the clothes by wetting them in
the creek, laying them on a stone
or board and then beating them with
a club or paddle until they become
clean, This seems a queer method,
but it does the work They do all
their cooking over an open wood fire
using just about as much wood for
the whole operation as we used for
kin6ling at home
Over here the small boys all wear
long; black aprons over their other