The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-11-05
Son of Mr.. and Mrs. r. w. Agnew Of
This City Relates Exciting In
cidents in Marine
Fighting.
AN INTERESTING LETTER
ing Over Top in a Class
by Itself, He
Says.

Following are extracts from letter
of October l. received by Mr. and
Mrs. T. W. Agnew, of this city, pa
cents of Private, 1st class, L. &. AZ
new, Hg., filth Telegraph Bn, Signal
Corps, American e. F.:
In my other letters | have told you
about Tours. Paris, Versailles and all
the other places I have been. Gould
write for hours what I saw in Paris
alone. but / guess you would sooner
hear about what / have been doing
lately We left the Paris district
July 16, and have been on the move
at the front ever since. We had our
first taste Of real war in July. In the
big doings on the Marine. I'll never
forget the first night we got orders to
take line into a now famous town,
into which the Boche were still drop
ping shells and gas. We were just
one hour behind the infantry and be-
tween the German big guns and our
own on hill in back of us. I'll sure
admit that the first shell whistling
over makes one wish he was some
where else, but after being there an
hour they are not even noticed. we
took the line in all right, established
communications and considering what
was going on we all came out Of it
pretty good. We fell back then for
about four days anu later when the
way was clear we built permanent
line through the same town. When
/ come back / will have some real
stories to tell you about this same
sector, as it was a great place for
sightseeing and souvenirs. | gathered
I'D lot of souvenirs, but later threw
them away as it is not convenient to
carry them all over the country. Alter
finishing our work we were moved to
different sector for another drive
In it we sure did great work and our
outfit got special mention. The dough-
boys ran Fritz ragged, and it looked to
me from the number of prisoners.
like they had captured the whole Ger
man army. I had a little distinction
in it myself I was one of the first
four americans to enter the biggest
town in the drive. The Roche
evacuated at eleven o'clock at night
| and four Of us were in there at eight
| the next morning. There were about
| two thousand inhabitants left, most
tlv women. children and old men.
| They had taken all the men from IA
| to a. with them when they left.
First Sight Of American Soldiers.
The people had never seen Ameri-
can soldiers before. They crowded
around and wanted to know If we
were English and when we said no, We
were Americans, they asked what part
| of America are you from, Argentine?
The town had been in the hands OF
the Germans for four years so you
can see why they didn't know much
In this same sector is a famous hill
/ the Boche had held since the begin
4 ming of the war. I went up there
later and saw the most complete sys-
tenn OF trenches | have ever seen.
They were made of concrete. Inc
dugouts were electric lighted. Wen
heated and with a complete sewerage
system all the way through. There
was a tunnel running all the way TO
the top of the hill and there they had
an observatory One of our COM
panies got the most compact electric
dynamo there I have ever seen. The
Germans left it behind and we are
using it all the time now. From the
looks of everything they expected 10
stay there all winter but were sadly
disappointed in the present often
siye in which we are holding up our
reputation as being one of the best
telegraph battalions in France, we Te
SIRE doing our part | am handling
supplies now and get to see lots OF
things | wouldn't otherwise.
7 was ND on the front line the other
6ay when they went over the top and
believe me there's no one but Ameri-
cans can go over with the same Dash
and spirit. Right here is something
T will tell you about. that our outht
did. that makes our major strut
around like he owned the world and
don't blame him. 1t is something OF
which he can be proud. The dough
bows cleared out town about noon
time. under heavy German fire and
set I'D division headquarters there.
AT two O'Clock that afternoon there
was a four wire lead telephone line
in working order, across what mad
been mo Mans Land" three hours
before and under big gun fire all the
time. How they did it the men cant
saw themselves, but we claim that
record can't be beat.
Air Ride Over Paris.
Have seen number OF air battles
and they interest me more than any
thing. You know | always was crazy
about the aviation. ] made three
flights with aviators when l was
around Paris. 1t is certainly won
derful sensation. The last time [
went I'D was with a French aviator.
We went way up over Paris and could
see the city stretched out for miles
under us. 1t was a wonderful expert
ence and one I'll never forget. Have
been I'D once, since leaving there, but
will have to tell you about that when
Get home. Also witnessed very eS-
citing air raid in Paris, the early part
Of July.
Hone you get this letter all right
II is so hard 10 write when you Con t.
know what you can say and what not