The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1918-11-14
PUNCHED HUN TO
MAKE m STAND STILL
Earl Anderson Writes that He is
Not Looking for Any Worse
Battles

& Altho little late in getting start
ed, Earl Anderson is seeing moro real
fighting than some of the Kenncwlck
boys who enlisted at the beginning of
the war. The following letter to his
parents is one of the best that has
come back from any of the home lads:
Oct. IL, 1918
Dear Folks:
Well, it is about 4:3O in the morning
and as / have a little time I'm going
to try and write some. haven't writ
ten in long time but the reason is
that / haven't had time.
The last time I wrote think | was
back behind the lines operating in the
signal office. Well, now we are in the
lines and the big guns are rafting
away all the time.
September 20 we went over the top
and smashed that noted Hindenburg
line. That was the terriblest battle
ever hope to be in And / don't think
I shall ever forget it, either. The bar
rage started at $50 a. m. and we
started down the white tape. Well,
to make an all-day story short, the fog
and smoke got SO thick you couldn't
see man two yards away and about
dozen of US got tangled up in the
barbed wire and were lost, from the
major. Jerry's barrage began to come
back on us so we had to get some
where. We started out across the
country somewhere and soon ran on
to a very big trench. We followed that
for some distance when we ran into
our. own barrage and Jerry's too. We
lodged around so much that we soon
didn't know. which side was ours and
which belonged to Fritz. / guess it
didn't make much difference tho, for
we couldn't have gotten out there and
found ourselves anyway.
Things got so hot for us that we had
to move on along the trench and pref
ty soon we were in front of the in
fantry tanks and machine guns. =,
We went all morning and about, IL
o'clock we ran on to one of the other
infantry regiments and stayed with
them. I have a pretty good watch
and little pistol that took off of
some prisoners as souvenirs from
Fritz. Most of the prisoners seemed
glad to be captured, but had to punch.
one in the stomach to make him stand
still while one of the boys went thru
his pockets. IS, 81. 81
We have gone over several times
since then, but haven't been as far
forward as was that time. ,5ss.
What is everyone doing at Kenne-
wick? Guess the kids are all going
to school aren't they? I suppose the
fruit crop was good. would give
twenty francs for a good juicy apple
now. / haven't had any fruit of any
kind, either canned or fresh in so long
/ don't know what it tastes like. That
is another thing you can send for
Xmas some candied apples. And
another good thing is good pair of
warm gloves.
I've never heard from Bud yeti
guess he is making it all right tho.
Do you ever hear from Mrs. Lynch
If so, maybe you could tell what Bud
is doing.
Where is Ralph Lincoln and Harry
Lynn? They haven't started across
yet have they? They may never see
any active service any way for we
are in great hopes Of the war being
over before long. What do the peo-
pie in the States think of it? What
are the papers saying about the whole
situation?
Well, it is getting late, nearly break
fast time and I'll have to close guess.
I come off duty at 500. I'll be on
from 9 p. m. until 8 a. m. my next
shift.
Well, answer soon and tell me the
news. I got two C.-R.'s about week
ago.
AS ever,