The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1918-09-26
Somewhere in France,
Arrn~r ~. 1,

Dear Folks at Home:
l wrot you a letter the other day
but we were moved nearer to the
front line, SO perhaps the letter will
not be censored and ser 1t often
happens the letters are not censored
when we move, and so are not sent
out, that is why perhaps, you don't
get my letters very regular. l am
quite close to the front now. Don't
know when l may have to go into
the trenches. Our artillery are
playing on "old Fritz" more or less
all day. 1t must make them rather
uneasy too. They tell us the Ger
mans can shell this camp we are in.
They haven't so far, but when they
do, there are some bomb proof dug
outs in camp and it will be a grand
race to see who gets there first"
We relieved the French here, and
gee! they sure have it fixed up nice
to live in. At several Of the dugouts
they have tables and benches outside
to use when they want to. l am
writing this letter in front OF my
dugout on one of the tables now.
1t has been trying to rain and
have sunshine both today. l only
hope it don't rain tonight as | am
to be OF guard.
l haven't had a letter from you
folks this week. l only hope l get
one tonight as it is kind of lone
some without You might send
me some papers if you will. One
of the boys got a package from home
with tobacco, cigarettes and Hersh-
ey's chocolate in it. But l don't
care for that but you might sprinkle
a few sticks Of gum in some OF
your letters. They would certainly
be appreciated. Ole Thorsland said
he had a letter from his brother in
Hope, and also one from his brother
in Iowa. We left the bunch Clar-
ence was in in the camp we left but
think he will soon have to leave too.
What is the average acreage there
this fall? hope it is big. The boys
say they are having big crops in
Kansas this year. Well l am glad to
hear it, it will be a big blow to the
Kaiser and bring us nearer to vic
tory. l wonder it Sylvester got my
letter. hope he did as l lost his
address and can't write to him again.
Will the boys who had to register
this summer have to go to camp this
fall?
Well folks, l just wish you could
see me now, l am getting so fleshy,
I will be walking in on you some
day, and you won't know me. l
hope it won't be long.
What are the war reports over
there? l heard Wall street is bet
ting the var will be over in six
weeks, l hope it is so.
Well l will now close for this
time, wishing you the best of health
as it leaves me.
With love,
LOUIS.
August 10th.
We were called out of the trench
es Tuesday morning and are in a
large town awaiting orders. The
front where we were at, vas rather
warm at times. There were several
casualties but none in our company.
Some troops next to us, captured two
German spies. They were dressed
as French generals and had been
4 amongst the troops a couple OF
4 times, but were see coming out OF
the Boche trenches and so they were
taken.
4 There are a few Canadian soldiers
y here and it seems good to talk tc
them, as l always think of them as
4 U. S. e
We are going out to a park and
: play ball this p. m. I hope it don't
: rain as l have not seen a ball game
this summer.
There is an American canteen an6
Y. M. c. A. here and we can buy U
S. tobacco and cigarettes, also gel
. hot chocolate served when it is open
There is a piano there and some O.
7 the latest songs. One of the lates,
7 was, Like Washington Crossed thu
Delaware, Pershing Will Cross tn,
) Rhine"
Yesterday I found out there wa!
! a X. c. in town so looked it up. 1
was In a small room, but then it hal
only been here two days, and will
: perhaps be able to find a better loca
. tion soon. There were some of tn,
latest magazines there, and they wer,
I sure good. One of the boys wen
there about 8 o'clock last night t,
write a letter, but it was so jam
y med ne read a magazine instead
oUA OAoAOA Aoo just 6OL D. ucW uOCU
so he will have something to do
He had his other one broken som
. way, while We were in the trenche
the first time. I got a new pair o
hobnail shoes last night and I sur
needed them. My old ones did no
have any heels on them, and tn,
soles were very thin. We walke'
out of the trenches about 20 mile
on these rock roads, and my fee
were pretty sore when arrive,
here, but they are all right now.
guess n thing made me so tire,
that day was l weigh $50 lbs. "a
least, that is what the scales say.
Weighed ISL when 1 Joined tn
Army. The night we got here
met Hjelmar Johnson. He look
fine and is getting f1eshier too.
have not had much chance to tall
with him yet. Clarence Jones /
with me here now. He or l hav
not had any mail for two weeks, a