Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-08-17
With Islanders
In the Service

- ~ - ~ -
In the Service
Private VIII r. Hartmann has
arrived safely overseas according
/ 10 word received yesterday by Miss
I Florence Kerler. 1910 Fourteenth
and-a-half street.
A letter written by Private
/ Charles {. Craig, a Rock Islander,
who is stationed at Camp Shelby,
Hatuesburg, Miss. to The Argus Is
appended;
We left detention camp June II.
+ Our bunch is scattered all over
( camp A few have gone across.
Robert Bylund, Jude Eflund and
I are in the One Hundred Thirty
ninth Machine Gun battalion. l Wis
tied GulfpOrt and Biloxi, Miss. last
Sunday. Everything there is beau
;iful and the people make you feel
the southern hospitality.
We saw the naval training sta
ton. lighthouse. gulf, shipyards,
JEFF Davis home, now used as
confederate soldiers home, and
many other interesting things.
We belong to the Thirty-eighth
division and expect 10 go across the
big pond some day.
We are getting plenty to eat,
plenty of clothes to wear and money
to spend We are all happy"
Franklin Searle, son of Mr.. and
Mrs. c. J. Searle, 934 Twentieth
= 4 col Tn ri
TO the Great Lakes naval training
station Monday. He recently en-
listed in the naval radio service.
+ Privte David c. Fry, serving with
the American EXpeditionary forces
in France, IN an interesting letter
to his sister. Mrs. George c. Wen
ger, 1907 Twenty-ninth street. tells
of his experiences in fighting the
Hun. In part the letter follows;
We'll, we did it again and we did
il right, too, that is the best part
of it. Took 155 prisoners and gain
ed all detectives with 80 Slightly
{ wounded on our side. We started
the barrage at about o'clock with
orders to get over as soon as pos
sibIe and We sure did hop to it. Our
guns alone put over 15l shells in
an hour and the other guns did as
well Our captain said that il we
kept that up, we would have the
75's beat, but it is the hardest kind
of work and We couldn't keep is up
for any length OF tme-that IS day
in and day out.
Several of the machine gunners
were found tied to their guns They
said that they had been tied there by
their officers at 4 O'Clock yesterday
morning with nothing but half a
loaf of bread between several OF
them all dav We have several Ger
man gas masks in camp that prison
ers have given to us as souvenirs.
One that came in this morning has
q hole clear through it where il was
hit by an American shell. The pTis-
uner has the piece that did it. He
wants it as a souvenir because he
was wounded by it in the side. The
German prisoners whom we have
taken say that they don't think the
war viii last longer than Septem-
Der and God knows 1 hope it
doesnt
Il heard that we are to be re
lieved soon and sent to rest camp.
For my part l would just as soon
stay at the front if there is some
chance Of bringing this thing to an
end soon. They say that General
Pershing has a pleasant surprise
Tor US when we get back for rest
l haven't any idea what it is but
suppose it Will be grooming horses
or something like that, as that is
what we always do in rest camps
Il went out before daylight this
morning and got some new potatoes
Tor breakfast They sure were good
We cant show our heads outside
the works in daylight because We
would give our position away if We
did and have to conceal our tracks
whenever we go out as the Ger
mans are up in the air taking our
pictures all the time The town
that bears the name OF our front is
IN the same direction from us as
Miles City is from where you are
You should know by this where We
are a present
Il have known for quite awhile
that YOU couldn't send any pack
ages over here and thought that you
did too. There is one thing that you
can send and that IS the papers. We
don't get very much reading matter
at any time and especially when We
4 are at the trent. We only have one
suit of clothes now. two under
suits. two pairs of shoes. two pairs
Of socks and that with the rest OF
cur equipment is plenty to carry
and TO take care OF.
Il have a pair of hOb-nail shoes
that I haven't worn yet I am saw
ing them TO use on the kaiser when
we catch him. l am going to knock
him down and walk up his frame as
far as his neck and then jump on
his face four OF five times just for
the fun Of the thing. One Of the fell
lows is sitting out here telling
about a story of dream he had
last night 1t must have had some
= ing to do with Berlin. because !
heard him mention Pretzel and
LimbHrger streets and Sauer
kraut avenue He says that he is
going to run the kaiser and his
sons around there when we march
into town. I guess they viii all be
in by the time we get through with
them
There is a frog flying around
over US now and it sounds like a
planning mill. Smith tmy tent
, mateJ and ! were just going 10 bed
I the other night when Fritz started
to shell US. We lay down on our
I stOmachs and tried to bury our
? Flfae "a, 10 mud fbanuht