The Oskaloosa herald., 1918-12-05

18th, Plymouth Harbour is the most
beautiful place ! have seen The land
is hilly and covered with green grass
and fine shade trees. The city looks Pc
culiar to Americans, the streets are so
narrow and unusually clean, and all
the buildings are of stone or brick. /
did not see a wooden house in Eng
land or France, either.
In Plymouth the people have lots to
eat, but in Havre you never see any
store windows full of food. The steve
dores in Havre carried loaf of brown
bread and little butter for lunch, but
in Plymouth they had lots of meat,
eggs, fruit, cheese and other good
stuff
In Plymouth everything is bloody
bloomin'," bloody well right matey,"
etc. Some of the people are as hard
to understand as dago. They don't
treat Americans as nice as the French
do. They seem to think they are bet
ter than we are.
All Aboard for v. S. A.
We got coal and ballast at Plym
outh and started out, all glad to be on
our way back to the States. We had
| frost the first night in Plymouth, but
! it's warm out here in the Gulf stream
! | picked up some gulf weed and will
send a little piece home.
Nov. IL was mighty glad to see
the old Statue of Liberty again this
morning. 1t sure looks good to me, af.
ter being gone from U. S. for two
months. 1t is cooler here than at sea
but the sun is bright and it don't feel
bad at all.
Love TO all of you,
.. CHARLES.
Sea VS.. Trenches
While Charles Gunnar is serving at
sea, his brother Harold is serving in
the infantry in France. Judging from
the following letter written by the
'doughboy" to the COB, there seems |
to be some question as to which |
branch of service is preferable:
Oct. 3rd.--Dear brother Charles: J |
am glad you look at the war the way |
you do. All the same, I'm not crazy tC |
be plunked off by German bullet, but |
am willing to do my share to end the |
war. | don't believe the Atlantic is as |
dangerous as the trenches. If you |
could be over here and hear the shells |
go "s-s-s-s-g! Ping! Bang" and Their |
see the rocks fly, you would agree with |
me. Pm getting accustomed to the big |
shells now, but we all duck when We |
hear them coming.
The doughboys are up and at them
all the time, and | guess the Germans
are pretty sick. Have been over s
large share of France, partly on train, |
partly on foot. Ever hike twenty-five |
miles with a pack on your back? Try |
it some day and let me know how il
feels.
Please Go Way!
| can sleep any place now, and have |
since joining the army slept in day
coaches, chair cars, pullmans, Dox cars
canvas hunks, spring cots, floors (wood
and stOne) boards, decks, life preServ.
ers, straw mattresses, straw, hay, grass
mud, chicken wire hunks, wet grass
and feather beds. may sleep in
snow bank before this thing is over.
A Martial Air.
The artillery is pretty quiet tonight.
Bout time for them to tune up. don't
mind the tuning up, but don't like for
them to play too long. Remember how
= used to hate gun? Now can shoot
rifle with ease, and go to sleep while
the big guns play with each other.
| havnt had any coolies, graybacks,
fleas, lice, bedbugs or spiders yet, but
well, sometimes | feel a suspicious
itching which reminds me that the
worst is yet to come.
Don't let the subs get your ship,
but keep the supplies coming to us.
The soldier is no good unless he has
plenty to eat. Good luck to you.
Your brother,
Cpl Harold E. Gunnar,
Hdq. Co. 64th Inf. A. e. r.
Since the above letter was written,
Mr.. and Mrs. c. o. Gunnar have re-
ceived word that instead of Corporal 1t
is now Sergeant-Major Harold E. Gun.
mar, if you please!