Graham guardian., 1918-12-06
FROM LOVER THERE"
A~AAAANAAN

sHaNN~N~NN~A%~~<~s
SOMEWHERE IN BELGIUM,
November 8, 1918.
DEAR FoLKS:-I really doubt
if you will ever get this letter
for several reasons, but I've just
got to talk or write to someone
to kill time. | started one to
you the other day, but never got
a chance to finish it.
This is, my fifth day of real
fighting with the enemy. l am
attached to the Second Battalion
of the 361st Infantry, with a few
other signalmen, and at present
am about one-half mile from (de-
leted), in an old shed which
trembles with every roar of the
big guns. l don't know what
time of day it is, as we seldom
see the sun, and work as much
or more in the night as in the
day.
The first real scare | had was
a few nights before | was sent
up here. We were billetet in a
large school house, large enough
for about 1000 men, and Ger
man bombing squadron came
over and dropped a few tons of
nitro-glycerine down at us, miss
ing US by about 200 feet. Since
then I've lain in houses and fields
at night several times listening
to and watching them blow up
towns and buildings nearby. We
were marched up to the front at
night when the artillery was
silent and | went to sleep under
a hedge, with my gas mask at
one hand, my pistol at the other,
and my helmet on me. Our ar
tillery opened up with a barrage
early in the morning, right near
us, and the Boche responded with
one of his own. My knees were
humping together and my teeth
chattering till a shell burst twelve
feet from me and buried me with
dirt, throwing my helmet twenty
feet. | was unhurt, but a man
close by was killed. | have had
several close calls since then,
but am more accustomed to it
now. Last night | had to build
a telephone line from the regi-
mental p. C. (deleted) to the
battalion P. c., through a fierce
155 (7-inch shrapnel shell) bar
rage, and | worked as uncon-
cerned as if | were at home.
This isn't a boast, but | tell it
just to show how the men get to
feel after a few days of it.
We are in a very rich farming
country, dotted pretty thickly
with small towns and farm
houses, in which a lot of the ma
tives are sticking it out. Yester-
day, we attacked and drove the
enemy over nine miles, stopping
at night when we came to a
river, whose bridges had been
blown up by the retreating Boche.
| have been working hard since
night before last putting in and
maintaining lines of communica-
ton. We sleep when and where
we can, snatching al hours rest
here in a church and another in
a ditch or haystacit. We are
lucky if the ok-Wagons can get
one meal every twenty-four hours
to us, but the natives give us
whatever they have, such as
bread, milk, cheese, wine, coffee
and butter.
Yesterday, ! went with an Of
ficer into a town where the en-
emy were still in. We were the
first allied troops which had been
in it, and the people ran out to
meet US, giving us all sorts of
stuff to eat, drink and smoke.
We had to get out pretty quick,
as some snipers located us, but
we will probably enter the place
today. Hope so, for | am about
starved.
We are lucky in being on this
front. The country is much bet.
ter to fight and live in. and the
enemy is on the run, leaving
their artillery behind to cover
their retreat. They are drop
ping propaganda, saying they
have a new government which
accepts all of President Wilson'S
peace terms, and the natives tell