Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-13
SLEEPLESS, TIRED,
STILL CHEERFUL
Private De Roy Marks Let
ter Home Brimming
With Optimism
'sNOBODY CAN WHIP US"
Intimate Descriptions of Con.
ditions at Front Given in
His Letter
'.NOBODY CAN WHIP U.s.

The Interchangeable optimism and en-
thusasm of the American troops II
France Is reflected in every line of q
letter from Private De Roy Mark. oi
the 103d Engineers. to his father
Adolph Mark. 2207 North Broad street
Tell the world for me. dad, nobody
can whip this mans army" he said
Young Mark had just come through
the severe fighting along the Marne
where the engineers had not only done
Wonderful work in their own line, but
had grabbed their guns and played a
gallant part in repelling German
counter-attack, and had reached a base
camp for a brief rest when he wrote
the letter to his parents.
After explaining that he had not had
his clothes off or been able to wash his
face for more than week. he said: II
know you will find 1t hard to under
stand how impossible IL Ia to find a
chance to write when things are hot.
We have just come through the Hell
Of Hells.' and I haven't known what
II is to shs%e or sleep four consecutive
hours in ages.
'I have been driving a motortrucli
right up to the front line and back
again at all hours Of the day and night.
Up near the front, you know. it's not
according to Hoyle to have a light at
night, so even when ! did have a few
Il minutes leisure / couldn't take advan-
tage Of them.
Greatest Events In History
I,,t
can tell you this much: have had the
honor Of taking part in one of the great
est events in American history. and
when ! get home | will have enough
to talk about to keep me going for more
than twenty-four hours.
'T have picked up enough souvenirs
to f1ll four chests and | will try to send
some of them to you. including helmet
belonging to a late soldier of the Father
land. j say late because the aforesaid
Fritz discovered too late that the
American is no slouch when it comes
to fighting"
After explaining thai packages sent
to soldiers are apt to get lost that get
ting them requires the untangling of a
lot of red tape, and that his wants are
well supplied. he adds that his only
need Is a wrist watch.
But l expect to crap me German
prisoner soon and so get a wrist watch g
he continues. The boches are our best
source of supply. Believe me if the
captured Dutches have anything we
want we don't waste any time taking
II. You know they stripsour men of
everything when our boysvare unlucky
enough to get caught. But we do leave
them their clothes. As matter of fact
veyy few of our fellows have been cap
fured. considering the number involved
We don't give up as easy as do the
Fritzes. rip
'T certainly wish could describe
conditions over here as they really are,
They are absolutely beyond your COM
prehension if you haven't seen them
yourself I heard all sorts of tales be-
fore / got here but the reality has the
best movie on earth beaten to a FRAGILE
1.-THE Boys stand the Gar"
The way the boys stand the gaff is
wonderful. Up at the front for four
straight days, the artillery roared so you
couldn't sleep except in snatches There
was gas shelling at intervals and boche
airplanes booming along overhead Yet
the boys bobbed up as fresh and full of
pep each morning as II they were sa fe
back in the good old L. s. A. Even the
ones who had just come back from the
firing line were as clipper as larks.
That's the spirit of the whole bunch and
that's the army those boche skunks have
tb beat. Will they do il? Never in a
hunderd years of Sundays"
* Young Marx has also suffered from
2 the failings of the army postoffice and
joins the chorus of his comrades in
knocking the mail service to the extent
of a page or SO. then goes on to say.
well, ] have become pretty we'll ac-
customed to the firing line. and though
I have seen many wonderful and terrible
things. that is, terrible from the view
point of a civilian. yet ! can't work up
any pity for these Dutch You can't have
any sympathy for louise and these
Z boches are rottener than the rottenest
louise that ever happened
IT have seen them lying dead in piles
and / have come to believe that the
army saying. the only good German is
3 dead German is pretty nearly true.
And I have also had the satisfaction
OF seeing this much-yaunted and terri
bic German army get one of the worst
beatings 1t has had to swallow during
the entire war and from bunch of
boys at that-boys who were mostly
still In grammar school when this war
started. And l tell you that the Dutch
who opposed us during the great coun-
ter-attack tyoung Mark is evidently re-
ferring to the Franco-American sweep
across the Marne around July Is to 2O)
know now. II they didn't before, that
they have met better than their equals.
and that their chances of victory and
world dominion are gone forever
STAR Of Talented Liars
"The German soldiers know, too, that
the Gott NIT uns' stamped on their belt
buckles is as big lie as the ones their
officers and stan tell them, and. believe
me. the Dutch STAFF Is composed OF
mighty talented liars"
Private Mark finishes with a vivid
picture of a ruined barn, close up to the
front. its walls mere shells. big dusout
underneath. its entrance through a cam
onGaged trap-door, a bunch of soldiers
l11oafing around the front door, singing
~5anx stuff" boche airplanes buzzinr
overhead, the roar Of big guns in the
6istance--.'my home" he adds. for the
last four nights. Believe me. we have
Z enjoyed II. We have even enjoyed the
occasional gas attacks can put on ouI
masks In our sleep now and don't mind
them q bit. When time TO go on DUTY
6aenes, we are up and away, right or
The dot and glad to be on the job"
(. Private Mark was nineteen years ole
&nG had just graduated from the Cen
trnl High School when he enlisted y
June Of last year in the 103d Engineers