The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1918-06-28
HAL PAGAN WRITES
FROM BATTLE FRONT

H..
HAL PAGAN WRITES
FROM BATTLE FRONT
The following letter was received by
Tne Courier from Sergeant Hal j.
fagan, a former Glasgow boy who is
now a member of the motor truck
corps OF the Tw~enty-first engineers in
France:
Dear Joe:
l wrote you a letter about a month
ago and before I had a chance to mail
1t l was sent down to the coast after
another truck train, and don't know
what became of it, so here goes fol-
another. have been in charge of the
motor transportation for the 21st en-.
glneers ever since we came across the
pond: It keeps mi pretty busy to
handle the trucks, motorcycles and
touring. cars. I'll bet Glasgow is
pretty dead since the railroad division
moved to Wolf Point isn't it? Well
things are plenty exciting over here
now, believe me. The American flyers
brought down apother Ebsch here
yesterday. l saw the machine and il
was sure a wreck. But this is a com
mon occurrence around here. There
was 9 Bosche yer this morning, but
the aircraft guns soon put him on the
run. i got q fine letter from Puck
Powell the other day and was sure
glad to hear from him. Of course, ]
went over to see Fat Wright and
read the letter to him. I found Fat
just in, of his run, with his mess kit
in his hand. headed for the kitchen.
Fat is running a train on the narrow
d11o no h0,1Isv~ c>~~1:n. Il A.
trenches, and say, the boys railroad
racks as they used to over in the Glas-
gets SO heavy it jars the candles out,
but they don't mind that any more.
I was up at the front the other
night. There was a heavy barrage fire
and a call came in for a lineman so !
went with him in q motorcycle side
ear.
Joe, you haven't the least idea what
it is like until you see or rather hear
it yourself. We followed the tele-
phone line along the front, and the ar
tillery behind us were giving the
Boche hell, and the Bosche shells were
going over our heads and bursting be-
hind US. It finally got too hot for US
and we hit for a dug out "toute SUITE
That's the French for "right away
You pronounce it "toot sweet"
You remember Sergeant Empey's
book on cover the top" Well he
called shells "whiz bangs and that is
what they sound like. You see the
flash of the cannon and pretty soon
you hear it coming whiz-z-z" over
your head and "bang" when she ex-
plodes, and we were indeed grateful
that they went over Jul heads, too
George Hall is with me driving a truck
and also Pat Mullis, driving a Dodge
three-fourth ton truck, and we are
sure glad to be together, too. W. have
many a talk about old Glasgow and
our old friends there. Being in
charge of the motor transportation
gives me a fine chance to see the
country as the companies are scat.
tered around in the operation of rail
roads, and besides this, l have brought
three truck trains from the coast tc
the front. l guess I am seeing my
share of France alright. The country
is beautiful now and the roads are
grand. The roads are all rock maca.
dem and smooth as a floor. If you
and Johnny Mcintyre were over here
you could certainly burn on these
roads. I have made n miles an hour
on a motorcycle solo, but l was in a
hurry. Well, ! must close, Joe, old
man. Hope this interests you. Kind.
est regards to Mrs. Hooking.
Sincerely yours,
SERGEANT HAL j. FAGAN.