The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1918-07-25
NEWS OF OUR SOLDIER
BOYS
Interesting Letters from Our
Boys at Home Camps
and Abroad.

Inc IOllOWlHS very hiIeieoth'S is
from Elmer Cast to his sister, Mrs
Fred Sherwood. The young man en-
listed in the 9th Canadian battalion
two years ago and has been wounded
twice. This letter is particularly in
teresting as it comes from one who
has been in the thick of the fighting
in France and his description Of the
life and events in a front line trench
are from actual experience:
Just received your letter and the
clippings from q was going to tell
you the name of the paper, but guess
/ won't till find out). They are in
teresting, but, of course, none of them
is from the lines. Now, l have got
something to say about these. One
fellow says you can't buy anything
but light wines and you can't get
drunk. Now can tell you you can.
Cassel was put out of bounds to all
troops because they all got drunk.
That was when we were on our way
from Husin Copingnay to Ypres last
fall. You asked what it was like
when we went to Ypres. Well, We
were landed in Bologne after taking
an hour and 55 minutes to cross the
Channel from Falkstone. When we
were landed off the boat we had to
climb a great big hill about a mile
high with a full pack on, when We
came to our first rest camp, where we
slept that night. We got up at in
the morning, had breakfast and start
ed for Etaples about 8. The road was
hilly and we were sure tired when we
pulled into rest camp for dinner. For
dinner we had bully beef, the first
| ever ate of it. We had an hours
rest there and then we started off
again. We got into Etaples (pro-
nounced Etapo) about 5 or maybe
it was a little later. The next morn
ing about 7:30 they took US out about
three miles to drill. We drilled till
a D. m. Then back to camp. We did
this for 10 days, then were given
ammunition and were told to be ready
to 90 up the line next morning, when
we were got out in full marching or
der at a. m. The captain said a
prayer. We got on train and start
ed. l got second class car, but most
of US had to ride in box cars. | don't
believe that train ever went over 10
miles an hour.
We pulled into a little town that
evening, had supper and were billeted
in French houses. We started for
Cologne the next day about 8 or 9.
Slept in yard in Cologne that night.
Next day we went up to the Chateau
de la Nan. We didn't do much the
next few days but look over Vimy
Ridge and watch Fritz shell obser-
walton balloons. Then we were put
to digging trenches. On the Sth we
went to Borlin, when we were all
issued $50 rounds of ammunition. On
the 18th we started for Ypres. Had
an all day ride, marched all next day
and half of Sunday. That night we
slept about one and a half miles out
of Ypres in field, but there was a
15-inch howitzer about 500 yards
away and the shock of it knocked the
walls of one sandbag sleeping place
down.
Next night we started up the line.
had mills bombs in my pockets, 250
rounds ammunition, l shovel, sand
bags, 1 iron ration, 1 rifle, wire cut
ter, and or A flares. First thing we
did was to get lost, and Fritz started
shelling. We stood it for about 15
before we found ourselves
and got up to supports. Mud was al
most knee deep on the way up and
guns, horses, wagons, lorries and men
were lying all around. We stayed in
until the night of the 25th,
then went up to the front lines about
500 yards ahead We stayed that
night in the front line trench and
went cover the top" in the morning.
The barrage open up at $40 and we
went over at 5:4S a. m. | can't give
you any idea of what barage is
ike. Every gun for eight miles back
was going as hard as they could and
he brigade machines We're firing
about 10 shots second. The noise of
he shells passing over US and explod- |
ng in theGerman lines was deafening {
md the machine gun bullets passed {
lbout foot or two over our heads. ;
Veil, as l said, this kept up for about
o minutes, then over we went. Then {
Tritz's fire hit us. He could shoot at
is from three sides, and sure did.
Shells were dropping so thick that the l
moke of the explosions made fog '
0 dense you couldn't see so yards S