Norwich bulletin., 1918-08-15
SOLDIERS AND SAIL ORS What Eastern Connecticut Boys Are Doing In Various Branches of the Service.
German Ammunition Getting Poor.

German Ammunition Getting Poor.
 Capt. John S. Blackmar, who is in the American medical service lover there" writes in a letter recently re- ceived by his family here that there are indications that the German am- intuition is deteriorating. None of several bombs that were dropped close to his station by a German airplane exploded, The following are extracts from some of his letters:
 Tuesday, July 2.
 Another change of address Sunday is moving day for me, you know. Left our little place in the. woods Sunday and went by auto Give of >us) to town in the rear. At that town Stu art, Dixon and myself were ordered to wait for the paymaster, and then come over. IL was a walk of about six miles, so I got on my horse and the others walked. At the edge of the woods I had to leave the horse for an orderly to take back and hike on through the open for two miles and a half. A horseman would be too good. mark for the enemy on the plain We hiked along some distance apart, so they could only get one Of us, if any. I went first, being the man with the shortest legs. I set the pace. No trouble. Came through a ruined village a mile and a half from here and are now on the back of a hill in very comfortable quarters, all though all night I could hear a heavy pattering on the roof of my dugout. Only rats between the iron and the dirt.
 l We are only a few miles from our 1 former location, and I am out of that ruined church with the big cemetery and the solitude. I can look from my | office window down a valley for ten or | fifteen miles and can see the edge of the forest run down on one side in a succession of waves of green. Roads run like silver threads through the valley and disappear in the distance It Is absolutely beautiful and warm and sunny. Back of us, at the front is a hill that looks like a heap o1 sand. They say a town once stood l there, and that now you cannot inG
 two stones together.
 I have a clock in my room, running and the weights are pieces of shells and the bell is made of a piece o
 brass shell case. The French are yer!
 ingenious. 1 had to stop the clock a
 the church, it had such a hollow
 cavernous sound. but this one is |;
 treasure
 A French lieutenant shares m,
 room: he is one of our instructors ant
 very fine man. This morning VI
 saw d very pretty air battle, but witt
 no result Seven or eight small shell
 came down in front of us. the neares
 one perhaps 100 feet away. You coul
 hear them coming in time to get cover
 Not single one exploded. They hay
 pretty poor ammunition now, and the | rN% f@ alyA
 allies to use no more gas. Wouldn'
 they be fine ones, to make an agree ment with, when they were the frs
 ones to break the one made at tn
 Geneva convention,
 My. but the troops are coming owe
 in a hurry now. One boat unloade
 12.000 in four hours, and immediatel
 returned to America without unload ing mails or baggage. I regret all tn , pain and anxiety I am causing m loved ones, but l would not be out ( l this great work, Gods work, too. fC anything. There are over a millio of us American men in France, an ! we naturally think very little of tE [ stay-at-homes. I don't think there : one in this regiment of 2 800 men WI would not like to be at home, but V have work to do, and our times W. come when we return victorious. n should hate to be a stay-at home wht that time comes. Of course there a
 times when 1 am afraid, but will DOW T and the honor and traditions of ol . forefathers come to my aid and I wal :, in the morning ready for anoth t days work.
 n July s. :, We had little dinner July al I was chairman of the decoratir
 committee (of one). Had red, whi , and blue flowers. I printed a mer T (enclosed) and we had quite a eel . bratien. Just as I had almost finishe and was full of dinner, word came tn Il a French gun had exploded, and I started out over the plain with a gui
 and two orderlies. Walked a mi e found my men, did the dressing ' evacuated the men, and hiked ba, IT frightfully tired Not a shot was fire = Got a pretty little note in the eve II ing from the French officer in brok E. French and English.
 A very interesting event happen e in the afternoon. Two planes car 'I up the valley from the rear, flying we
 low, and when near we could see t
 red, white and blue circle undeTneat
 When almost over the K. O.'s off :. something with a long streamer car
 falling down. Men ran. and a soldi d caught it.. The planes circled ( IS turned their tails to the Boche, W re pumped at them from two miles aws l. and disappeared down the valley v proved to be a bouquet of flowers. a y on the streamer was printed "FrC
 the 263d Escadrille to our Americ IT brothers, July 4, 1918" K. O. Ike ct the streamer and I am sending one the flowers. l. has never touched | d. ground since it was dropped from { ct plane.
 r. We are expecting an attack fri l. the 6;h to the 9th. and are fully pl e. pared. I send my trunk to the rc i'd tonight. It may be only a bluff. or we take no chances. So far we ha Id had comparat lively quiet secto ar Don't worry: when I come home it V y be. with honor, or not at all. I thi tn my blood will help me, as we ha lie had no quitters so far. I really thi
 the war may be decided this ye ed though probably not finished. I as Americans are doing wonders, and e. soor as they train and learn the ga ed MT Fritz will think a steam roller Id him. The war and the sectors are as different from anything we learned oy home that it takes time. The Frer
 did wonderfully we'll to hold at So