The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1918-11-15
LETTERS FROM THE
BOYS IN ARMY CAMPS

ceived the following letter from her
son, Winfield Ayres Smith, who en-
trained at Mankato, July 25, 1918 for
Camp Wadsworth, S. c., and who
arrived in France about September
Is, 1918.
ION Active Service with the Amer
lean Expeditionary Forces. Some
where in France. October Is, 1918
My dearest Mother: Since the last
time / wrote you, we have moved sew
eral times. We are following up one
of the most important and active
fronts in this part of the war. We
are at present assisting the engineers
in building and repairing roads and
bridges. We are within hearing of
the artillery.
/ have seen several battles in the
air and they are certainly exciting.
Each time the allies have come out
victorious in the end although the
Huns brought down few observa-
ton balloons. The Huns along this
front are being driven back so fast
that our artillery cannot follow them.
L
sure you people at home know more
what is actually going on than we,
for what we hear is of course only
local.
This letter writing is great deal
harder proposition here than it was
in the states where we had Y. NJ. c..
AS to write in. Here we are at work
from early in the morning until $50
at night. By the time mess is over
it is dark and as we can have no
nights we go to sleep as soon as we
can. However, each platoon stays in
camp half day every other day. That
gives us a little time to fix up our
tents, clean up, and clean our guns,
but not much time for letter writing
So if my letters are few and far
feeling fine. have received no let
tiers as yet but am still living in
hopes
We had heavy underwear and an
other blanket issued to us the other
day and we are quite comfortable.
We have soap issued every now and
then and Bull Durham tobacco, but
no pipe tobacco. We also received
several Fatima cigarettes last night
and sweet cookie. They taste fine!
The things we crave most are good
tobacco and sweets. OF course, we
get almost no sweets in our mess. We
do have splendid meats though, roast
beef, etc. understand that you can
send Christmas box of a certain
size. You can find out from the
postmaster the details, l think If
you have not sent one yet, l would
like most a sweater, few pairs of
socks, and some hard candy, like
lemon drops, something that will
keep and not take up much room.
When / get back home.
l am going to have a reserved seat
in the dining car, believe me! We
had a dandy breakfast this morning
OF rice, thin pancakes and coffee. l
tell you the rice was fine. But that
is the way it goes, sometimes
good, sometimes punk Yesterday
for bre kfast we had four
prunes, a slice of bread and coffee.
But we had dandy dinner, roast
beef, onions, bread and coffee
Owing to new ruling we cannot
give our regiment and company in
letters from now on. However, it re-
mains the same and you will address
my mail the same as you have beer
doing. You can also address me as
Sergeant w. A. S., for | have my
stripes now. We nave been having
perfectly beautiful weather most OF
the time, regular Indian Summer. ]
could not help but think of the 100"
times we were having yeTr $50 at
this time Minneso+" -IGSt be as
beautiful as ever ard | only wish that
| were there to enjoy it all with you
The way it looks now l will be next
year and we will spend a year having
a good time. The morning is nearly
gone and must close. With world
of love to you and all at home.
Winfield
E. B. Gordan, of the United States
Infantry, now wounded and in hos
pital Somewhere in France" gives
a good idea of the attitude of the
American soldiers about giving the
Germans peace before they were
thoroughly licked, in a recent letter
to F.. A. Fisher of the Mankato
fruit house, where Mr.. Gordan was
formerly employed Private Gordon
enlisted N the regulars at the out
break OF the war and was in the
first boat load going over on June
10, 1917. He went to France after
about forty five minutes drill in this
country, being one of the volunteers
who stepped forward when the colo
mel asked the rockies who were will
ling to go to take two PAGES forward
He is a member of the 18th Regi-
ment Company L, First Division,
First army, which made the first
parade down the streets of Paris,
one year ago, and were asked to
parade this year. He was wounded
twice, the first time with schrapnel
in the shoulder The letter follows:
81 really have something to tell
you this time. am in the hospital,
wounded. Awful, isn't it? 1t isn't
worrying me in the least though, in
fact am rather enjoying it. l am sleep
ing in a real bed with white sheets
and a pillow. 1t is the first real
rest 1 have had and is almost too
good to be true, for during the last
ten or twelve months a little pile of
hay to sleep on was a treat. That
all comes in the game of war
though, and we didn't mind, even
though the ground was awful hard
and wet sometimes, for we were
over here to whip the Huns, and we
were all willing tn on throuoh any,