Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-12-31
FROM LIEUT.. H. G. INGRAHAM.

Inc following letter has been re-
ceived by Mrs. c. H. Ingerham. who
| is in France:
France, Nov. 25, 1918.
| Dear Mother:
Here l am under slightly different
circumstances than when | wrote NV
last letter to you. l have a board
across my knees and straining my
eyes by candle light to write this. 1t
is cold too in this old shell-torn house
which we have partially closed up
with blankets, but a roaring fire in
the big fireplace rather cheers one up
bit. Our clothes are muddy as it
has rained all day and l only have
one change of clothes with me, having
checked the rest with the American
Express Co. in Paris.
Am right on the scene of the big
gest battles of the war, between St.
Mihiel and Metz in Alsace-Lorraine
and our work has been cleaning up
wreckage and salvaging the good stuff
from the mass of debris. Everything
is in ruins and trenches and dugouts
every where.
Lee OConnor and I had some lob
finding this outfit, as you can only go
so far by rail and then have to grab
the first vehicle that comes along,
usually a supply truck, throw your
baggage on and climb in.
We were sent all over this country
down here, from Paris to st. Dizier,
to Bar lie Due to Toul, 70 Loureville
where we were finally dumped and
had to shift for ourselves. When we
finally landed at this Division Head
quarters, we were told that we would
either have to wait over that night
and sleep in the station or grab a
truck out to our destination about 25
miles out, which we did, arriving there
in the dead of night, and after a few
hours rummaging around found
place to sleep in an old shack. In the
a. m. we reported to Reg. H. @. and l
was Immediately assigned to command
Co. E. 140th Inf, which had Just come
out of the last drive. The M. G. Co.'S.
and battalions were filled up with
Officers so had no chance to get in
there for the present at least. Can
you imagine me, machine gunner for
16 months, put in the Infantry of old
timers and put in command at that
with three newly made End Lieuts. to
help me out. ] am like fish out of
water as l don't know a thing about
this Infantry stuff, but am studying
up on it and will try to get by.
The first day / was here they pulled
a battalion parade and review, which,
l have not been through since Fort
Sheridan days, but I took a few hasty
peeps at the book and got through
o. K
When we were out salvaging the
other day we ran across thousands of
live grenades, trench ,mortor shells,
detonatOrs and dynamite caps which
we had the pleasant duty to explode
and render harmless as they were not
safe to move. For one after another
we had small sized bombardment of
our own.
l haven't received any mail yet since
October as it is prabably chasing me
around this country over here.
We are due to be on the move again
about tomorrow or next day but l
don't know where. l only hope it is
towards the coast although indications
point to Germany as we are on the
border now.
There was Y. M. c. A. entertain
ment here the other day and the "Y"
men knew father very well as they
had been with him in New York. They
said he was only about 20 miles from
here but didn't know the name of the
place or his address. When I was in
Paris I went to II Rue d. Auguesseau
to the Headquarters and they said he
was out on the road with the enter
tainment Dept. and they didn't know
where he was at that time as he was
travelling. I'll find him yet although
I'm having a job.
My address is: Lieut.. H. G. Ingra-
ham, Co. E. 140th Inf, American Elk.
Forces, A. P. o. 743.