Norwich bulletin., 1918-12-20
ONCE REPORTED KILLED,
 HE NOW WRITES HOME

After having been reported dead, | Private Alfred La Barre writes to his father, J. La Barre, of Hunters ave- nue, Taftville, telling of his experiences during the great drive around Verdun, in which he participated. He explains the report which reached his father, saying that he had been killed, by say ing that a girl mistook him for an in- terpreter who had been killed and wrote to his father. He also tells of his part in the drive and how he mar rowly escaped death at the hands of a German officer. His letter follows:
 Nov. A, 1918. Dear Father and Family:-It being what is known as Fathers, or Dads, | Letter Day, and being au liberty to write conditions as to our wherea bouts and of our doings, would not let the chance slip by.
 am now in Bordeaux, in the south 1 ern part of the country, and have 1 been here for two weeks for treat ment and sure getting plenty of eats. 1 It's a very large American hospital I am in, that part of it known as the rest camp. What brought me here, i from the drive and holding sector
 for twelve days afterwards, was a | bad cold. I did not cough any but it
 seemed to settle in my legs so that it looked like rheumatism. I am O. K now. I have been expecting to go back with the company all this week but my papers did not come so will have to wait till Monday
 Now to start from the beginning and 1 give you some idea as to our doings. The first place we stopped at after getting off the boat was Brest. We
 camped there three days, then we got into some box cars, better known
 as freight cars, but much smaller tsASn 1 those in the states We rode three days and nights (some ride I can tell yoU to small place called Bouix Cote D' Or, the place you got the let ter from the girl that mistook me for
 the interpreter that was killed and
 wrote you was dead. There we stay
 ed for eight or ten days. Then we
 went in trucks (auto) to a place about
 50 miles away. called Champlitte
 (Haute Soane.) There the company
 stayed three or four weeks drilling
 every day, but the boys sure enjoyed i+. They could buy all the wine they
 wanted to drink and talk to the na-
 tives and that's just what they liked 1 Well, finally one morning the captain
 and I went to the large freight sta . tion five miles away on our bicycles
 being an interpreter I had to be there f My company was to do the loading o1 E all the guns, ammunition, wagons, ra- i tions, etc. After the loading I had
 to so back to Champlitte to straighter ! cut some reclamations and that pu' i, me two days behind the company ! who were on their way to the front z and first to occupy the front line
 trenches on the Verdun sector whicE
 was quiet enough until we made tha
 ever-tobe forgotten drive.
 nj After getting to the front I reporte, S to the battalion headquarters and, be d irg the captains No. 1 runner, I wa
 kept going between the captains an' s major with messages. One mornin, e the major knowing I was also an in h terpreter, said: How would you lik : 10 go into No Mans Lahd with
 frog" this morning Ca frog is a
 American nickname for a Frenehman)
 As there was nothing to do but sa
 yes, I went
 The following morning about O 5 clock and the Frenchman starte s out. It was to tap the Germans lin = of communication. We sure did som : belly-sliding in getting there. Tn first place we stopped at was an ob $ servation post. It looked like dunn $ a few cans. an old boot and few ol - broken branches. but underneath wa y a stairway leading to the highest par 5. so as to observe. About 100 yards fur |. ther was what would look like an ol = limb in the middle tree, but instead y was steel even so that one could g IT up into and look through. We fnall 't made the connection and got very goo
 information. We could receive frol
 the observation post.
 I'll never forget the morning V r went over the top. It was 5 o'cIoc a. in the morning and a little dark z a yet All of sudden I noticed ol a te artillery was falling short so had i,, incline to the left All the time 1s 1s was lodging machine gun bullets. F oe % nally fell into one of the trenches 4 as to catch up with the company tn r1 I thought was ahead of me. Suddel " " ly in turning the corner I saw u Ia ill end of the trench and looking ahes 1e to see if I could see someone of u d d company I beheld what I thought ee be frog" In looking again ga S 6 German helmet and just as saw ~, he saw me and as had my gun slul LIB over my left shoulder I could n
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