Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1918-06-24
OUR BOY S
in
OUR CQUNTRY'S SERVICE

from her son, A!lTSO " Mo-" SA' -"
is serving as a mechanic with Secuon
COS now in France. Extracts from some
Of the letters are given:
My Dear Mother:-At last am
Somewhere in France" at l. S. head
quarters. Have seen many wonderful
sights such as zeppelins, aeroplanes,
submarines, destroyers and many other
such novelties. 1t was a tiresome jour
ney and was very tired when / reached
camp. Everyone speaks French here
and the children are all asking for
money. They wear hardly anything.
Most of the women are wearing black
and are glad to see the Yanks. Am in
a much larger camp than when l wrote.
do not know Just how long we will be
here but 1 hope it will be short as
want to get UP near the front just to
see a little active service. We are in
comfortable quarters and have plenty
of clothing. The weather is rather
or 10 times a day. l tell you Uncle Sam
is on the jump over here. l wish you
could see the camp here and the num-
Der Of trucks it has. Will have many
interesting things to relate when I
come back. There is a girl from Hinck-
ley. Maine, here at the Y. NJ. c. A.
Have been talking to her. She knows
some of the people whom T know up
that way. The Y. NJ. c. A. is SO crowd
ed that it is almost impossible to get
in at all. Tomorrow is Mothers day
for all the soldiers over here and to my
estimation it is the greatest day Of all
times and l surely hope that every SOL
der takes this opportunity to write all
day long. Am in the best of health and
taking good care of myself, so don't
worry about me at all. We are still
miles and miles from the front SO there
is on danger yet. Still I want to get up
there where there is something going
on. The spirit of the boys is great and
all work together. Two of the sections
out of our battalion have gone towards
the front. Part of another section left
two days ago. I hope our turn is next.
We are still assembling ambulances. II
is heavy work. We assemble two or
three a day. l have three sergeants
working with me. Yesterday was my
! birthday. Just think. l was IS years
| old. l surely don't feel more than %.
Have grown young since l enlisted.
/ Visited Fontainebleau last Sunday
where the chateau occupied by Napo-
! leon is located. The most wond erful
! place l ever saw. Look for Fontaine-
+ +to will
! am not far from Paris. We are sure
getting our training and it is training,
! too Haven't written you for nearly a
week The reason is because we have
moved from where we were stationed
/ at U. A. Army Ambulance Service Base
! Camp. It is possible to hear the big
| guns from here. Heard them this morn
/ ing about O'Clock. We will probably
! be here for month or two. There is
plenty of work to be done here and we
are OF course doing our share. We
passed through many towns and cities
while on our way here. This sure is a
wonderful country for sights Will
close now as we have a ball game on.
. Mrs Sadie Chambers. 154 Bangor
: street. Augusta. is in receipt of the fol-
lowing letter of recent date. from her
: son. Private Thomas Chambers, Com
pany B, 1d3d L. S. Infantry:
Somewhere in France.
May23, 1918.
! Dear Mother:
Just few lines TO let you know that
I am well and hope this letter will find
YOU the same. l received your letters
of April Is and Il at the same time.
l am sorry to hear that papa is not
feeling very well and hope he is better
the next time you write We have
been pretty near four months at the
front now. If we don't get rest pref
ty quick guess we will all croak. Ev-
erybody is all in; outside of that every
thing is the best. We were going to
make a raid on the Germans about a
week ago. We were Just cutting the
wire when they heard us. We swapped
fire with them for about Is minutes.
None Of our men was hurt. I don t
know if we got any of the Germans
or not. You probably read about it in
the paper before this. / got letter
from Uncle Bert today and will answer
right back. You don't ever say If YOU
have received any allotment or not.
You have now $50 coming to you If You
have not got it already. T don't think
the war will last much longer and I
hope it don't. 1t is hot weather here
now. Well. mother. 1 can't think OF
any more to write. so guess I will close,
my love to father and Granny. From
your loving son.
THOMAS CHAMBERS.