Norwich bulletin., 1918-11-02
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
Hears the Shells Whizzins.

The following letter has been re- ! ceived from Private Ernest H. Pike ot | Brooklyn, now with Battery D. 56th
 Artillery Regiment, in active service
 in France:
 On Active Service With the A. E. F.. Sept. 20, 1918. Dear Mother and Sisters: Wen, nere
 1 am writin on powder box; nope It doesn't blow up, for if it does l would | be a Chinese puzzle.
 We are all back on the toh again
 and sending over few to Fritz. Its
 great sport to hear the big guns bark
 and the shells whizzing on to de-
 s.ruction. We have done sor-=e good
 work since we came here and the l French think we are wonders. The 1 French invited us out to have dinner with them in honor of some of our
 good work which we did yesterday. Things get rather exciting here at times. Air battles are a common oc-
 currence here, and 1 have already seen
 few planes brought down. l received letters from home yester- ! day. Seven seems to be the usual number, as this is the third time l have received that number. l was | pleased with the good news and it took i all the afternoon to read them; it was | the most pleasant afternoon l have
 had for a long time
 Now don't think you are putting anything over on me when you write about eating peas. as we have them real often and believe me, they are | good.
 We have considerable time to our 1 selves but it is rather hard to write | corresponding. Sometimes we get seated outside our dug-out writing when we hear a shell whizz:ng our
 way, and that means under cover, ana your time is limited. Sometimes we don't always get into our right | dugout but just pile into the nearest
 one, regardless of how many are all i ready in there.
 1 Things have been real quiet here to- | day, but I had better not say any | thing as it doesn't take long for them 1 10 get started. Now don't get scared when 1 tell you of a little circum- 1 stance that happened to me the other | day. I heard a shell whizzing and as
 l was not near a dug-out I just drop ped and lay close to the ground. The
 shell was too close for comfort. There | 1 lay, and really l didn't feel any larg-
 CT than an ant When the shrapnel I stopped flying around l got up. only | to see about a dozen fellows, laughing
 at me. They thought it was a lot or ! fun. Fritz is putting over a rev now, | but they are not close enough to dis ] tIrb me.
 l l suppose you think we are always | firing and haven't a minute to spare. I thought it would be that way my | self before I came here, but we only | spend a few hours a day on the guns. 1 Perhaps three or four every day for ! the guns would never stand it if we 1 fired all the time. ] like rapid fire the best; that means to fire just as l fast as we can. Our gun crew always gets the most shots off when we shoot rapid fire Don't think | am bragging. | as l only do my little bit, but we are the best crew and the others admit it, SO l guess We are.
 This war cannot last much longer. ] really think one year will be our limit, I mean from the time we land ed. Now don't worry about me be- cause l am at the front. We never could win the war if we all stayed pack in rest camps or back in the States. ] am feeling fine and we Brooklyn boys stand the racket as
 we'll as any of them. You probably will hear a lot of gulf about the cas- ualties we have had. We have had oOAies buJ sOlIle 1OlINS Ilhe 10 eEaSSGl- ate things, so you may hear we are all in the hospital somewhere I am on gun crew and am in about as much excitement as anybody, and will try and keep you posted as much ! as possible. but you know too much ! information is forbidden, as the enc my might get hold of it.
 ! have got a nice chocolate bar. and l believe me, it is good. You may won ! der how we get chocolates at the l front, and other luxuries, but we sure | get them, The Y. NJ. C. A. is a life 1 saver.
 We have just got orders to fire SC 1 will bring this to close hoping this ] finds sou all well at home. Don't
 worry about me as I will take care oi
 myself and hope to be home before i long.
 Love to all,