The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1918-07-24
BON|NE'Y Tells OF
BURSTING SHELL
Sid eonney, Jr, With the American
Forces IN France, Gives Graphic
Description Of Shell Burst.
puD SHELLS WON'T EXPLODE

Y HOO 0nGGHo WONt GNTIOOc
Shefts oftsn Fired to Scare One Into
Thinking the End Near, Only
TO Find Them Fuseless
The following is portion of a let
ter received by DR.. and Mrs. Bonney,
OF Buck Grove, from their son, Lieut..
III. S. Bonney, who is serving with the
American army in France:
France, June IL, 1918
Dear Folks: Just received several
letters from you, which have been
wandering around for a few weeks,
and 4 will try to answer them all at
once, as it seems as though that is
the only way letters ever get to me.
4 get . whole herd of them, then it
Will be a week or more before re-
ceive any more. They seem to move
In patches.
suspect that things in old Buck
Grove are quiet, since SO many OF the
young fellows have left, but it will be
b blessing in disguise for many OF
them. Believe me, they will find that
a %. g. is a mighty small place on the
map when they have been in this
mans army for q few months. It is
simply up to the individual what hap
pens to him. He is either q soldier
Or q prisoner, and life for the prisoner
at the front is no bed of roses. We
had few men who thought it a nice
thing to get picked to the eyes on red
wine, SO they were given extra work,
In the front line trenches, where they
had no place to sleep except what they
fixed for themselves after the days
work was done. You can bet that get
ting drunk In this outfit has ceased to
De d popular pastime. When man
has to live under shell fire "a hours
s day and do hard work with it, the;
pleasure of the little brown jug dis.
appears rapidly and they look at life
as worth living after all.
v It is surprising, however, how little
drinking there is done in the army
now Wine is as easy to get as water
and In some Of the villages stronger
liquors can be obtained in an Illegal
way, but ] have seen fewer men UNI
der the influence of liquor than have;
seen In the United States, under SIM
liar conditions. The French use wine
as beverage at their meals, and our
men seem to think it is up to their
honor not to get drunk, and therefore,
pass up the booze. OF course; there is
now and then some soak that gets on
4 jag, but q trip to the lines sobersi
him up and keeps him sober for some
time later.
This machine is worse than the old
one the ~ put out of commission.)
am sending you under separate
cover my old Sam Brown belt. You
can 800 where shell fragment hit
1t (One prong OF the buckle was shot
sway. "A. r. b., and assure you it
was. too close for comfort Cost me
$40 fora new belt. Damn the boche!
We just had demonstration of the
gentle art OF making war, by the Hun.
He came over in a plane with allied
markings on It, and dropped bombs
and fred machine guns on transports
on the road. Fortunately he missed
almost everything he shot at, and
three Of our planes made good Hun
out Of him. But that is nothing to be
surprised about. The fact that he
would put our markings on his plane
and then bomb us is in accord with
few other things that the damned
lice have done, and we have reached
the stage where nothing they do sur
prises us at all. But, 1t was a Glorious
day at Cantigny, and the "can" was
put In the town in proper way.
81 4 wonder If some people can get the
conception of what million men
means, and that man in the army
may be next door to them and not
know a person he sees. | got a letter
from girl and she asked me to call
ON her friend in the tn infantry,
and gave me his address. looked
him up and found he was only about
100 miles from where I am, and that
there was about as much chance of my
Seeing him as there is Of Dad getting
into the army. TN
II might plant those African water
melon seed you wrote. about, but am
AFRAID that by the time they started
To yield we would be so FAR towards
Germany that some Frenchman would
get the melons. But there might be
some chance that owing to war con.
ditions watermelons would make wa.
ter quicker in the trenches than they
would under peace conditions. Nest
pas
am not worrying about what sort
az commission i have SO long as /
an not scattered over the landscape
ID small pieces. And SO long as ! con-
tinue In my present JOB I am liable
{ to5 live quite q while. However, one
can never tell just what will happen.
Things are apt to happen when you
least expect them, ,,8,.
Talk about dud shells! Believe me-,
1t lis a sensation, and then some, to-
have one of them come your way. You
day for at least an hour while the
harmed thing is going into the ground,
and then when it don't 60 off you
take long breath and say things that
are not printable. For my part, I'd
lust as soon have d live one near me
Whetl i am in d shell hole as the buds,
ifor they 20 off and the trouble is over,
but dud is sometimes one with q de-
Jayed action fuse on It, and 1t goes
Ecff after you have made up your mind
is dud, and then you get hi
scared out Of you. First, you hear the
thing coming, then hit the ground and
II seems an hour afterward that.
;powie- and there is one I of a mess Of
mud and dirt ali over. you, and the
n II y =. - Sls,t5 <hCLoo vOu f0 dhatfl