The weekly Alaska citizen., 1918-06-03
K[OPSCH SENDS
 NEWSy LETTER
 0F OVER THERE

In the last mail Leroy Tozier re ceived a lengthy letter from Louis Klopsch, who is now serving with the colors Somewhere in France. The letter. which is one of the best to be received here from the front gives good description of the life the boys are leading and is as fol lows:
 Somewhere in France,
 April 15, 1918. My Dear "Toz":
 Welcome to our city. About the best news that I have received in France was your letter You are right-I should have kept my promise and written you. but, Roy, Fritz has taken up quite lot of my time recently.
 I am chief of the liason agents of my company-a new position in the army which this war has developed My duties are numerous and wher ever the captain goes there l go too That the position carries with il some importance and no little re sponsibility you can see when l tell you that two liason agents rode at the head of the German army when the army entered Brussels. My duties keep me in front of the com pany, and I usually lead the line of march. In the trenches l am con stantly with the captain. His mes sages to his platoon commanders or to other companies are carried by his Jason agents. can use the flags, the buZzer, the morse code and the signal lamp, so you see have learned how to telegraph.
 What will probably be oi more interest to you is the conditions un. der which We live and fight. the morale of the men, the country we see and the powers of the enemy Censorship, as you know, prevents my telling you all that is going on This company was the first of the Rainbow Division to reach France It is almost time for me to don my "6 months foreign service" bar, and that proves that l was anxious to get here. Conditions when we reached France were totally unlike those under which we live today It was cold and damp then and we spent our nights in unheated hay lofts without sanitary arrangements and with no conveniences. The win. ter was a hard one and there was no little suffering among the city fellows.
 Finally, at the first suggestion that the snow was gone, we entrained for the trenches. American soldiers travel in box cars over here-32 men or 8 horses to the car. Mud, mud, mud and then more mud was what we found. I used to think that. Cush. man street was the muddiest street in the world, but I know street that is still worse.
 Then came our first introduction to Fritz" He greeted us warmly No one could mistake his intentions. It seemed as though he wanted to intimidate us. Roy, but if he did, his failure was complete for he only stirred us up and made us realize that we are at war.
 His and 8 inch shells rained shrapnel on us and then he made a funny move. He tried to get a good look at our position from an aeroplane. We turned an automatic on the aviator and our aim was all that could be desired. Exit Mir Boche.
 Then came the gas-in three varieties. Mustard. chlorine and tear gas we call them. To doll yourself up in box respirator, breathing through the mouth all the time, a pair of clothespin pincers on your nose and a rubber band around your head may sound interesting, but 1t is hell. You know the old camp meetin' kind of hell with fire |and birthstone and everlasting burn. ing. It seems that your head is about to burst and yet to remove that mask means death. If it's mus. tard gas, Roy, it burns your skin until it blisters you all over. Clothes afford no protection against mus. tard gas and box respirator only covers your face and breathing ap paratus.
 We'll, the French said that for three long years the Boches had not used gas on that sector. So their gas attack was carried on for the purpose of intimidation. They did not get" man in my company although some of the other com panies did not fare 80 well. But that experience was one that was by far tke most unpleasant of the