The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-08-23

believe me our government back home
is "sure on the job" toward accomp-
plishing that result.
Frank LaSource blew in here the
other day with some fresh troops.
He is the only man / have seen as
, yet from the new draft army that is
from anywhere near home other than
) from other parts of Missouri. / am
, commanding company now but still
, rank as first lieutenant. Rank does
{ MT amount to much over here-it is
the man who delivers the goods Fun
, damentally we are combatant troops
and are kept constantly on the jump
training the new men in every phase
and department of modern warfare as
well as teaching them the engineering
side of it. My duties up to date have
been constantly with troops and not on
|. special engineering work. We con-
) stantly hold ourselves in readiness and
) await with impotence and petulance
the call to go over", for it is every
mans ambition to "get his boche" or
rather just as many as he can. Not
one of us would feel the least qualm
of conscience in killing his boche-
just the same as crushing with the
heel of our boot the head of a rattle
snake, for there is only one kind of a
good German and that is a dead one.
When you see at close range just what
these barbarians have done and will
continue to do unless crushed. Over
here ones viewpoint is changed and
there can be but one outcome of the
war and that is the crushing of Ger
many. IN g .a2. ..
We have quite an admiration for
the English and / believe that this is
mutual, however, there is not that
deep affection and love, of brotherhood
and comradeship that the French and
Americans have for each other. We
have lots of fun kidding the English
officers with whom we are very often
associated. You know how concei-
ted an Englishman is-well we just
lead them on and get them to spread
themselves and they have not enough
sense of humor to get wise and to OBJ
serve our suppressed amusement, how
ever, there is no denying their ten
acity, courage and capabilities.
The French women are truly won.
derful--they do practically all the
work and we marvel at their capabilit-
les, versatility, and initiative. They
are always neat and "chic" and are a
head of our women in knowing how to
make clothes and to wear them. |
really believe that French woman
could take an old gunny sack and a.
dorm herself attractively. You can
imagine just what a wonderful coun-
try this is when you remember that it
is not near so large as Texas, and be-
fore the war was next to the United
States the richest. There is no water;
all resources are conserved and util-
lied, yet there is no mad rush or con-
gestion. The French have quite
taste for the beautiful and aesthic, but
of course are far behind us in modern
conveniences, transportation and san
itation. We are now practically run
ming their railroads and they marvel
at our efficiency along this line for we
have completely revolutionized then
transportation facilities. You now
see many complete American trains;
with American crews. Our hospital
trains are Notwithstanding palaces
with every modern convenience, and
every thing conducive to proper hand
ling and caring for our wounded.
The morale and the personnel of our
troops is exceptionally good and of
course they "are there" with the cour-
age, the pep, the initiative, the natural
| love for a scrap and the detcrmina-
ton. Of course, derelict draft and ex-
emption boards in the States have
sent us some "waps" that take up val
liable cargo space, but on the whole
our men are of an exceedingly high
type. l am enjoying good health and
am fully satisfied, yet at times home
. sick.
..I Love from,
PHILIP.
From One Who Made the Supreme
Sacrifice
Mrs. Geo. Burgess recently received
a letter from Mrs. Kate Windish of
Big Lake, Wash. She is the mother
of Ressie Buchanan, who was killed in
action in France on July %. 1t was
thought at first that it was mistake
on account of receiving no informant
ion from Mrs. Windish, but the report
was confirmed by the authorities it
Washington. Ressie was always
known as a splendid young man by
many here, having lived here and his
death is mourned by all. The follow
ing is the last letter received here
from Ressie.3 1t is addressed to Ezra
Burgess and wife.
On active service with the Amer
lean Expeditionary forces.
April 20, 1918.
Dear Aunt,
| / received your letter today. 1t
found me we'll and l hope this finds
you the same. l was surprised the
bother day to receive Q letter from Le-
ona. She says she Is a grown young
lady now. / can hardly believe it for
the last time saw her she was a little
girl. But time has passed since l was
in Missouri. / guess it is because l
have moved around so much.
!. l get a letter from home about
every two weeks and ] write home
about every week. ,,se
] | sure would like to come home and
visit you when / come back. / feel