Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-09-25
BATTLING THE BOCHE
HAROLD OSBORNE OF POTOSI.
WRITES OBSERVATIONS OF
LIFE ON BATTLE LINES,

france.
Dearest Mother, Dad & All:-

France.
Dearest Mother, Dad & ALL
Can you picture me sitting in the
doorway of my pup tent with a cigar
cite and a whole pound of good Amer
lean chocolates between me and NV
bunkee. That's the situation at pres
ent and am thinking those chocolates
won't last long regardless of the fact
l paid fifteen francs for them. That
Ices not sound bad but it is nearly
three dollars. One doesn't realize
the value of money here especially
when in beautiful French notes. /
am real well at present. Of course I
nave seen some h%ardships. Don't
think it's always like this. Just now
we are enjoying a rest a few kilomet-
ers back of the lines after three
months of good hard work at the
front. | have seen some very pleas
ant sights here as we'll as many I'M
pleasant ones. In some parts of
france you would never know they
were at war, everything is so peace
tul and quiet, but it don't seem like
nome to me any more unless I hear
hostile a~eroplanes and the whizzing
OF German shells over my head. There
IS a distinct difference between the
nun OF Fritz's motOr and ours. I
nave seen some very exciting air du-
els also air battles. Am glad to say
Fritz gets the worst of it most of the
time. One day | saw them bring five
down in about four hours. Have been
all over France. Was on the Swiss
border a month or so near Alsace
Lorraine and the western front with
the British and Australians near
Amiens. Saw the cathedral there and
was all through the town. Was in
the Marine sector the last time. | can
see Chateau Thierry from my tent
now Have been through Paris
twice but never had a chance to take
in the city. So you will see have
seen pretty much of France, in fact
nearly all by the 'shovel-full." I'll
know all the short cuts and by-paths
In France better than I do in old
Grant county if don't get away from
here soon. l haven't run across a
single person l knew before I enlist
ed as yet but am always on the alert
for the Wisconsin boys and especial
ly the 10th Am. train as that contains
a lot of Grant county boys / under
stand. You ought to see a bunch of
us boys get out on a souvenir hunt
through some deserted village and
woods and see the junk they bring
home. Probably carry it a while but
when called to hike Is or 20 kilos
they throw it away and wait for the
next stop to do it Over again. Well.
Mother, this is a rather long spiel
for ME but am rather lonesome today.
Tell all my friends to write to me
Letters from home are half we Bows
live on over hpTp Thic r0nrni41or r1o
have Off as we worked until 10 D.. m.
last night. We were doing road work
yesterday for a new field hospital and
as they were rushed with patients
they wanted the road finished as soon
as possible. Leave it to the 9th u.
S. Engineers, they will fix things for
you. l think the boys of the 9Th have
travelled more (here) than any other
regiment. Did you see the writeup
about us in the New York papers?
They tell me Washington is very
proud of us and hat people have
cards in their windows, "The Home of
the Sixth" They sure treated us fine
here and we had a good anne We
have it yet, too. We paraded before
Gen. Rawlinson of the British Army.
He congratulated us on our work, al
so presented several of our men with
medals. B. & d. Co.'s got most of
the honor as they were in the trench
es seven days without relief. We
line up according to rank in alphabet
ical order to receive our pay. An Of
icer-paymaster pays us. We draw
III full pay There is none kept at
Washington or any place, We draw it
all. Will send some home each
month.
I know what a German barrage is
n have been in the gas and am not
afraid of any of it. One don't mind it
after the first time. The prettiest
sight I've seen since here was while
on the British front near Amiens.
There were &c searchlights all cen
tered on one Fritz aeroplane and ma
chine guns shooting PHOSPHORUS bull
let's toward it and shrapnel bursting
nea it. It came down all right and
the bombs he carried exploded and
blew the machine to pieces. Have
seen lots of air battles and they are
real exciting. I saw Roosevelt and
on the Marine. MOf course we hate to
them make up for it by bringing down
lots of the Germans.
Well mother it's near mess time so
I'll close. I always have an appetite
nowadays. Give my love to all and
write often and don't worry.( I am
we'll and will write as often as / can.
Received a letter from Clara also one
from Mary this week, also had a let
ter from Foots yesterday. He has
been with the marines and said he
wentover the top ever ytime they did.
There's the call for feed so must go.
Your loving son,
Hal.