Payette enterprise. (Payette, Canyon Co., Idaho) 1909-1935, 1918-05-02
TOOK A LOOK At
NO MANS LAND
Kenneth Keith Tells of Some of His
Experiences in the French
Trenches.

Enterprise readers a letter straigE
from the trenches in France. Ker
meth Keith is the son of Mr.. and Mr.!
Frank Keith of Chelsea, Oklahoma
ai.., nephew OF E. c. Keith OF thi
city
Cave No. 8-France, 3-15-1s
Dear Folks at Home:-
Well, another move has come, an
now am about as near the German
as one can safely get. On the nigh
of about the 18th, the other half O.
our company relieved those VINO hac
been "up to the front" for ten days.
We came near here in our ambul
ances, then separated into small
groups to depart for our several sta
( tions. In this place are two Other
men and a seargeant besides Paul and
l. We live and work in conjunction
with the same number of Frenchmen
1t might interest you to know bit
of our trip up here and OF events
since we came, trusting that there
will be nothing herein that might give
"comfort to the enemy"
am one of the millions pleased to
see the relaxation in our former strict
and for the most part foolish censor
ship; and I trust to see it continue
thus. l might pause here to append
that your letter No. Z, came just be-
fore we left the chateau. have re-
ceived your letters No. /, 5, Z, 9 and
10. Time may bring the rest, for our
mail system is slow doing it. Never
theless it is gratifying that recently
we have had speeding service, and it
may be that once the clogging caused
by the mass of holiday remembrances
of all sorts is cleared away, great
improvement will take place.
To continue the original trend-we
left about dark, and as we sped over
the smooth roads with our packs and
necessary articles for the ten days
stay our spirits were the highest.
Rather than seeming as if we were
en- our way to the trenches and
scene OF almost four years desola-
ton, the feeling was as if we were
out for little joy tour in the still
evening air.
After passing through several small
towns filled with the boys in blue and
khaki, we came to one station beyond
the large artillery where some of
our boys are working at dressing
station. Here we were taken short
distance from a back yard, near
which they are, and shown an eight
inch German high explosive shell
which had fallen and failed to ex-
plode there. Useless to say, no one
bothered it, as many times the reas-
on for this is the catching of tiny
spring or delicate piece of mechanism
which fails to work properly, and a
slight jar might be sufficient to set
it off. Less than half the German
high explosive shells explode now,
while the French are considered tol
make better showing.
SThe Germans do not as rule shell
the town, but try to destroy the
French and American batteries be- i
hind the hills just outside of town. In
nearly every sheltered spot of any
consequence are batteries, camou-
flaged with grass and limbs, so as to
be secure from aerial detection.
Then we wandered about town see
ing the holes made by the shells, the
morgue Cthere were three Americans
there at the time ready to be buried), !
and the cemetery with its scattering !
of freshly dug graves. Soon we five
piled into the car again and continued
toward this place. The land on both
sides of the road was peppered with /
shell holes and barbed wire entangie- |
ments, while at frequent intervals in
the road could be seen the crushed
rock but recently thrown into shell
holes along it. The road is screened
all along on both sides and along side /
it runs a narrow track on which shells !
are brought up to the front on little
cars.
After travelling thus, we learned the
ambulance could go no farther, so we
piled out and donned our heavy packs.
Following the little track for about !
150 yards, we entered tunnel about |,
seven feet high. After stopping