Norwich bulletin., 1918-09-10
CORPORAL MICHAEL SHEA
 IN THE MARINE DRIVE

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 IN THE MARINE DRIVE i
 Corporal Michael L. Shea. a vel i known brick mason foreman in this has been in the thick of the fighting l along the Marne front. He is in Co. D of the 102d machine gun battalion, l which started the Huns on the run after the marines had thrown the Roche back at Chateau Thierry Corporal Shea gives the following vivid description of the fighting in a letter to his brother, Patrick F. Shea, of 472 Boswell avenue:
 Behind the Lines.
 France. Aug. 4th, 1918.
 Dear P. F.:-
 I have been waiting a long time for mail, and today I got a lot of it. | l received two from you dated July Sd and 18th, also one from John dated l July 18th, and three from Kit dated l June 27th, July Sth and 9th, so you see am pretty well fed up on home news just now. The worst of it is l that they all come in at once, and l then it will be a long time until we 1 get some more. We sure do. like to get mail We would rather go with out eats than mail.
 1 Well, of course you have read all about the big drive. We had the honor of starting them on the run. l The marines stopped them before we 1 got there and when our division re- i lieved them we started right in to
 push, and we pushed so hard that we 1 had a hard job keeping up with them
 On the way We picked up lot of them
 and they said they were tired of run ming. After chasing them for couple
 of days we came to where they made
 a stand at a strong point They sure did put up a fight there; but the old Y. D. sure did have the bit in its
 teeth aiSd nothing could stop it. They
 took those machine gun nests and
 started Fritzie on the run again l Of course. you know that this is all open lighting and most of it in the daylight Believe me, it is not all fun to carry machine gun through woods and fields and swamps and fences and
 wire while ITS and 15as are landing all
 around you, and once in a while a box car" will land and tear a hole about 30 feet Tn diameter
 Sometimes we advanced so fast that
 our own artillery could not keep up,
 and then all we could do was lie on our bellies and, wonder where the next one would land, and pray for our own artillery to open up, and when, after i huSging the mud for half an hour or ! ONSAAAe0 luck, you hear a D open up from the rear, and then 1o5, and then a whole lot of them; Oh, Boy! ain't it grand
 and glorious feeling; because you
 know that when our gunners get on the job that Fritzie's little party is 5 about oyer. We have everything our
 own way then until we get ill range 5 fhis machine guns, but it doesn't
 take long to shut them up, and then l Ia 11y +. r that doesn't get him anything that i'm 7 proves his health any more. [ sup
 pose that sounds 'horrid' to you peo- Die over there, bat over here we sec f things that change your viewpoint f You must fight fire with fire and be l lieve me, he has no stomach for his
 own medicine.
 p Well, you will have read all abou 3 this drive lcng before you get this I note, and anyways there is not mucf S to tell you. We were relieved nearly
 a week ago, and came back to the real I while the front kept pushing ahead st h that today we cannot even hear tht I guns. They say that we are going tt
 be out for a long rest and that W, n will get furioughs; hope that by tn, a time we go in again we will have tE, f Browning
 <, Tom Delaney and I were at a sta l tiona couple or llilos from here and WI
 saw some artillery just leaving for tn !, front for trIir first hitch We wen d over to them and talked with Ee
 Monahan, Fitzgerald fellow iron il Boswell avenue and a Mccormack fel !, low from the West Side. We foun IT that we had just missed Tommy Bar l ry and Bill Cummings They wante
 to know all about the front and sur
 did ask lot of funny questions. an
 We gave them lot tothiRk about an Il it didn't lose anything in the telling d Our c. c. and one of our sergeant y have gone home on furloughs. Anothe It of our sergeants has been home fo n three months. but l guess he is on tn
 way back. He was selling Libert n bonds. Our company was cited fo e the work we did in the drive It wa e also sighted" by the Huns.
 l. l am glad to know that everyone $ well and that you received all of tn d things I sent over exceptthe Joan ( l. Arc things. I havea Hun helmet ar
 a couple of shell cases from their n Tt but just at present they will not le t. us send home any captured propert, e 1 shall hang on to them, however. a .r the orders might change, and I kno' It you would be glad to get them, le We are billeted ina pretty little vi IF lage, but some of us have pitched or
 shelter tents on hillside overlookin D one of the prettiest valleys hata evt )) seen. l should like to own part it.
 3l The people here have all come bac 3) and are getting in their wheat,
 which thre is lot in this country. , furnished us lot of good cover la q week, but made it hard for the Re
 Cross men to find the fellows who wel
 out of luck.
 = We'll give my regards to everybo6 and tell the girls to carry on.'' MIKE.
 Corporal NJ. L. Shea. Co. D, 1O2