The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1918-06-04
AN INTERESTING
FROM HER
BOY IN FRANCE

Mrs. T. E. Mcpherson of mckenzie.
| Butler County, Ala, is visiting her
sister Mrs. E. e. Johnston at PA East
Zarragossa St, and has with her the
following interesting letter from her
son who is in the 167th Inf. band A
f. t. now in France
Some Where in France, May 8, 1918
My Dear Mother:
Come take a trip to the trenches
with me. That will be mighty fine;
but be sure you bring along your
helmet and gas mask for without
them We can never get by the senti-
mel, and besides all that, they are just
a lot more useful than ornamental l
have been up. Didn't have to go, but
just got an idea that / wanted to see
what the real trenches were like; so
one morning / fell in to step with a
Corporal going up with mail, walked
past the guard as if l was on detail
and in about twenty minutes time was
passing all manner and descriptions
of shell holes.
1t had rained the night before and
just few minutes after entering the
shell swept field. we began to notice
holes with no water in them, which
went to show they had been made
early in the morning. These, we gave
a wide berth for Fritz was some where
behind the enemies lines firing when
he felt like it and we We're by no means
certain that he had changed his range
One of the boys said being too near
fresh shell hole makes him feel as
if he had grenade IN his pocket with
the pin pulled. You know in cases like
that, something is liable to go off
without warning. I, being a non-com-
hot z1<l
know great deal about such things,
took his word for 1t without question
and made my five feet and eleven |
inches and one hundred and eighty /!
pounds just as inconspicuous as pos
sible.
AT the first gun implacement the |
Corporal stopped to deliver his mail |
and get the boys requisition for new
clothes. Shells were falling about half |
a quarter to our ileft. so we made /
ourselves comfortable in the dug-out |
and waited for the fire to subside or |
for them to change their range. About |
noon things quieted down consider
ably and, accompanied by one of the |
gun crew, we started on up to where |
a fellow can appreciate life and good |
health. About a quarter from the i'm
placement are woods-good thick |
woods at that-with plenty of mud |
and just as we were going under the
first tree things began to happen.
9I can't describe the sound a six inch |
shell makes as it goes through the
air, but can say this: IT Is not pleas
ant to hear if you know it is coming |
toward you. A good soldier can tell /
from the sound just about where they |
are going to land and that day they |
happened to be landing uncomfortab bly, |
close, so we Topped down on our
stomachs in the mud and watched the
first one spend itself in a big beech |
near by. |
There was hardly enough of 1t left |
for kindling, but we didn't mind that |
as it did not seem to cause the tree |
any pain and it certainly didn't cause |
us any. After waiting long enough to !
see where the big boys We're hitting, |
we got up and headed for the opposite |
side of the woods. AS we came out |
in the open, the fellow leading us beat
1t at his best speed and l. not knowing |
what else to do, initiated him. After |
reaching shelter, / asked him why he |
had run; he looked at me with a sort |
of puzzled expression on his face and |
said: why we have just passed in |
front of the German line; / thought /
you knew we had to do it to get to |
the c. T. Communication trenches). |
Well : didn't know any such thing |
and IL / had perhaps / wouldn't have
been so anxious to go up.
There are dug outs, duck boards. |
do more pleasant than that. We were |
now really in the trenches and believe |
me, they're interesting.
There are dug out, duck boards, |