The Coconino sun., 1918-12-13
[0lD|[R}' (0RhtR
 ITEMS OF INTEREST
 ABOUT OUR BOYS OVER - HERE AND "OVER THERE"
IS EATING ARIZONA
 BERRIES IN FRANCE

Relative to the following letter
 from Albert Korta, Wm. Pitts ad-
 vises: "The enclosed letter is from
 Mrs. J. Duff Browns brother who is
 near Bordeaux, France, with the en- gineers.
 Albert Korta spent eleven months
 with his sister and J. D. Brown and is anxiuos to come back to the U. S. A., so he could come to Arizona and make his home here. Although born and raised in Chicago, Arizona looks mighty fine to him. He is a first class mechanic and Uncle Sam found he needed him in the very first call, and he has been in France since the early part of June."
 Mir. w. Pitts.
 Dear Uncle Bill:
 received your ever welcome postal few days ago and was sure glad to hear from you, also that you were all in the very best of health. I guess you are pretty busy right now with your fall roundup, just as we are over here rounding up the square heads.
 There's not much difference round- ing up cattle and square heads; the only difference I can see is that they crawl into holes while steer is game enough to stand up and fight even after he is caught. Clarence Ford was right when he said Hell was pop ping" It sure is popping, now that the race for Berlin has started and it won't be long before hell will cross the Rhine. We have the square heads here just as thick as the bed bugs were in some ones tick I saw in Ari- zona at the K. NJ. ranch, and believe me, Bill, that's pretty thick. You know I can rattle off a few German worls myself and I talk to some of them. All are of the same mind. Don't know what they are fighting for and as one of their non-com's said: "I've had four long years of it and went right through hell, wounded four times and glad to be prisoner" I'm sure all the rest are the same way. They vary in age a great deal, some of the men are 60 years of age, and some are boys that look to be 12 years old. They sure are good me chanics and good workers, and it don't take them long to find out they are amongst white people from Gods country when they are with us and you could not drive them back to their trenches with baseball bats. I've got several souvenirs right now but its pretty hard to mail anything back home from here. I'll remember you at any rate and send you one of their caps which they wear coming over the top.
 Well, little about the French country I have seen. It's fine! But I would not trade one good old acre of U. s. A. soil for all of it. Nothing but grapevines. The town are very pretty and so are the girls. Some what different from our girls l will say; and they like the American boys pretty well. I've seen some pretty old towns, castles and churches It's pretty hard to believe that 1 saw King Henry, the Fourth's castle that was started in 79 B. c. and finished in 400 A. D., and the place looks as if it were a new building. The churches are the most wonderful things in the world, great big steeples that must have taken years to build. Of course, in some out of the way places they are far behind the times. I saw them use dog carts, and also oxen, and some pretty dolls still wear ing wooden shoes, but I found out why they wear them. They stamp the grapes with their feet and can't stop to unlace shoe with 48 shoe lace holes init.
 I'm getting along pretty good with my French. I've learned two words; that's i've we"-means yes. No mat ter what they ask me, it's Eve we". The weather here is grand outside of rainstorms and you don't mind that after you are here while.
 Our eats are good, had some Ari- | zona strawberries tonight at supper time. That's enough to let you know they're good.
 It's getting late and almost time | for taps to blow which means I'll | have to put out my light. I'll write again soon as I find little time, and | perhaps I'll have some better news for you. You no doubt read all the news from over here and can see the good | work the boys are doing, so l won't | say much about that until I see you all in Arizona, which I hope will be real soon. hope you are all in the very best of health as I am, and my regards to Mrs. Pitts and all the chil- 1ren, also all the Browns, which I guess covers all of Ash Fork, Will Hams and even the Chino valley. Thanking you for your card and ex- pecting to hear from you again before many days, with my best wishes to you all, I remain ,
 PVT. AL. KORTA,