The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1918-11-29
Letter from France.

ing letter from Malcolm :. Far
ley, one of Unce Sans boys in
France:
Somewhere in France,
October IS, 1918.-It is l.35 p.
M Monday. | am sit ting in
my ambulance awaiting any
call that may come. am at
tached to regimentnf head
quarters o. a certain army d.
vision very, very near the front ;
so near, in fact, that th;; place
was shclled three ,l.ferent
times since noon yesterday, and
the pieces @ shell and shrapnel
were falling all around me and
my cal That's near enough.
When Il call comes, which is
every Cay.-sometimes two or
three times a day--two or three
more cars go up to certain
post and stay for either AZ or
II hours, when they are sup
posed to be relieved. While
they are at the post they carry
back to some base or field hos
pital the sick and wounded
When man is relieved he goes
back to the ambulance base,
where he sometimes has a days
rest; sometimes half a day,
sometimes none at all, and is
then sent up to another post.
The different posts vary in re-
spect to distance from the lines
and in regard to danger. There
are none of them very safe.
Some of the posts haven't even
shell cellars, or "abri," as they
are called.
"You can, almost continuous
ly on certain days see the anti
aircraft guns firing at the boche
planes. Had to go to mess and
before we got back two ambu-
lances had come to relieve us.
"At noon day before yester-
day an order came for six cars
to go up front. There were
supposed to be some Is or 20
men near a certain town, mho
were lying in an "abri"-shell
cellar wounded, having just
come out of the trenches. We
got ready at once and left, even
taking the mechanics and SER
geants so as to have enough
men and cars. Little did |
think, when we left, that I'd
see what | did before | got back
at 4 a. m. We drove in convois
up to a certain town, complete
ly evacuated except for supply
depot, first aid stations, bran
cordier (stretcher bearers) sta
ton. This town was pretty
much in ruins from shells.
Here we parked our cars while
the sergeant made inquiries at
the various places mentioned
above in regard to the men in
question. At 1,15 the sergeant
came, saying that he wanted
four cars to go up to the next
town, about three kilometers
distant, and await there while
two of us went on with ten
French brancordier to the town
where these men were supposed
to be. | volunteered to go at
once. Yes said the sergeant,
I said you'd go because we want
someone who can talk French
The other fellows drew lots to
see who should go with me.
They all wanted to go. All things
ready, our car took the lead,
the French sergeant on the
seat with Miller Che and | have
a car together.) and me and the
brancordiers in the different
cars. We drove up to the next
town and hid our cars around
among the ruins. There was no
one in the town except two pri-
Yates and a lieutenant at the
first aid station. The colonels
orders were that no car should
go beyond the town.
"The stretcher bearers got
ready and we started, the other
fellow and | walking ahead with
the French sergeant, the street
cher bearers following at GER
tain distance. The road we
traVersed was along the (cen-
sored) and was in full view o.
the German batteries which
occupied a position directly in
front of us on the plateau above
the river. The road was full
of shell holes, the telephone and
telegraph wires were all shat
tered to pieces; the railroad
track, which followed the road,
was ripped, torn and shattered
and the telegraph poles cut off
in many places by shell fire.
"It was beastly hot. We
walked along and finally entered
the town which was our desti-
nation. For sometime theAlly
and German shells had been
whizzing overhead and there
was a continuous din, some
times almost deafening. We
entered shattered house at
the right of the road, and going
thru q hallway came into q
garden in back. Directly as we