The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1918-08-30
Lieut.. Longstreth Writes
In the Field Am. Elk. Forces
August I, 1918
J. A. Rickert, Secy.,
Sisseton, So. Oak.

A400(VOAAI wv OSSNs
Dear Sir and Bro:
don't know when last wrote
to you, do know however that
I have not heard from any one
from Sisseton country for one
h. of a long time. Since l wrote
you last l have lost my nice soft
job, not job but location. l am
now with my own outfit working
in the field taking care of the
wounded, we are a mobile unit
Zone that moves with the line) |
Immediately behind the fighting
line and are the first place that |
the wounded gets curative treat
ment. We are having plenty to
do now that the offensive is TAX
ing place, you would hardly be-
lieve it if should tell you the
number of patients we have had
and as it would not be proper
news to come from me l will not
state any figures, but it is need
less to state that with the fight
ing that has been going on on
the Front between Rheimes and
scissors that there has been
large number of wounded to
take care of.
Sherman has defined War as
He'll, we'll Sherman l presume
used the best term he could think
of to describe it, / am sure | can't
think of a better term, know
that | have not the vocabulary
nor thinking ability to find bet
ter way to describe it. If you
could see what l have seen, towns
razed to the ground, orchards
and vineyards torn to pieces, gar
dens with shell holes big enough
to bury a load of hay in, furni-
ture and machinery scattered
and broken everywhere and
streams of old people and child
rem refugees returning to their
homes to find such sights as l
have described; multiply this by
as large an enumerator as you
can think of and maybe you can
get some conception of what ]
think of war.
am glad l am in it, not be-
cause like to have a part in
such work but because am hav-
ing part l hope in putting an
end to such hellishness; to think
that such a condition could be
brought about by a clique of in
dividuals, individuals who pro
fess to believe in civilized ideas
who boast of their culture anc
civilization. l tell you my deal
friend and brother that coule
you see and know the things
have seen and know, l am SUR
you would be as bitter as 1 am
You no doubt read of the atroci
ties of the Germans and am no
surprised that they are Otter
considered out of the bounds o
human reason, they are out o
the bounds of human reason, bu
they occur. / talk every day witt
the men who come fresh iron
the fighting line to the hospita
some of them are German pris
oners and the stories in the pa
pers don't tell it all. This yer,
morning the Americans captur
ed German women chained t
machine guns. It is not the Ger
man people, it is the Germal
government, that is the thorn il
the side of the civilized worl
today and as l have said befor
am glad I can have a part il
eliminating that thorn.
I don't know how long thi
hellish war will last. You ma
tell my friends in Sisseton an
community that l am we'll an
we are giving our very best t
our soldiers who are wounded
the fight, that shall be glad
answer any one who will writ
to me and that send my bes
wishes to them all. that I al
working every day and some
times day and night. I have b,