Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-09-13

EIifal6 EfGTett 0QIti IACActCAs
brother to Herbert Sutermeister, boys
work secretary of the z. NJ. c. A. has
sent a very Interesting and newsy
letter to his brother. telling of his
experiences in going over the top"
several months ago in n of he
great battles where the Americans
overwhelmed the Germans.
Sutermeister enlisted in the Ma
chine Gun Corps early-in July of 1917
and was sent overseas in September.
He has already been in the trenches
and in several battles on several diff
ferent occasions. He is not known in
this city. his home town being in
Wallaceston, Pa
The letter follows:
Everett Sutermefster, No. 100405
Co. A, 102 M. @. Br, France.
Dear Brother,
We ave had some time since 1 last
wrote. Left Lorraine In our horse
car puilmans and rode down toward
Paris. The scenery kept getting bet
ter as we went along and we passed
through some fine farming country,
the fields all squares of different col
ored grains. AS we got further down
country we came on q couple OF pref
ty good sized cities They looked
wonderful to us. We cheered our
oOAfCo AO6l0C al Vic A1ok CACClAA G&A
n the pretty girls in the station and
on the city streets got the boys wild.
You can hardly imagine how it feels
to see no james for months and then
ride into a place where there are lots
of them. pretty, young and all dolled
UP.
Wee are not allowed to leave the
cars SO all we could do was Oh! and
Ali and slap eac other on the back
and point out the extra special ones.
At one place a good provo, that
means M. P.,ran into the station and
bought some ham sandwiches, real
honest to goodness ham sandwiches;
what do o think of that. He also
told us he thought we were going to
pee-rade In Paris on the Fourth of
July. Well, boy, If you ever saw joy
let loose, it was let loose then. We
lowled along toward Paris, passing by
many beautiful estates and pretty
towns. Passed into the suburbs of
Paris. The whole place was laid out
well and the houses all with tile roofs
N finely kept gardens, which were
beautiful.
Being Sunday afternoon everybody
was out and all along the way, lean
ing out of windows. on bridges all
along the tracks, there were waving
- Il VI l1IGcg bAAklllIlSs LnIOWe
ing kisses. etc. Our crowd was Just
damned In the car door, gaping and
cheering. We rode in until we saw
the Eiffe1 Tower. almost in Paris pro-
per, when the train stopped and they
hitched another engine on the other
end of our train and we rolled out
back to another front to get a whack
at open fighting. l never saw such a
disappointment before In my life. and
may be we didn't get a stiff march
that night.
When we reached our destination
at the top of the big hill. man and
mule were ready to drop. We hit the
lines later. 1t was some difference
from the regular trench warfare, be-
heve me. The minute we tool up
position I grabbed a shovel and sweat
away that night digging a hole that
another man had started but was
killed by %shrapnel as he lay there.
We went over the top on the eigh-
teenth of July at a little town, the
nearest point to Paris. You've seen
the rest In the papers. There was
some real fighting. take 1t from me.
After the push was well on its way
eats came once a day or rather when
they could. and sleep-unknown, be-
cause we were moving about all the
time. One of the worst times was
laying in a wheat field in the boiling
hot u waiting to be blown to pieces.
A German observation balloon, sim
lister and menacing. could see us and
you could hear the lain boom of
the long gun. then the shell
came whistling nearer n nearer,
then rush to earth with a terrific
crash nearby. God, II was awful:
the suspense of the approaching shell
and the seeming utter uselessness OF
the position. Nobody got II at that
because n was a dud. Though l
ave been in many shelled places and
much nearer death on April 20, that
was the worst mental torture.
The last fight before we came gu,
was the most exciting one ever. II
was a rainy day, we were advancing
on a party of snipers through a wood
with thick underbrush. There's moth
Ing like he zip of a high powered
bullet through the branches to make
the lilo lay fiat and cling TO the
muddy ground. We got the snipers
and they Jared badly. The fellows
had no idea of taking prisoners. Some
too belts and other souvenirs from
the mingled bodies / had no de-
sire for anything but to Kill.
Those snipers raised the men to a
blo%odthirsty~ crowd. They laid a trap
for us. They signaled ahead with a
flute and dropped a barrage or high
explosives and gas right behind us
and n force opened up on us from
the front 1t was a running fight up
a little wood road. Then a regular
battle in the wilderness until we met
another road and took our stand in
the corner. That was another ready
made trap and we los our machine
gun there. After the ammunition
was ahout gone we had to draw back.
I used my revolver and then a