Carthage courier. (Carthage, Tenn.) 1913-current, 1918-09-12
British Red Cross Hospital,
Southampton, England,

Southampton, England,
Dear Dad:--With what is generally
considered the decisive "drive" of
Fritz going on, here I am in Blighty.
/ don't know where my company is,
but they are up the line still. / told
them / wanted my uniform back. You
know we all who are staying at the
hospital, whether convalescents or
bed patients, turn our service clothes
over to the clothing store where they
are kept for US. We wear, as I said in
the letter mailed Mama day before
yesterday, suits all alike, no matter
what army we are from.
] told them that l was ready to re-
turn to France, but they sad, ''No."
] am here for a good rest, and rest /
must. Just to think, here / have
come al the way from America to
land in Brightly just before Fritz be-
gan his death struggle. There are
lots of boys who would give several
dollars for the vacation am get
ting, though. Of course, lots of
things could happen by the time this
reaches you, but from all indications
we have the situation well in hand.
Recently a young Hun was captured
by the Yanks, and after being pump
ed" for information, was asked the
question, "who will win the war,
he answered, eve ought to win for
we have God on our side, then, after
a pause, "the Entente have America.
They have an awfully good machine,
the Gotha, but when it comes to
pilots, Britain has them skinned a
mile.
Our army is wonderful, and the
people are growing more confident
each time bunch lands, and they are
doing it every day. The French peo-
pie are full of confidence. The day
sister said to me yesterday, "YOu
Americans are wonderful. have the
distinction of being the first Ameri-
can to do any of the Red Cross en-
broidery. All these English, Jock and
Ozzie fellows do it to help pass the
time away. The Red Cross furnish
es the material and you make them
a piece which they sell. Sometimes
several pounds is given for one arti-
Gle. / am having the American Eagle
drawn and printed. Of course they
do it free. They will make lots of
prints from it as there will be more
boys to want the design. We boys
who came over are the first Amer
leans to enter this place. There is an
isolation camp not far from here and
some have been there.
If you all have ever noticed in
Germany's war reports, you have
seen something like this. sour
bombing parties carried out success
full raids last night on the important
railway stations of Abbeville,-X-R---
etc. All of our machines returned.
Well, I know one night they didn't
all return.
You cant conceive of how much
that little "communique" means. The
town above is one place remained at
Cor at least, just outside) for quite
awhile. They may have been aim
ing at the railroad station, but hit
most everything else.
When l return, I can tell some
interesting and exciting things that
took place over there. Any man who
has been up the line will tell you that
he will take a big bombardment from
Fritz's large guns, in preference to
hot air bombing. Drop an egg on the
floor and see how it spatters and
you will get an idea how big bomb
looks when it falls at night. Mac
and I slept on top of a big thresher
Ito avoid the cooties) and whenever
Jerry began, that old box would be-
gin to shake and tremble. All we
could do would be to put on our he'll
NETS and grab our masks and have
them ready. Our rifles were useless
of course at night. When the flash
lights began to play and the anti
aircraft guns opened up and the
bombs began to fall, well, you could
hardly hear yourself think. Of course
the papers over here don't publish
it when he does a big lot Of damage,
for it would let him know his success.
/ won't tell now some things he sue
ceeded in doing. 1t was real funny
One day the British troops who were
camped right at US, moved out. II
think that place was getting little
too hot. That night Fritz came
During the raid came a "bang"
much louder than the rest. Well, it
smashed up the recently vacated can
teen of the British soldiers and dug
q hole big enough to easily bury four
horses. He did quite a lot of mean
ness that night, but the guns brought
down two of his machines.