Martinsburg W Va evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1913-1920, 1918-11-09
LOCAL MAN TELLS
OF WAR ACTIVITY
And What the Y. M. c. A. Sec
rotary Does In France.

! L. Evers. a Y. NJ. c. A. War secre-
| tary in the fighting zone is not only
of interest because of his graphic
/ manner and the fact that it is writ
I the connection with the great drive
to be started in Martnsburg next
week in the interest of the United
War Activities fund. The Y. NJ. c. A.
is one, of the leading seven benefic
iaries by this fund and Mr.. Evers
letter, gives an excellent idea of
what the Y. NJ. c. A. secretary has
! TO do and what the 'Y" is accom-
! plishing for the boys ''over there
j The letter which was addressed to
Master John Upton Evers, Jr., Mar
/ tinsburg. rural rout 5, is as follows:
Oct. Sth. 1918,
/ Hello. John Dad is trying to
answer your good letter, Wish could
tell you, near which town here we
are but the censor will not permit it.
How would you like to live in the
by big and little beach trees? The
/ nuts from the beach trees are falling
and they are much smaller than.
Ichestnuts--three cornered looking
| The soldiers eat them with relish,
in fact these boys seem to have an
appetite for almost anything. Open
air life causes it, l think How would
F, you like to live with shells dropping
/ in these woods, big and little ones
| from the enemy, some tearing great
holes in the earth. some cutting off
| great trees as large as you have
/ ever seen, some uprooted. How
would you like to hear those shells
in the night come crying as they
tear through the air with all kinds
/ OF peculiar sounds and striking all
around and as they strike burst with
| left the gun? The other day / stood
| in one huge shell hole and watched
shots from big 255 Bertha go
over TO long dugout which the en-
envy thought were occupied by our
! men. / could not see the shots, they
went too fast for that but | heard
! the howl or crying whir of the big.
/ big shell which looks like huge
bullet and then it would strike and
burst throwing fragments and small
er bullets with which it was filed.
/ in all directions. How would you like
those fellows to 'burstrin the air 100
feet above you, and hear the pieces
whiz and whir? How would you like
TO be called by the guard in the mid
ole of the morning, 2.30 or o'clock
crying gas masks: get your gas
{, masks. Are you awake in there? get
your gas masks, etc? How would
you like to be within machine gun
range. of the enemy, where they
could riddle you with one sweep of
y single gun and afterwards we as
certained there were over 400 ma
chine guns there, for we captured
them. How would you like to be in
trenches and out creeping over mo
mans land" with the bullets of a
sniper whizzing by seemingly close
and closer? Well these are a few OF
the experiences of Dad and he never
reveled in them either for then. al
moments, as others feel. life seem
cd cheap and Just like fragile
thread. Well all this is wa' and a
part of life at sthe front, at times. 4
4 Since last July 18th there have
only been "A days when Dad has not
been under shell fire or where he
could be shelled or bombed or in 9th
Ell words on the front and these IA
days we were in little town and it
was rest, real rest, one could sleep
without being disturbed. There 1
rented the towns largest hall. open
ed "Y" ran a canteen. opened with
a stock of 800 francs worth of sup.
plies. had reading, writing and
game, talks and was open from a.
m. until 1890 p. M. and yet it was
rest for the nerves. for we could not