Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1918-08-05
Letter From France.

from Somewhere in France" by
Corp. st. Clair D. Shelton, Infantry,
u. S. A., formerly ticket agent at the
Union Railway. station here, has just
been received by William c. Miller,
at the Fairfax apartment, this city:
Dear Bill,
Though, we are cautioned as to the
information we give in our letters,
and which makes it quite difficult for
us to find something to write about,
] will just try to give you an idea ana
Of some of my experience. We have
Travelled over considerable portion
of France, stopping for day or two
at various rest camps, and now we
have finally located in beautiful lit
tie village, in the center of wonder
full agricultural section, to finish our
training. 1t is surely wonderful the
way these people do their farming;
absolutely every available foot OF
ground is used, and still more Won
derful is the fact you see so few
people to do it. In marked contrast
to our country, there are no houses
out on the individual farms. All the
people live in picturesque little vii
lagos, and you see them going out of
their respective farms early in the
mornings and not returning until
about dust, and they generally take
out with them string of horses, the
halter of one tied to the tail of the one
in front, often ten to twenty in line.
The section we are now in is very hllly
but it is big rolling country and most
every inch is cultivated. There are
no fences except in and around the
villages, just miles OF open country
with crop after crop. We are yet
quite some distance behind the lines,
but yet close enough to distinctly
hear the artillery booming away at
night when things get quiet around
this section. One of the rest camps
which we have passed was bombed
two nights in succession while we
we're there; it was a great sight but
naturally made one feel little ner-
vous who had never experienced
such. On such occasions they use
powerful searchlights to pickup the
enemy planes, then the anti-craft
guns open up from every direction
! which force them to go quite high,
and too, very often they arc fought
by our machine gun planes. To wit
ness such, it is on very much larger
scale than the fireworks which YOU
have seen in Washington during in
auguration time, except that you have
to look out not only for the enemy
bombs but also for shrapnel from our
own guns. Planes flying over has be-
come quite common to US now, and
we pay no attention to them except
when the enemy planes come over. We
tell them, especially when they are
flying at great height "a distant diff
ference is in the purr of the engines,
They can h. heard for miles so the
anti-aircraft gunners have but little
difficulty in discovering them. Most
of our training is taken up in the solu-
ton of problems, company, battalion,
regimental, brigade and division,
once with the assistance of aero
planes. These take up anywhere from
five to twenty miles, mole frequently
the latter, and we are thoroughly
convinced now that we are in the
"Foot-Service" So far the weather.
has been quite damp and cool, you
you would call it there cold, but ideal
for the many hikes. From local OBJ
servation this war will at least do
one thing, over and above punishingE
the "Huns," and that is make everyi
man of the American army apreciates
in way he has perhaps never doneI
before his own home and country. Sos
far we have not seen any of the realE
French people, only coming in contacth
with the peasant population, but theE
wonderful French girls that wereH
pictured to all of us before we left,E
have absolutely been a myth, and oprE
dear American girls need have noN
fear. Yet, we have not been to Paris
so there is no telling just what opin-e
ion will change Three Sundays agok
I spent the weekend i, very attrac
tive city; it could not surpass our
American cities, of course, but as itE
was the first one which | have hadE
an opportunity to visit, it really
seemed nice to me. In these small
villages one sees only men and women
and young children, all of the boys
are in the army, and the girls have
gone to the cities to work in the fac