The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1918-12-26


Jr.. of Troy and Dorset, Under date
of November 18th.
Dear Unclc.--
Jus. one year ago tonight pulled
ou. Of Hobokcn and. believe me, sure
am perfectly willing TO pull IN again
.nd Uncle Sam cannot send the ferry
boa, over for me any too soon. How
darned glrd am, though, TO have
been In tho big game; and when ] say
.s.in IL" I sure do mean have been
right in ii.
We have had some real fine weather
this fall. which has made things very
much easier for US. Am now resting
up at Nixeville, little French town
.sbou, twelve kilometers from Verdun.
Eigh, Of us are quartered in an old
French house in two rooms with a big
old fashioned fireplace. 1t seems fine
10 be able to stand up in our quarters,
for we have been living in pup tents
in the mud where standing up was
impossible.
The other day four Of US walked
over to yerdun and gave the town the
.aonce over We were lucky enough
70 get IN the Cathedral and 1t certainly
is battered up. The ruins Of Verdun,
although great, did not impress me As
the ruins Of such towns as Very,
Chappy, Esnes, Varennes, etc, which
are In some cases entirely wiped out.
Ny work has been ammunition run
ming with an ammunition train. We
took shells, powder, fzzes, gas shells,
etc. 10 the 18TH and l55th Batteries
on the firing line. | have seen the
artillery men grab the ammunition
from the trucks and jam it into the
guns. giving Fritz an early good
morning. "Now, Mr.. Kaiser, count
your men, We went through good
many hot trips with Fritz dropping
his shells all around us and pulled over
all kinds Of roads torn up by shells,
Fred Manley's wild rides would seem
like rocking in a good easy chair. We
did most of our running at night and,
of course, without lights. Sometimes
we rode the trucks for 36 hours with a
bite Of corned beef and colder than the
devil. One time we pulled up 10 the
advance positions at Montfancon when
we were attacked by seven Hun aero
planes with machine guns. They
bumped of two of the boys, but all
the planes were brought down within
20 minutes have never heard such
"A rattle Of FIRE. outside Of the heavy
guns Of the scventy-fiyes, since | have
been on the front The same day after
this attack we pulled over a NIL and
started across an open road, when
Fritz opened upon us with his explos-
ives and shrapnel One Of the trucks
in the middle Of the convoy got ditch
ed and we he'd to get her out before
we could move along. Believe me, il
was tight place ard you can't say
that there isn't at least one Harrlng-
ton with horse shoe tied around his
neck. Is this stuff interesting?
haven't anything else to write about
and SO | thought | would tell you OF
the few little experiences | have had
One morning about 3 O'Clock we rar
into gas and if anything ever looked
good to us it was that little gas mask
around our nccks They are darneo
uncomfortable thing, but ] WIS per
fectly willing TO be uncomfortable.
While in Paris was recommended
10 be q Corporal, but soon after five OF
us volunteered TO take up this ammu
milton work and suppose my recon
mendation was dropped. We went K
Damgermain, ir the Toul sector
where we took an ammunition course
II was at the tine when the drive fol
Metz started and ammunition me:
were in great demand passed th'
course with SO per cent, and we wcr'
sent up in the Argonnc section TO con
voy ammunition. After our conveying
work. toward The lstter part Of th'
last drive, W. were sent 10 an advanc
ed ammunition dump where we hao
charge Of loading the trucks with th'
proper fzzes, powder, etc, to ship ou'
with the different shesll Sometimes
convoys Of $50 trucks would pull l;
and during the drive it was work day
and night. Fritz was continually try
ing to locate the dump and some Of MI
bombs sure did make things very un
comfortable. He didn't hit the dump
however. and his shells were als'
landing to the side. We 20, SO W.
could tell about where shell voul'
hit by the sound Of its whistle through
the air
The days and evenings are might,
long now while waiting TO come home
bu, we try not to think about II ant