Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-06-13
Letter from payle Fry
May 25th 1918,
H In a Y M G. A
Somewhere in France

Dear Friend Anita
| Just few lines tonight to let
you know that have not forgot
ten you. You know l would not
forget you though, don't you.
Talk about your rry-go-round
and Ferris wheels, why the boat
we came across on had them all
beat. l was sure feeling punk all
the way across and it wasn't only
for about 5 minutes, but IA days.
Ha, Ha. don't suppose you and
Cecil ever will get over kidding me
about that Ferris wheel.
i Royce, Gordon and | all sleep
in the same barracks and we have
lquite a time. Every time one of us
,,gets a letter why we all gather
around closely and read them, so
you see | read all your letters, but
lyou don't care, do you?
| We were down town the other
day and had quite a time. But af-
ter we got back we had quite a
laugh on Royce because when he
got to looking over his things, he
found that he had purchased some
French cookies and cheese. The
cokoies were pretty good, but the
cheese--we all had to leave the
barracks as that was the worst
cheese l ever smelt. He and Cor
dan ate it just the same. Ha, Ha.
| You should see the garden
have underneath my bunk. You
see the floors in our barracks is
the ground and | have lot
of green grass growing under my
bunk, Ha, Ha.
There are about 1900 German
prisoners in this camp and be-
lieVe me we sure make them work.
We also see quite few air
planes. We saw about a dozen go
over the other day and they were
going up toward the front. But
we get SO used to them we don't
pay much attention to them any
more. Royce, Gordon and | work
in the same place and we sure do
have picnic. OF course, we get
bawled out once in a while but we
don't mind that. | would like
to be there for the graduating ex-
ercises but will be there for
lChristmas. Now what do you think
of, that.
had a letter from Zeke the
other night. He would sure like to
be over here and believe me | sure
wish he was. He said he was go
ling to meet me in Berlin in Feb
Iruary 1919. Just ask him where
he gets that stuff? | wonder if he
thinks am going to stay here
that long. We had cabbage for
supper the other night and it was
raised this year. We have had let
tuce, radishes and onions for the
last two months and we have an
awful time keeping the birds out
OF the cherry trees Ha.
/ This is sure a funny country.
1t gets awful hot in the day time
and chilly at night. In the morn
ing we go skating and at noon we
go swimming in the same river.
| This is night and Gordon and
| have to work tomorrow, but Royce
Il la
You should see us when we wash
our clothes. I'll bet you never
would get through laughing. We
| go down to the river and scrub
/ them on flat rock with a scrub
brush. We learned this from the
EEench women as that is the way
they wash their clothes. When l
first came here | thought
would die laughing. You see WO-
men walking down the street,
wearing wooden shoes and carry
ing big baskets of Stuff on their
| heads and when they hitch up a
team of horses they hitch one in
i 1rOnL Oh lIle OllleF llSuedu VI DE-
side each other, and the wagons
have only got two wheels on in
stead of four. The trains look like
toy cars and toy engines.
| Well suppose you are tired
reading this nonsense so | will
quit. Now you must write me a
big, newsy letter like you do to
Royce. Honestly he gets the best
LETTERS of any body in the whole
barracks. | would sure like to
have them turn me loose with a
camera, but we are not allowed to
have one. Well wait until the war
is over and then | am sure going
to get me one. Well must quit,
Your Friend, Dick.
4 -O
1 Letter from Arthur Doty