Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-05-17
1T. RYDER IS IN
FRONT LINE NOW
Writes Of His Life In The
Trenches
Crumbs" Are Worst Enemy-General-
ly Conditions Not AS Bad As
Imagined

| Letter from Second Lieutenant Rob
ert c, Ryder to his parents, Mr., and
Mrs, Eben c, Ryder OF Middlebury,
Lieut., Ryder is a native Of New Haven,
graduate of Middlebury High School,
1905; Middlebury College, 1870 Column
bia Law School, 1913, and was practis-
ing as an attorney in New York when
he enlisted about year ago.
l66th Regiment, Company 4,
Blank Division
April y, 1918
Ny dear people;
| have just returned from another
ten.day period in the front line trench
es, this time in an American sector with
my own Company and Platoon, was
not in charge OF the Platoon itself, as
| ! am still one of the extra officers with
this company but did have charge of
small body OF men in an outpost which
was very interesting.
At the time of my last letter home
our Regiment had started on a long
hike to the rear, but plans were sudden
! ly changed and we came back up to the
front here relieving French troops who
may perhaps take a part in the big
drive to the North Of us, This sector
is very quiet, the only excitement of
any kind occurs when small German
patrols are seen or heard in our wire.
These patrols are not looking for
trouble but for information as to how
many and what troops are holding the
| line they are $50 the French tell u.s.
Required TO bring back evidence of some
kind and they sure use their nerve in
trying to get to il. The lines or combat
groups, are surrounded by two or per
haps three separate systems OF barbed
wire but one or two OF those chaps
would get into or behind it and shoot
two or three times in the apparent hope
that we could send up planes so that
they could see us. We were, of course,
rather nervous for the first few nights
and put up planes for nothing but be-
lieve me, there were very few heads
showing above the trench while the
flare lasted.
From a point OF keeping ones skin
intact we were of course very fortunate
in being assigned to this sector rather
than being sent to the big battlefront,
though we don't see near so much OF the
real thing AS a matter of fact, the on
ly man injured at the front in our com
pany this trip was one who shot him
self through the hand while cleaning
his own rifle.
I'm very glad to say that | haven't
gotten into a dugout with lice, or
crumbs as the men call them, in it
yet. All of the men in the company
have them, and several of the officers,
as most dugouts are very thickly popu-
lated. The nights here are as black as
charcoal for there is usually heavy
night fog to add to the darkness Sew
eral times in making rounds and listen
ing beside the guards | would find
man wriggling around and shifting feet
just enough to permit a man to crawl
up on him without being heard. | would
get peeved and ask him how in "H' he
expected to hear anything if he kept
moving all the time'-the regular an
swer is Lieutenant, the ID" Crumbs"
are eating me up alive"
Don't think conditions are very bad
here for they are not 1t is not cold in
the dugouts where we sleep and after
ten days at the front the men come
back to the Reserve a small
town, where they get billets in lofts of
barns comfortable enough with blan-
kets on beds of hay or straw, We set
up our cots in vacant rooms of the
houses and everyone gets a chance to
get rested and get themselves and their
clothes cleaned up.
Although we have met with every
courtesy from the French officers
can't say much for the people who in
habit these frontier towns OF course
they have been through He'll here but
they certainly are trying to make the
Americans pay for everything they |
have suffered in the past. As soon as
we strike town some old woman will
come down the street to the officers |
fairly tearing her hair because the boys !
have used little old straw to make up
their beds-the lofts are supposed to |
be furnished with straw anyway and
the chances are that she has sold that |
straw to a dozen different companies |
already.
You will note that I'm enclosing a
copy of the Regimental paper and also
a card printed in German-this came
into our lines by small message bal
loon the other day and is evidently a
plea for peace from the Socialists of
Russia to the Socialists of Germany.
1t certainly had some little trip in
reaching France.
Robert c. Ryder,
2nd Lieut., U. S. R.