Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-09-18

- AAO $4,000 AStA4A 4
Buddy-on the average he has brains
and independent judgment, he knew
wars possibilities and sang his Swan
Song before he left the states. deter
mined in his own mind that when the !
time came, that he himself would
dare the chance and do his duty. All
by himself he has doped it all out,
and to my way of thinking is the
reason why the wounded men smile
because they feel they are in duck,
they are only wounded, not gone
West. Then there is the ca%llousness
from seeing so much of it and the
probability that if it does come that
it will only be for an instant-then
peace and quiet.
In this as in any other business,
the chap who is trained knows and
reasons and applies his knowledge at
the critical time, stands a far better
chance of getting by than the chap
whose balance wheel is uncertain
in other words, Preparedness VS..
Unpreparedness." Old stuff, Ell? So
when Mr.. Withholding begins to sing,
under his steel kitchen goes the cook;
under the beams of his car goes the
truck driver; into a shell crater or
trench goes the doughboy and fiat on
his stomach goes the artilleryman
and invariably they all come out again
all conceived and done in the mat
ter of 4 or 5 seconds.
; We are in a queer predicament
t here. You folks write and tell me
where u division has been and now
is, our army corps number, etc. Well,
) you are right, and yet I cannot write
} and tell you this same stuff that is
published in the papers. The Lieut.
l enant now c%ensoring our letters is
r holding to the rules and regulations
5 to the letter, which is his duty, while
| others take things into their own
hands and let many things pass
through. 1. presume my last letter
was clipped to bits-perhaps this one
may be.
t You folks at home are contribut-
!, ing more time, labor and money to-
wards this wal than l.. You are in
land where you do not see much Of
soldiers and their life and l feel that
you are entitled to something and l
want to what can to repay, so please
do not criticise M when some other
chap gets a letter with interesting
news which l feel I must not write.
WAR rules and regulations are queer
!. stuff" The more you study it the
, less you know. If one obeyed it in
entirety, he'd have to get a permit
t to take a breath, so all we can do is
apply il augment as we see it and take
a chance-if we are wrong, we will
have to pay the bill that's all.
What is a Buddy? A Buddy is a
| Yank a long ways from home and no
one knows what else to call him. A
Frog is a Poilu or French soldier.
They eat frogs and Poilu means
Hairy One" on account of their
moustache, and a Tommy is a Thorn
5 as Atkins from Hengland, if it please
} your ladyship. An Anzac is one from
Australia or New Zealand; Algerians
from Algiers and a French Colonist
is a yellow man from Indo-China, if
, you know where that is, and over here
a Hun or German is always a Boche.
There are black, brown, red, yellow
and white men in this war and our
U. S. Army is cosmopolitan enough
to have a sprinkling of all. Oh yes,
and a few Irish-as st. Clair Shaw of
Lancaster, asks me, What became of
the Irish? Don't hear any more about
them" He sent me the greatest let
ter ever. After l get through thor
oughly digesting it's contents will
send it home.
We have been enjoying very fine
weather of late. About 80 or S5 in
the day and cool in the evenings-in
fact have had no really hot weather.
l am wearing my winter wool under
wear, wool suit, wool socks n at
night slip on my light sweater and
belly band-found out that they are
a fine thing. I took a Red Cross
scarf l had and made me a heavier
one.
Believe l told you in my last let
ter that Nichlas of Platteville, and 1
have a corrugated steel hut on the
edge of the forest, all camoufaicl in
the leaves. It's about ext and Az
feet high and open on one end. To
sleep we dig a slight ditch to fit our
hips and shoulders, then tar paper,
blanket and shelter and we sure do
sleep; get to bed about ten anC. up at
6. Some of the boys are in tents,
49, la-A ea..1 g.. $500