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

we see so little of it. We have had
no opportunity to spend our money
for some time. Should have another
pay day SOC A Frog gets five cents
or about twenty-five confines a day,
SO o can imagine how I feel. Re-
ceived Martha's picture. Both she
and MILDLY are getting to be such big
girls. 1t makes me think I have been
away a very long time-13 months
now. On September 4th we get our
six months gold service stripe and
possibly others SO all the boys will
come home looking like a gold leaf
sign board. My clipped hair is grow
ing out now and you ought to see the
grey ones. Save up some walnut
husks this fall and make a bit of tea
cause I'm sure going to need it.
Pretty tough luck, isn't it Sis, when
the Baby" begins kicking about grey
hair? OF course some people who
have no hair amt bothered.
We have had our taste of aeroplane
bombs and they sure do kick. Fritz
comes over and calls on US every now
and then-drops a ton or so and goes
back home. The nearest he has come
to me is about rs feet and that was a
"dud' or shell that does not explode
and it would not have hurt me if it
had as | had my helmet on and was
down on the ground fiat as a pan
cake. To my way of thinking that is
preferable to a dugout. (Have one 10
feet from u hut In there you can
not see nor hear much, just a rat in
a trap if Fritz does get square over
you; but out on the ground ones
prone body is a very small mark and
you can watch or tell by the sound of
the engine as to the path of the plane,
and if necessary run away from any
possible shot. They also like to plug
at US with machine guns and at night
they fly very low over the tree tops,
perhaps or two hundred feet in
the air. What does a bomb do? Well,
two of them would do the rough
work of the cellar under our house
and the edges could be squared up by
hand. Of course, they have different
sized bombs. We have had both
large and small. However, we are
hardly eve in practical Smelling
range SO are not bothered that way.
They could reach us with long range
guns but the boys up ahead keep their
minds and time occupied so all that
we really have to fear from Smelling
is a cloud or heavy gas shell attack
and for that we are always on guard.
In such event, we generally hear the
Klaxon alarm up On the front and
then w have a huge German 277
brass shell hung up and beat the tar
out of it. 1t is about 2h feet long
and about 5 inches in diameter. Some
nut turned in an alarm last night
and had the boys in their gas masks
in no time. I had not been asleep so
knew it must be false as no shells
had come near us and there was no
breeze for cloud gas. Expect some
poor guard got a beautiful bawling
out this a. m.
Do WI get scared when the shells
or bombs come nigh? Let me tell
you that there is something wrong
with the guy who does not review his
past deeds and wish he had been a
better boy when so or 100 lbs. of high
explosive explodes near by and es-
pecially so in the dark when you don't
know where nor when the next one
is going to land. 1 can always feel
one boring into the small of my back
really to burst at n moment. Ha.
Ha!
Artillery fire is more rational. For
instance, after the first shot one can
tell about where the next one is go
ing to land as guns generally shoot
in a straight line and do not jump
around all over. An aeroplane bomb
is sent as definite as a woman throw
ing 3 base ball.
We can always hear both shells and
bombs coming and they sound as if
they were goirg to strike you square
in the mush. We know a boche mo-
tor as far as we can hear it-couple
of miles or more. 1t has an Up AMI
down purr while an American engine
is uniform and makes more noise.
You can tell a Ford a block away,
can't you? That's all there is to It.
Whizz- bangs, Minnie Wurfers, 75e,
long range, anti-aircraft, in fact all,
have a voice of their own. Dough-
boys, artillerymen and all will freely
admit that they fear most the missile.
/ IJorn a nd %Gnrn - = -.o- II. $500