Estancia news-herald. [volume] (Estancia, Torrance County, N.M.) 1912-19??, 1918-08-29
SOLDIER LETTERS

FOliOWlng are eXtracCS from
letter written by Charlie Meye
to his brother, N. D. Meyer:
July 27, 1918.
Mr.. N. D. Meyer,
Dear Brother:-Your Letter
dated June 21st, received a few
days ago. | was very glad tt
hear from you and to know you
are well. | just mailed Iva some
post cards the other day and
suppose you have received them
by now. should have written
you a letter long before this, but
you know how inconvenient it is
around a military camp when it
comes to writing. If it WASH t
for the K. c. and Y. M. C. A. l
guess we wouldn't get to write
at all. Therefore | have just
been putting it off, and again we
have to be very careful what we
write. l would like to tell you
all of my experiences in brief
but there are some things that
would be impossible to mention.
| have been here three months
now and / never felt better in
my life than | do now. So many
of the boys have been sick here
but | sure have been lucky. |
have had nothing to complain of.
France is very pretty country
and the climate here is just fine;
we have the same climate here
as in New Mexico more or less,
except we never run into plains,
the whole of the country is
crowded with trees and big or
chards; flowers here of all kinds
and descriptions. Now, all of
the small towns have been in
resemble Santa Fe, streets run
all directions and all houses
are built of stone and concrete.
Everything seems to be old,
houses, fences, monuments,
churches all look as if they have
been standing for hundreds of
years. Every town has two or
three big cathedrals and believe
me it is a fine work Of archi-
tecure. The great ruin of st.
Anne is only a few kilometers
from here. | have not been
there yet but am sure going if |
| can possibly get away. All these
different things are very inter-
esting and many Americans pay
thousands of dollars yearly just
to see such things for education
al purposes. | certainly am not
a bit sorry | am here and only
regret that | did not get in the
ring sooner than | did, as there
never was more just cause in
the history of the world than
the present one. | am only too
glad to take everything as it
comes and even go the limit if so
be Gods will. Yes, Nick, sure
wish you could have the oppor.
tunity to see the old world and
perhaps you will some day.
Well, we had a pretty jolly
bunch coming across and no one
gave it thought that there was
a war going on. We were out
twelve days and believe me on
the twelfth day things were get
ting pretty blue till finally we
spied the Irish coast. This put
new life in the bunch. Every
thing rolled along nicely. One
day we were Cline clipped out by
CENSOR shots were exchanged.
witnessed this very clearly as |
was standing on the top deck. l
actually got a little excited for a
few moments as | could just not
realize that we were getting a
touch of real war. (two lines
out) fire and a machine
gun till an English Zeppelin
dropped a depth bomb from the
air. this put a finish to the sub,
and we continued our journey
without a casualty. Since then
have heard that the ship
sailed on has been sunk. On one
occasion one of the ships crew
made the remark These damn
Americans think more of their
eats than they do of their lives"
ha, ha! Another time the cap
tain of our ship said, "All of the
troops that have been on this
ship dreaded the submarines,
but these fellows want to see
Them" Now isn't that an
American for you? | don't
know if this letter will be cut
out or not. Nevertheless ! will
try it once and if it goes through |
tell me of it. | don't know but |
what l have felt better here than
/ did in the States; it seems just
like home. The French people
ora xyarxy nfoa nonnIa onH tharo