The north Mississippi herald. (Water Valley, Yalobusha Co., Miss.) 1888-1929, 1919-03-14
SOLDIERS LETTERS
FROM PVT. ALFRED B. HILL
Courcelles, France
January Goth. 1919.

Water Valley, Miss.
Dear Papa:
AS tonight is the night for all the
boys to write to their parents / will
endeavor to write you few lines.
This leaves me well and / truly hope
you all the same.
Well, papa / am still looking fer
another letter from you | haven't
gotten but one and it was dated the
1st of December and / got it New
Years. So you see / ought to get
another one by now. l got letter
from Edwin the other night. He
said they were all well. I was sure
glad to near from him. | believe
wrote you in the other letter about
getting a letter from Henry. He
said they were all sick with the Flu,
but not serious
Papa, have you heard from Earl
vet? He must have gotten a trans
fer for I~wrote him a letter as soon
as I got his address from YOU about
month ago and haven't heard from
him yet. l sure would like to hear
from him.
Well, as these letters that we write
tonight will pass the censors, | viii
tell you little Of my life while over
in France. / sailed from New York
on August "a and was en- the water
IA days and landed in Liverpool, Eng-
land on September 6. We were
there days. 1t sure is a pretty
city. We left there and went to
Southampton. That is another Dig
city and we were there days, then
we crossed the English Channel, and
right here | want to say that T'sure
do hope that l won't have to cross
that channel again. Dad, | got sick
er that night than / ever was IN my
I life. We were in little ship and
there came a storm. The waves
would come over the deck, ard YOU
can guess the rest. We were all
nearly dead before we pot over to
France, but landed al o. r, We
went to Sherboo and stayed there
for two days. There is where the
| fun started for us We were load
ed in box cars. They were about
half as large as the ones at home.
There were about 40 men in q car
and we rode for two days We final
/ ly landed in Tenav where we finished
/ our training. When we got there
! TIE company came over with was
/ split up. There was about 25 Of
them left in the company with me.
The rest Of them went to other com
panies. Dad, if you see any of
Hugh Greer's people tell them that
that is where he left me. He went
to some place for schooling and to
work. / don't know where he went,
but | don't think he ever got to the
front lines. Well, / will go back to
where / left off. / was in Tenay
about one month, training and getting
ready for the Huns. We left there
for the front. We were in those
passenger cars" four days more, but
we didn't die. When we got off of
the train that time we could hear
the big guns. Some of the boys be-
gan to pray, some were crying and
some were laughing. / won't say
what did do, but want to tell you
they didn't souno like nome at all to
me, but we hiked all day and camped
that night. The next day we star ed
again and landed up on the Verdun
front behind ST. Mihiel. We were in
reserve for a few days but all the
time we were dodging the big shells
Then we moved into the trenches,
we were there few days and there
is where we had our fun begain. I'll
tell you about it when see you again.
We were then relieved and sent back
in reserve again. There is where the
cooties made their first raid and they
are still going. guess / will bring
some home with me for souvenir
We were finally relieved up there and
then we movedoto another part of the
front. We hiked three days and
landed in Courcelles. That is not
very far from Metz, you have read
lots about that place. If the armis-
tice hadn't been signed on the 18th
guess l would have gotten to see
Metz for we were going to start that
day in that direction and you know
when Uncle Sans men start they
always go. | am still in Courcelles,
France, but think | will leave here
in few days for home, so when you
get this letter don't write to me any
more until you hear from me again.
/ will write to you as often as possi-
BILE. With love to all, / am,
Your loving SON,
Pvt. ALFRED B. HILL,
Co. F. 137th Init. A. P. O. 743
A. Eff. France.