Alma record., 1919-01-02
PRIVATE ST|TT
TELLS OF WORK
Alma Boy in France Writes
Long Letter Telling of His
Experiences.
WAS SHELL SHOCKED
Cut on From Company by a Barrage
and Stayed in a Shell
Hole.

Private Thomas Stitt, who has been
in France for the past half yeer, and
for the past few months has been
recovering from shell shock, wrote a
very interesting letter TO his parents
on Dads" day. November "a, which
The Record publishes with permits
sion.
The letter tells Of his trip to
France from Camp Custer, of his ex-
periences on the battle line and Of
the celebration in France when the
armistice was sgnes. The letter
follows:
November "a, 1918
Dear Dad" and Mother:
Today is the day on which every
soldier is 10 write TO his dad" but
as mothers day is so remote that !
surely expect to be home before then,
! shall include mother in this also.
Although | have received only one
letter from home since I've been in
Europe, | have always believed that
YOU received mine with more regu-
larity. ind it has always been
pleasure, sweet indeed, 10 send those
little notes, although the news you
were so eager TO hear, was necessar-
lily so meagcr. But now / may tell
you where | am, have been and
what / have done. Now, Of course,
to tell all, that would be too much
for one letter. so | give you first
short chronological account of my
wanderings and go little more into
detail of few particular events that
may happen to remember.
July Is, left Camp Custer, went
via NJ. c. to Niagara Falls and over
the L. V. to New York. July %, set
sail from New York on II. NJ. S.
Corinthic, was conveyed by chasers
and aeroplanes. July % (0,
anchored in Halifax harbor, saw the
devastated area caused by the big
explosion Inst December No one
landed
August 3, handed in London.
August :. 9rrived in Romaly. a
S.aIro of southampton. August
10. took ship at Southampton.
August II. landed at lie Havre.
France August II 90. arrived via
rail at Ncargre. little town in cen
tral France. august (25). with Carl
Titus and many c.hers was trans
fegTed 20 the 3th infantry. August
p, arrived ~ my new outfit near
Ligny. Septemoer l0 started to
march. We marched in the dark OF
nights and sinyed under cover day
times. Sep', mbcr j.. WAS in reserve
at st. Mihie.. We followed close be-
hind the lines. but were never under
fiie here. Saw lots Of abandoned
German supplies. The advance was
so rapid that we about marched our
legs off. Suddenly we halted, rested
half an hour and went back. were
not needed there. We marched two
or three nights, rested a couple Of
days. and were then moved in French
trucks near the Argonne front. We
marched forward coming under shell
fire. September 26. laid there in
dugouts (shallow holes in ground)
for several days. Some of the time
We were bombarded TO beat the
band" and sometimes Jerry would
allow US to rest all day. One little
incident here III not forget soon.
One day some of the boys were
building little fires TO warm their
Bully beef" A lieutenant going
by told them they were making so
much smoke they would draw shell
fire Even as he spoke the low moan
Of shell told Us 70 'wakeup." In
creasing sound told US it was coming
nearer and in a second or two we
were all in various holes. The lieu
tenant was standing about ten feet
from me. a shell-hole was between
but little behind us. When that
shell had begun 10 get close ! natur-
ally began TO consider getting some
where, and about one tenth Of sec
ond later was on my way in a dive
TO the afore- shell-hole.
Apparently the same might be said
of the Lieut.. Anyway we met in the
air and landed in the hole o. X. We
lall got 20 our feet, everyone grinning
as much as he dared. The Lieut..
said See" About 40 rod behind US
the dust showed where the thing had
hit.
On October 3rd, we had TO keep Ia
our dugouts pretty much all day.
Fritz kept dropping shells. big and
little, here and there all day. They
were not very thick but at least they
were nasty and annoying. Carl and
lay in our dugout all day, OCCASION
ally hugging the bottom little
closer as n shell would come near.
About that afternoon, we, with
half dozen others werc sent back
two or three kilometers for grub"
We got back about dark having made
few detours to~miss places 20 which
Jerry" was paying a little extra
attention. | had trouble in finding
our dugout, although knew exactly
where it was. Finally, standing by
a big shell-hole, did not remember
having seen before, saw some Of my
things scattered about; then un-
derstood. a large shell had made an
almost direct hit in our dugout, fill
fr..wl