The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1919-01-02

| sure enough herman neimeC ana Tn
same has been on display in tn
Boston Store show windows, for sew
eral days attracting no end of al
tention and comment. "Jack" ais
wrote his father on "Dad's Day." Civ
ing little different sidelight on tn
great war than other correspondents
The letter follows: E
Stenway, France, Nov. "a, 1918.
Dear Dad and All: AS you an
mother have been wondering wha
part of France l am in can now tel
you. Our division is located at Sten
way, and before the war it had
population of between 10000 and 40,
600. 1t is about 25 kilometers from
the Belgian border and about the same
from Luxembourg boundary. Twas vi
in the Belgian country today and
have also been in Luxembourg.
When we came across five months
ago we landed in England-Liverpool
Since getting into France / have beer
in Havre, Paris, Dejoin, Reacy, Lang
ers, Toul, Nancy, Mt. Sassy, Verdun
St. Mihiel and others. These are only
the larger cities, many of them che
coming famous since the war began.
am still driving my big four-whee
drive truck carrying three tons. Be
fore the arnstice was signed we drove
mostly in the night. Sneaking upor
the Hun in the dark was great sport
but one gets "dann" close to be being
pumped Off now and then. Driving
at night was no snap as lights coulo
not be used, and lodging shell hopes
kept one on their toes all the time
"Old Kaiser Bills" heavy artillery, as
a rule, made us forget our other
troubles. For when those 6, IL or ]
inch shells came dropping around us
we sure would open the old trucks up
and let them ramble.
I am member of the famous Goth
Division made up largely of men from
Texas and Oklahoma. We were in
the st. Mihiel, Verdun and Argonne
Forest drives. The latter was by fan
the most vicious. The Goth received
their first noteriety at st. Mihiel; that
was also my first experience of actual
war. When Sherman said !"war is
help he was absolutely right. One
can't realize what war is until he has
gone through it. l have seen dead
Huns by the hundreds, and thousands
of acres of land every foot of which
had been blown up by shell fire. There
are hundreds of towns have been
through that were all blown to pieces
not even three stones standing to-
gether.
The evening of November 10th we
moved up to the River Mouse, cross
ing it the morning of the nth, and
were under heavy shell fire at abor
$50 a. M. At IL a. m. all guns quit
firing and never saw a happier
bunch of boys in my life than we were
at that hour. Up to the very last
minute the heavy barrage just about
deafened person, and all of a sud-
den it stopped. Life has been one
big dream ever since.
Well, dad, will be home in few
months, and then I can give you a
clearer idea of the whole affair. p
before getshome I am going to wash
my feet in the Rhine. With love.
49,. John r. Schwartz.
Horace Jackson wrote a very inter-
esting letter to his father November
"a. He was located I'M the Argonne
Forest when the Armstice was signed.
His letter follows:
France, November "a, 1918.
Dear Dad las we have received word
that Uncle Sam has removed the cen
sorship and wants all the boys to
write to their dad today I will take
of the opportunity. AS it
has been long time since l wrote
you / want to first tell you about our
trip across, and my experiences in
France.
We-left the good old U. S. A. Aug.
80 at noon from the harbor of New
port News, Va. We were on the wa
ter Is days and landed at Brest,
France, Sept. IL at 8 p. m. We
marched to a Rest Camp where we
remained three days; then we were
taken by train way down in Southern
France, 16 kilometers from the Swiss
border. There are no miles in this
country but a kilometer is fve-eighths
of mile, our measurement. We pass
ed through some of the prettiest
country ! believe I ever saw, going by
way of Paris. Of course we didn't
see much of Paris. We stayed at a
place called Reyehcot three days then
went by train Is miles to Part-do;
stayed there two days and then on to
another town named Sollie and then
on to Savoy. The mess sergeant and
myself were left behind to take care
of baggage.
That night the big barrage began
and l heard the first cannon I ever
heard. 1t Started about 10 o'clock;
was asleep when the trouble broke
out and it seemed as though the whole
oarth was shaken by the jar of the