The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-01-23
From Fred Il. Elson to His Sister,
Mrs. c. z. Browning, Mercer,
Missouri,

Dear Sister: | will answer your
letter OF Nov 10, received yester-
day, also received my Chrlstmas
package which must confess was
MANY thanks. Was certainly glad
to hear from you, for believe me, 1T
had been some time since l had a
letter from home. l also received
one from Ed the same day. Well
now are you all and now is mother;
Suppose she is still at your place;
Well l guess we will be homeWard
bound before long, certainly nope
SO, if we don't have, to go on into
Germany. | don't think we Will
now. Well Margaret l don't think
l have ever told you much about my
experiences and the different parts
of interest in France. ! have been
in and saw. So by beginning with
the day we set sail l will try and
tell you of few Of the places ! nave
the peen good 90, ship Adriatic, le;Eing be-
hind us one of the greatest coun-
try's on the globe lthe, y. 50
Landed in Liverpool, England, May
9th. From there we took train to
Winchester; stayed there one night.
From there we took a train to south
Hampton, only a short distance
from there we boarded a tran1sp9rt;
in a seaport in France by the name
of La Harve. We marched from
there to small camp. There we
STAYED three days. The next place
we stopped was at the town OF Mon
cheauX, behind the Flanders 'front.',
and here we stayed three weeks.
We left there, took Sc mile hike
Alsace-Lorraine. Here we were un-
der fire for the first time which was
the 14th of June. Well we were in
the lines there about two weeks.
from there we went back OF the
lines about five miles to the town or
Sanlxures. Here we. stayed ten
days. Well back to the lines again
we went, up, in the Vogus mountains
and from there into the trenches
and we're in the front line trenches
IS days; then in Support - days,
and believe me we sure pulled Off
some big raiding. parties there. We
went over the top the first time.
Well we got relieved there and come
out again. The next time we went en1
in was in the Argonne Tnrest. W.
5:45 in the morning and take it
from me, the way those Logger
r eads run wasn't slow and here we
drove for six days and nights with
out stopping before being relieved,
and talk about killing Dutchmens--
why, they were piled up like cord
wood. eWel we were relieved by
the LIST Division and wnen we came
out of the lines there were only
of our men left in our company out
of the PIT, not an officer left, all
being killed See we had some
show (Aye!. Well we boys that
were left just considered that we
had our luck with us was all, as
they fell all around us. Now we
were out about three weeks and our
division was torn all to pieces and
was again made up ara filled up
with requirements and then back
20 the trenches again, real close to
Verdun. Here we took two bitches
in the front line trenches again and
we were the third attacking division
in another big drive on Metz at the
time the armistice was signed on
Nov, 18th, which ended the worlds
war. Well sis, have been over the
top eight times and am lucky to say
| haven't had scratch and mighty
thankful for it. | was just lucky
| guess. Well Margaret ! will quit
for this afternoon and hope will
be started home by the time this
letter reaches you. So hoping to
hear from you soon and see you
sooner. With love and kisses.
remain your loving brother.
Sgt. Fred r. Elson,
Co. C, 14Oth Inf, 18th Div,
American F,XD Forces