Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-01-12
LETTERS FROM OVER THERE.

'
 following interesting letter from her l brother, Corporal L. A. Kaplin.
 iieaoquarters company, 7th Army
 Corps, at Nirton, Belgium. 'Virton. Belgium.
 ~ Nov. 30. 1918. Dear Sister:
 T must admit that it is now two
 weeks that l have not written you undoubtedly. you will blame me for II, as you do not know tue reason of my silence
 First of all. I will tell you, my dear sister. that l was never so busy in my life, as have been since the day of the armistice. In fact, l
 nave not had the opportunity to do
 anything but travelling now. Now, slnce the censorship is allowing us to describe all cur events and all our present and past experiences. I am having free hand and will ten you something more about me How ever, We can state where we ar' and where we have Eeen mention the names of towns and villages ana also the kind of work we are doing. Tt is the greatest pleasure to mo ln tEe world to sit doa.n and wrY,- letters knowing that there is no ob- structiOn and that the road ia clear. You will notice above on the first page that l as situated in Virton Belgium which is near France. Lux emburs border have arrived here about three days ago, and within another two days I expect to move already. By the way, fail- ed to state that l do not belong any more to the same outfit, but have been transferred out entirely to the headquarters of the 7tn corps, who belong to the 3rd army, which means the army of Occupation. As to how long we are going to remain in France or Germany. l do not know. however. would not mind to stay here another winter if knew that by spring l will sail for home to Y. s.
 Anyway, I am net having it so
 hard now; the danger of being bump cd off from shell or die from poison- ous gas is passed, and there are no moro dug-Outs or trenches to wor- ry about. Night as we'll complete my journey and see other countries. l am now considering myself to be the happiest man ill tho world. After having pulled through the war safe and sound and also having encoun- tered the realities of the World con- fllct which has fer four years dark ened the whole world and has cut off the flower of civilization. why, this experience is worth million dollars to me and am proud of hay ing been amongst the first ones to be over here. Although, l had very tough winter last year, but the out Gcor life has resulted in mak. ing man out of me.
 "Ialk about travelling, l have cer- talnly done my bit of it. Just week ago. l was ill Verdun and now l am in Belgium. Instead of trav- cling north, I have made almost complete circle of three hundred kllcmeters and have went entirely through a different way. I was shipped to Foul, south of Verd,m. which is about so kilometers and the route that goes to Nancy, Poct-a- Nousen, Metz and finally into Lux cnbers which adds 200 kilometers to the list. There were a crew of 20 men who rode on one truck. You can imagine the congestion and dis comfort while travelling. Moreover, 1 we had our barrack bags, packs. equipments with us and besides ra- tons for five days. This is the way we. travel in the army, for it is the quickest and surest way to reach certain spot on the map where there are no railroad facilities.
 "HoWever. we stopped in Luxem- berg and we all had four days to re- cuperate. We reached this wonder full city just at the time when the peaceful population of Luxembarg were celebrating the entrance of the American troops. who have liberat- ed this wonderful little country from
 the Prussian yoke. Everywhere one could see the colors of our allies
 waving and amid the Stars and Strircs were Illuminating the city
 What wonderful reception we go.
 from, everyone was actually wild of 1 joy and enthusiasm. They
 could not do enough for us and ev-
 erywhere the outcry of "Viv L'-
 Ameriqua' was resoun.!ing in the 1 streets. Many of our soldier:; were
 invited to eat with them and sleep
 in their ho..,es.
 "I have made an aclualntauce
 with family who were very kind to
 ne. and gave me 8 place to slecp.
 tesides, they insisted I should eat
 with them. despite of their shortage
 in food. I gave them my home ad-
 dress and also told them something
 about you. l There was q curious sight to sec
 q mob of Luxembergers hanging
 around our kitchen while white
 bread was served. Everyone was
 anxious to take look at this bread
 and to watch how food is being is.
 sued. For three years these poor
 people have not seen such bread an1
 nothing but the black, sticky