The Penn's Grove record., 1919-01-03
FROM THE FRENCH FRONT
POWELL A. CRAIG, JR.,

My Own Dear Dad:
| am really ashamed of myself for
not writing sooner The last letter
wrote you was when we were at Cler-
mont just before the Meuse-Argonne
offensive. | have been one busy kid
and for many days | often wondered
if | would ever have a chance to write
or see you again. But, thank the dear
Lord, it is all over now.
At present we are located in a little
French village by the name of Prangey.
We are not far from Dion and Cha
mont. l have a dandy billet, which
pay for myself. | have a big high
bed with lots of feathers. When l go
home at night a pretty little French
girl takes off my shoes and puts on
my French slippers. Her sister warns
some milk and then adds a little
cherry brandy or prunnelle. The
mother warns some water and fills a
hot water bottle and puts it in my
bed. Then she shines my shoes and
when | crawl in bed it is nice and
warm. One of the girls is a blond
aged fifteen and her sister has dark
hair and is about seventeen. But this
is the first time since arriving in
France that | have had such a time.
On arriving in Liverpool we went to
rest camp at Romsey and was there
about a week. Then we went to
Southampton and that night sailed
across the channel to LaHarve. We
were in LaHarve one day then crawled
in box cars and journeyed to a little
village by the name of Fays-Billot.
We were here about two weeks and
then went to Toul and relieved the
26th Division taking over the Toul sec
tor. The sector was very quiet and
things went very well. Toul is a good
sized town and we had many comforts.
About the last of August we were re-
lieved by the seth Division which had
just come over and they were all
very well informed about German
tactics. The first night when only
about half of our division were out
the Boche threw Owe gas. We work.
ed day and night and about eight hun
dred were gassed. Many died but our
division was very lucky.
We left the Toul sector and went to
the Nancy sector and here is where we
had our first real fighting. We were
in the st. Mihiel drive holding the
right pivot and advancing in a few
hours to our objectives. Dad, it was
a wonderful sight. The night when
the drive started the n all be-
gan to boom. The earth shook as if it
was an earthquake. The sky was as
bright as day. The Germans say a rat
cannot live in an American barrage.
There We're many funny sights; BOYS
wearing high silk hats and bringing
back goats, German boots and all
kinds Of booty.
Ore of our hospitals was shelled and
about eighteen were killed. Our am
bulance dressing. station was gassed
and was forced to change their posi-
ton. After the drive we were soon
relieved by the French Goth Division.
We left that sector and started for
Verdun sector. Just after we took
over the sector the fight started. Our
boys advanced in the Argonne forest
against the strongest opposition. We
continued following them up until we
arrived at Apremont. Here we had
all u field hospitals. We had dress
ing stations in Fleville and Somerance.
Dad, we lost some men but the Boche
caught hell. | have seen many real
men. One of the most pleasing
was at Apremont when the
drive was at its height. Two boys
laid outside the field hospital both
wounded, n more seriously than the
other. One lads head rested on the
others arm and he was giving him a
drink of water from his canteen. Both
were bloody and muddy with beard on
their faces, but they were men. They
never knew one another until loaded
in the ambulance together. Sacrifice.
We were relieved three days before
the armistice was signed.
Just to show you how dirty the Ger
mans are, the hospital we were occu-
pying was a German hospital until we
drove them from there. We simply
repaintcd a red cross and hoisted a
Red Cross flag. They never shelled
us until the day before we left. | was
standing on the hill watching the
land. We noticed they were
coming towards US and called some of
the others. We could see them coming
and closer and then they landed
on the road opposite ~uprooting many
trees. One came about eighty feet
from us and landed three feet from
one of III kitchens. Luckily it was
soft ground and it simply dug itslf
deep in the ground.
We left Apemont and came town by
town until we landed here. Our divi-
sion is all together now and we are at
training again. We were in a little
village by the name of Clefmont the
night the armistice was signed. A
enc arm Frenchman decided he must
have a dance. There were few of us
as we came ahead on trucks and the
were on the march. So he
started and he would gather about five
American soldiers and then go from
house to house calling a French
madamoiselle. It was surely a funny
7 followed him for about one
hour and finally decided to go to the
cafe and wait until the dance started.
$50 he had about Is girls. We
had an old photograph that some
had given him and the dance
started. We all had a jolly good time
and about 11.30 the dance was over.
The town was one of the ~cleanest I
have seer in France. Most of them
have a big pile of manure in front of