Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-01-09
TELLS ABOUT
EXPERIENCES
J. lover THERE
Beck Lake Soldier Writes
Interesting Letter to
~ss. Mother.
u . y
Rupt, France. Nav ..

ttupts France, Nov. "a.
Rear FOLKS: AS the censorship Is
taken off to some extent, I will try
ana write you a few things I have ex-
perlenceo since landing in. Liverpool
the. first part of last. May. :
With a few hours he..e, we left by
train for we knew. not where, rode un-
III about twelve that night and got OF
~as.stfnchester and hiked three miles
to>a camp. We stayed there two Or
tnrHfs days, took the train for South
hampton. stayed here a day and took
lhe'boat across the English channel.
Landed at La Havre, France. I'VE
mixed again about fou.: miles to camp.
We stayed here four days. we turned
IN all u extra equipment and drew
gas masks. We could plainly see this
peant something. We took a train
again and went to Eu; stayed there
over night. In the morning we hiked
TO Gamanche, a distance of about five
miles; that is where we did most Of
u training. Stayed there about one
month. We left there and took our
INST famous hike. about r45 miles,
landed at Thanh. Here we went In
the.trenches Tor the, first, time-not in
the. front line. but in reserve Saw
very little fighting there. Stayed there
about one week or perhaps ten days.
SNS.oA AlAu "SLI " H0l
renger. Stayed here Just long enough
to get cleanedrup a bit and took
trucks to>Sal Sou-s. about four hours
ride. Here we did some more drill
ing, took trucks back to- Fellenger,
stayed there only two days. From
here we took our second hitch in the
trenches, at Bonsat, on the Alsace
front line, and in reserve fog fo.ty-
seven days. Had some excitement
here as we were under she'll fire most
of the time. but came out lucky, losing
only one man and a few wounded.
Came out Of the trenches and went to
Oderin. Stayed here a couple of days,
&eft by truck, went to Thefosse,- stayed
oyer night and hiked to Sal Sours;
took the train here and went to Mes
sinesSss stayed here three or four days,
then linked all night in. a downpouring
rain. AT daylight we 'camped in a
woods'and were notified we were here
held. in reserve for the St. Mihiel
drive. Stayed in the woods for, four
days, then hiked about six miles and
took truck again and rode all night
and camped again in the woods. We
stayed here five days and left here for
n of the biggest dives that has been
pulled off during this war. Will give
you a few of the details of whateI and
the rest Of the boys went through. I
was attached>to the machine gun COM
pany' ais ammunition carrier. Left the
company on Wednesday afternoon
aboH 4 O'clock: The detail consisted
of about forty men. We had hiked
onlNl5 about two hours when they
started Smelling us. We then got lost
and didn't find the machine gun COM
pany outfit that night. Our barrage
was to open up at $3.50 sharp. so we
had to take to dugouts. The bar rage
opened at the appointed hour and you
J should have heard it. The whole
earth for miles around fairly shook.
AT S a.. m. the 18TH and '13Sth In
fantry went over in the first wave
with the 10th and 140th, Of which I
belong, in support. 1t took us-just,>40
minutes to take Hill 400,t.or in; other
Words. Dead Mans Hill" The
Frehch lost 10000 nen trying to take
this hill and only held it 80 minutes
after taking It.
Both the French and British told
us it couldn't be taken. But it didn't
take the Yanks very long. Nothing
much happened, only just to go right
on pushing those Huns back as fast
as we could. Back to myself again
and the detail. We started about 6
o'clock to find our outfit. Went down
an old trench. Here I got my first
smell of gas but not bad enough : to
put on masks. We found our COM
rny about 8 o'clock and started for
the front line. We were halted at a
small town that had been captured by