The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-01-16
$ 5 3 = y y
SOLDIER BOY LETTERS
g = * x x 4. < & 8 &
From Charles Rogers.

1 Iast y Wr ade home. Well it has, in
fact, / have been carrying several le t.
tors in nv pocket for a few weeks
to mail. but the conditions have been
such that we could not SEND any
mail out for quite spell now:
Well, sister, ! have not mu Ven, u 10
write about it seems, put ! VIII d ra,
i Gfbe + last deE few days Of the war;. At
ter the St. Mihiel drive last septerl-
her we went back few miles to
the rear for about week for rest:
1English rest) is drill, but we got
cleaned up. We then Travelled py
trucks driven by Cinnamon, TO me the
Verdun sector. we e., spent tarn raad sea a
few miles back from the front close
to No Mans Hill. You have no
donbt read of the severe. fighting
hack in Il and IS on this hill be,
tween the Boche and French. | and
a chum of mine took walk over
No Mans Hill one day and | SAY, SAY
many bones, shoes, ana Doots Win
the bones Of feet ia an q Wei1 R baek to
the the story, we moved later. up to
within i've kilos Of the front by
rad closer by air line Zone can.
t fua ali day rs to 80 kilos in
nlaces in this country and look
back only a short distance across
from where you startedl and pltcn-
ed camp back over the :, top Ipo, OF ;,n low
our pup tents. Three of us slept to
a tent for the weather was a trifle
e eaM s. batteries ts Of 6-inch artillery
mounted close and most every day
or night they sent over Darrage
or rather mean they put IN tnehr
few big barks with the many o az
ers. The Boche returned 1rais sb 1aH d did
yerv little damage that far back.
The Austrians SIS or what we call
ed the whiz bangs, were mean ones
Seemed e to have lots of them and
we had no time to fall into sneil
hole. The big G. !. cans, as we caii-
ed the big shells, make suca .,i q roar II
M installing one from whiz bang.
We can hear a big shell coming
from way back and have just time
enough 10 get down flat on the
ground before it explodes, but they
sure give a fellow rough ride II
they light too close. Many an un,
fortunate lad ! have seen take one
Of those swift rides. !, game eoa as near far
At Madelain Farm was. the fiercest
and bioodiest fighting done on this
sector, l have heard. | know It was as
awful for the air was alive with
artillery shells as well as 80 callDre
bullets. At times the sights one
saw up there would make you SICK
but it seems that in a hight that way
ones mind changes and ne goes
get ii. q: The only thing on his
mind 20 get as many Dutchmen3
as MsA1. One afternoon a detail
of62W = E30ys were sent to the front
line to build foot bridge across a
small stream for the Infantry to ad-
vance over when they went over the
top, The Boche saw us coming ana
shelled us with SSS ana Gdy some iet ,ar the
ground within five and six feet from
me but ! was active enough to throw
myself flat on the ground; the dirt
almost buried me once, but l came
out Of the barrage without scrat n
The Boche threw over lots OF tear
and mustard gas in the shells.
got my share Of the gas put II dla
not hurt me, so that ! coH wa no not Ge a
bows went over the Meuse river at
Bruilles we engineers were in the
advance and threw pontoon foot
bridges over the river and canal FOR
the Infantry to advance. the Boone
located us just as we. finished the
bridge over the river about
dawn) the morning OF Nov. attn, ana
opened. up on us with mac ha1e guns s.
over the bridge, carrying boat
across for the bridge on the canal,
when the bullets tore into us: Such
4 feeling I'll never forget. Bullets
zipping into the water all around us
and splashing water high into the
air. They raked the bridge from
one end to the other. couidnt
Mace in the river to fall headlong
into. for 1 had feeling that one
or two of those bullets would just
as leave thug into me as the water;
They came so close but we reached
the opposite bank ahead of sch d".-
ed time and ducked down behind the
opposite bank without delay; The
Boche made things SO not that we
the canal until night, Nov. 4th. A
few days later Liny and Dun were
taken and the Boche were retreat
ing at very rapid rate. At the
hour the armistice was signed Nov.
18th, we were about to move into
Brandeville. The town had been
taken but our company had not yet
arrived. We staid in Hrandeville
only few days and then moved
back to Liny. There the whole reg
iment encamped for several days.
Later we had orders to travel to-
wards Cobling. Germany. We stop
ped at Longuyon few days and
are now at Esch-Alzette, Luxem-
burg. It is nice clean city of sew.
eral thousand. The country OF
has a population OF
and standing army of zoo,
I hear. They handle mostly Ger
man currency so you see we have
money now. Well, sis my candle is
very low. Your brother,
Charles w. Rogers,
Co. F., 7th U. S. Engineers,
5th Division.