The Mena weekly star., 1919-02-20
WHITES FRoM HOSPITAL.
Pvt. D. Nj. Barker Tells of Experience
 In France

| Private D. M. Barker, writing from Ward 9, Base Hospital TOT, in France, to his sister, Mrs. J. 1. Phillips of Grannis, makes interesting observa- tions of the country, the people and the drives in which he took part. Aft CT speaking of the devastation on the battle fronts, he says:
 "But with the chances being that We shall return quite soon, have no cause to kick Often 1 have looked back over the times when l was up where hell was being turned loose, and l have thought that I should feel very, very lucky, indeed, that l am back here, sleeping on a spring bed and being really safe. l know that many times comparative safety would have meant heaven to me"
 i Continuing, he writes:
 You ask me to tell something about France. Perhaps I have inti- mated that there's nothing interest ing or beautiful over here. There is. At Liffol le Grande, where we trained before going to the Toul front, there is very beautiful scenery, tho the three divisions of France are evident ly there, as they are here near Ne vers. They are woods, fields and vil lages. Neufchateau, Liffol le Grande, and Gondrecourt are places of much historical renown, for Joan of Arc spent her girlhood days in that coun- try. She was born at Neufchateau, and l saw her tomb at castle built on the brow of hill near there. But these places did not have the interest for me that the front had. One day, August 1, we loaded ourselves and our belongings, which belongings had been reduced to our clothes, blankets and toilet articles, onto auto trucks, Is men to the truck, and rode all day and nearly all night passing thru the beautiful and famous city of Toul, shortly after dark. Then we rode thru Lagny, reaching a little town called Bourcq, about a. m., August 2. We went to bed in biiiets and bar racks; not knowing where we were, only we were not permitted any lights, which, of course, meant we were near the front. About Fl a. m. we began to wake up and found that we were in sight of the German lines. Out town was protected by a trench system and barbed wire entangle- ments, while some four or five miles to the north we could see Mont See, the mountain which had been held by the Germans since August, 1914. We learned that after the Germans cap- tured Mont Sc e,early in the war, the French recaptured it and held it for 20 minutes. This cost them some 35,000 men, so you can imagine how we obeyed the guards commands to keep out of sight of the Dutch bal looms, and to keep buildings between Mont See and ourselves"
 He adds that in course of time ! they were placed on the front line at Bouconville, a demolished village, just across No Mans Land, some 600 yards from Mont See, but says that aside from an occasional smelling, a night raid or two from the Dutch, the first siege on the line was without in cident. Often" he says, Eve were entertained by airfghts. Many times did l see airplanes, some English, others French, American or German, fall in flames, while the victors sailed away, new planes to conquer"
 Private Barker enlisted in New Mexico early last summer but in this letter he promises to come to Polk county when discharged so that there may be family reunion.