The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1919-02-19
A LETTER TO DAD

To the Editor of The Stars and Stripes
Your Fathers Day no doubt brought
out some interesting matter in the
form of lettars to Dad | am enclos-
| ing herewith letter from boy of
German percentage to his Dad. 1t
reads good. | believe and thinking
some other readers of The Star and
Stripes might enjoy it, | secured per-
use it for publication If you so desire.
Yours,
Charles HI. Grasser, End 1t. S. G.
! France, November %, 1918
Dear Dad
This is the first letter that | have
written to you in years. Seems that
I always have only enough dope for
one letter, and it was sort of right to
send it to Mother. However, this is
Fathers Day in the A.E.F. and we all
promised to write letter to Dad. So
here goes.
Do you know, think the Old Gents
back home instigated the whole affair
for the purpose of receiving at least
one letter from the boys over here.
Guess it was rather tough to have
to depend on the ladies to drop a few
hints of the news such as they felt
willing to hand out. A kind of crawl
| ing to pick up the crumbs dropped
| by the chosen few Of course we new
er thought of it in that light, so don't
blame you bit for starting little
propaganda in your own favor
Things have been going just fine
with our work, and lots of interesting
work, too.
1t seems the joke is on the folks
back home. Understand that you cele-
brated the armistice several days be-
fore it was signed. To give you the
dope straight it was signed at five
o'clock in the mourning of November
| IL. Of course didn't hand the Kaiser
the pen or anything like that. But
you can bank on this being the
straight dope. I didn't fire the last
shot, either. But it was fired at 1858
the same morning.
| Dad, our friends sure did spoil this
country plenty. You can't imagine
just what it is like unless you could
see it yourself An acre or two of
holes in the ground and sign with the
4
/ is left of many. Our friends sure
didn't play the game square. Dad, and
| sort of feel ashamed of them. You
know, just like you would feel if your
friend were caught cheating at pino-
chile at the club after you introduced
him as good fellow. | used to try
to find excuses to offer myself for him
but I'm through with him, Dad. He's
a bum fellow, this Fritz. Not at all
like he used to be some 80 years ago.
Guess all the good ones came to Am
erica in 1900, and that's why Germany
went on the bum. No good fellows
left to run her.
! never told you, Dad, but sure felt
proud of you back in IT when came
home after being in the Army six
months without your knowing it.
Didn't know just how you would take
it. But you sure were tickled TO death
after the first surprise of seeing me
back in the United States Guess you
were sort of afraid that and the rest
would sort of leave you in the lurch
as the Dutch father of bunch of bum
Americans. Guess now we didn't take
the wind out of the sails of some of
these birds who thought they were
| Yankees and called US Dutchies. 1t
sure made me laugh to see some of
'em digging for wives and the ship
yards when the draft came around.
Well, Dad, la guerre est fine, and
we are all coming back home too sweet
French for $50 bait vie moeglich") j.
Wen have good old fashioned blow
out when we all get together, and |
hope you will see to it that we don't
have to drink ice water, either.
Give my love to Mumsy and all the
lneighbors. Stars and Stripes.
a local bachelor saws that marriage