Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1919-01-02

city of vannes, which was only .
few Kilo's from our destination. |
have told you in previous letters a.
bout our work there. You also know
of our departure for the Western
front on Sunday Sept. 18th and ! be-
lieve told you of our two day train
ride. When | had six horses and
one man for companions. Our roll
ing kitchen occupied small low car
and furnished warm meals most OF
the way. It was not a pleasant
trip as we could not have any light
and the horses kicked and jumped a.
bout making so much noise that we
could not sleep much. And as there
was only rope between us we were
afraid that their ironed hoofs might
come down on US.
But our fears came to an end at
midnight on a very dark night when
our train reached its destination and
we began unloading horses, guns
wagons, kitchen and other things
too tedious to mention. Imagine
unloading all those horses and e.
quipment in the dark, and getting
your own personal equipment to-
gether and put it on your horses
back when its so dark that one could
hardly tell white horse from
black one. But we were on the road
in a surprisingly short time. We
travelled until about three o'clock,
then waited for dawn before we
pulled into the woods.
From there we made several short
marches always at night, until Sept.
% when we placed our guns in posi-
ton a short distance north OF YER
dun. On Sept. rs, the Barrage start
ed and the next morning the prison
ers began to come up the road past
our position, a real hell had begun
for the Germans; A He'll that lasted
almost continuously for fifty days.
The last few days saw the enemy
coming over to our lines with both
hands up in the air; With white
handkerchief tied to the top of q
pole; giving any signal or sign that
they could devise to tell that they
were tired of fighting. and were will
ing to be made prisoners.
How proud we the victorians felt
to see them coming over, but while
myheart leaped with joy ! could not
keep from thinking Of those poor
fellows who had fought night and
day and had lost all l thought of all
the hardships, all the labor and the
many sacrifices that they must have
made in those four long years of war
fare and now they were forced to be
prisoners, in the hands Of the enemy
which they feared SO much. And
wife, / must confess although | had
been hardened to certain extent by
| heart-rending scenes there was a
tinge Of sadness crept in to mar that
victorious happiness. But now the
war is over, so let's put it aside and
talk of more pleasant things.
By the time this letter reaches
you it will be Xmas so am enclosing
you a present simple little Xmas
card which Uncle Sam gave to all
his boys to send to their friends. We
| thank him for them for they are all
we have to prove to our people that
we still remember them; that the
home ties still exist; that the same
love is still glowing in our hearts.
| Please do not expect me home too
soon. We can never tell when our
work will be through. "There's a
long long night Of waiting until our
dreams all come true; Till the day
when I'll be going down that long
long trail with you"
Yours with much Love,
Bugler Leslie HI. Arbogast
Battery 213 F. A.
American Forces. France.