Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1919-05-03
Harley D. Davis
 Writes Home
Nickenich, Germany.
 April3, 1919.


 This makes about the fourth time
 l have started letter to you.
 can't seem to get my mind down tc
 business when it comes to writing
 We are enjoying some very fine
 weather just at present, after SC
 many days of rain and snow. The
 nights are still cold, but for the last
 couple of days the sun has been out
 and it makes one want to be in the
 open as much as possible.
 Had nice letter from mother and
 was so glad b hear that you and the
 kiddies were alright again. There
 were so many dying from the "Flu''
 there for a while that 1 was always
 about half afraid to open a letter
 when l did get one, for fear would
 hear that it had taken some of you. . guess we can all count ourselves
 among the lucky. I know I do, For
 that is all that brought me thru, there
 wasn't any judgment on my part but
 just luck. I sometimesthink it was all dream, but hope I may never ex-
 perlence anOtner.
 Guess Bob will soon be on his way
 home, lucky devil. We'll when you
 see him you can tell him 1 looked at every soldier I saw trying to recog- nize him, but never happened to see the right one. He is stationed at a town or has been only forty kilomet- CTS from here. I tried get over to see him awhile back, but failed to make connections with pass. Had just re- turned from seven day leave to Ak les-Bains, France, and guess they thought I had been gone enough. I never knew where he was until then. l happened to run across a fellow down there that knew him. O say! while l think about it, saw letter in the Kingman paper that Jesse Grain had written to his mother. It seemed as though Quincy hasn't writ ten home for some time, and they don't know where he is.I We'll for that part don't either at the present time, but he and 1 used to bunk to- gether up until I went up with my o1udu dI III tNt AtSOiihC' They asked me if I would volunteer to go along as I was a cart driver and it was not in my regular line of duty to go into the firing line with the rest of the squad, and wanted me to find Grain and see if he would also volunteer. He was also driving a gun cart horse, and as the Germans were shelling us pretty heavily at the time we were all in holes dug along the side of hill. hadn't seen him from the time we pulled up there and unhitched our horses as We hadn't any more than got unhitched until we re- ceived orders to get our horses and ourselves under cover. There was a small timber on the top of the hill and most of us tied our horses in that so as to hide them from the view of Air planes. There were several German airplanes not so far away. When I came back from tieing my horse, my platoon Sergeant was at my cart and said there was room in hole next to where he was going so grabbed my blanket roll and beat it up there with him, and guess Grain must have gone into the first place he saw empty. l He had been feeling bad for two or three days before and I had tried, to get him to go to the hospital, but he kept thinking he would be alright and wouldn't go. So I told the Sergeant when he asked me to see if Grain would go along with us that I didn't think he was able to stand it, and went and got another boy instead. We were gone for three days and nights before we were relieved and came back to where we had left the carts. I asked where Grain was and they said that he had left for the hos pital that day. Whether he ever made it back to hospital or not I can't say, as no one in the Company has ever heard of him since.
 He was boy that was we'll liked in the Company. and never shirked any thing that he was asked to do. Some of the boys told me that he was up with them one night, as that was about the only time you could get any  where, trying to get chow to us fel- lows on the line and the whole party got lost and very near walked into the German lines. That he heard some of them talking and led them back to camp. It was a very easy matter up there to get mixed up for you were continually lodging shell holes, as we'll as shells at times. If he does happen to show up tell him he might drop me line, for I would like to know how he made out. I am glad that he didn't have to go up there with me, for it was simply H. from start to finish, and we went some places that can't see how we got thru. We'll, it is all over, or nearly so, and guess some of us are better men, for the experience, at least gave us a broader view of life. Some things happened on that trip that causes me to laugh to myself uyhon T fhipL of xbov,, v,nuy fh ho%