The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-01-02
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Lieut.. Henry Murphy Attended Ser.
vices at Cathedral Held in Honor
Of Starting Flag Back After
" Years Of German
OCCUPATION.


Occupation.
Lieut.. Henry Murphy has written
: splendid letter to his father, Thom-
s. Murphy, from France under date
Of Nov. "a. Three Of Mr.. and Mrs.
Murphy's sons, Henry and Roy MUIR
ply and VIM. Mulroy, have been do
ing. their ssdArndest" in France and
they have made the very best Of rec
ords, being il Vie thick Of the fight
ing. Fortunately they have come out
without any serious consequences and
the Murphy family are planning on
great reunion when their brave SOL
der lads return. Henry writes in
part:
"Dear Dad:
To-day thr,aout the A. E. F. is
known as Dads Day. Every Ameri-
can soldier 10 requested to write to his
first commanding officer and tell him
whatever he sees fit; so your son is
taking this opportunity to write to
the man that gave him the name he
is carrying thru France.
I'm this letter you can tell how
the big noise ended. She was some
grand finale. A Royal Flush can't
be beat so the Kaiser's -Four Aces
looked small on the show down. 1t
was probably the rottenest fighting OF
all during the last hour. The Ger
mans just pointed their guns up in
the air and in general direction and
let go. Places were hit that before
had never been tuoched. You couldn' It
tell where they were going to strike.
In most cases, you know where the
shells are going to hit and had a
chance to get out of the way but that
! morning they were coming every
where. They shot all kinds of gas
that morning. AS for the Americans,
they came back twice as strong.
| II had letter from Bill today and
Roy was over yesterday, so the whole
| family came out O. X. As to when
we get home, think it will be months
and doubt if the three of US come
home close together.
l have travelled over France consid-
cradle. l landed at Brest. which is
one of the large seaports. ] came
across on the Leviathan or Vaterland,
which was captured from the Ger
mans. It's the biggest boat on the
seas. From Brest, travelled across
France to the southern part. So far
I have not been in Paris, but have
hopes of seeing it before l get back.
I am now located at Trodes which is
about ten kilometers from Toul and
about thirty from Nancy.
"Might state here that the closest !
came to getting picked off was to
have a shell hit close enough to me
to knock me on my head. Another
close shave / had was to have shell
hit my dugout going right thru the
top and wrecking the whole thing.
I was out at the time so figured i
Jared pretty we'll. Had the trouble
of finding a new place to sleep. You
haven't any idea how mean they fight
these days. 1t would be impossible
to write about it and put the words
used in writing. Some of the towns
are so completely wrecked that you
can't get thru the streets. But
think will save all this dope till
get home. FIT
The best thing they have in drinks
over here is cognac, which is the
closest thing to whiskey they have. ii
you can get the good brands. its pref.
ty good stuff but like whiskey in q
dry country its hard to get. The
price Of it has raised about five times
what it cost before the Americans ar.
rived. Then at most places one car
get good beer and champagne. The
French standard drink is win rouge
and win blanc. a red sour wine. II
tastes more like vinegar than any.
thing know of. The French PEG.
pie live on it. ~
Sunday morning they had a big
celebration in the Cathedral in which
the flag that was carried from Metz
in 1871, when taken over by the Ger.
mans, was started on its way back
1t was quite impressive Just think
taking the same flag back after Al
years.
"Well, think this letter will reach
you about Xmas. I won't be there
to stick my long legs under the table
and eat the big turkey, but you car
stow my share in some corner till
get back and then watch me do it JUS.
i tice. Wishing you a Merry Xmas
and happy prosperous New Year,
h Il, Your son,
HENRY. +
339 NJ. G. Bn. 1s