The Springdale news., 1919-01-17
With the " Colors
"a E a r r
,,,ou CAPT. OTTO CHRISTIAN.

FRUM N-h
 ! P. Stafford, springdale' Ark cood Evening" l have never
 ...n vou nor many people ot my %i.'s s town since I left there nearly hoi"g ,,aars ago so as I am sitting here ,'e..;ng IVY to the old sound of rain fall .is. M ;n Sunny France l thought you 's ... Ike to read a letter from one il.9 me " although from Springdale has taan Sn through thick and thin in this worlds war.
 As you know I joined the lst Ark
 ..s National Guard on April lst ,ol7 With them I went to Camp nsa.rooard on Nov 1, f9l7 On uarcb IT, f9fs l was transferred to .hn 114tb Engrs. with this regiment ' o.me to France, reaching France cont 2 1918 landing at Brest, we sta,a4 in this town four days at N.noleon's old training camp. Then 70 were baddled into side door sleep =. ubieh bore the words now well ,..av., to American soldiers, 40 homes eberanx. and on the third day ,rloaded in the central part of France :. small town. Charost. Here We were billeted in what ever place we eoald get in, old houses, barns, any .,.;.5, tbat had ? cover and here the au.fnl fin hit Us as a hard jolt. At me time nearly one-third of our resyi- nant wpre sick. Our major had his hands full With his book work and the lieutenant had his time taken up at other work so l had all our peor medico could d. for two long weeks. l had it up and down, night and day hui at last we held the upper haad. We lost few but thank goodness not many When our boys were able to travel We wtre detached from the 39th Die. and sent again In our well known puIlmaas to the now hlstor'e Argonne Forests where we landed at Clermont en Argonne under shell fire but viii say would not have kne sn it if one of our boys had not told ne about 1t, for Twas laying down watch ing the boys unload their wagons for I was always sent out with the men when they left camp. and one of my boys, l believe t was Sidney Gom- eaux asked me what they were using dynamite to blow up the fields for. I looked around and found out that We were under fire and by the way l hunted a better place We stayed in Clermont three days when we were ordered up to the front. one mile south of the great Hindenburg line } to make roads for our heavy guns, ! this was Get B. This place Hinden # burg made b hold as 1t was on q hill # called File Mark, and was a mass of % barbed wife and trenches, something 8 beyond description, but the Yanks R rooted them out and we kept slowly # moving north and east to Narenaes, # once a beautiful city, now only a & shell, then to Belair Tram, this was # taken and lost many times but we at last held and then to Mont Blainville, whlch IS ruin, then across the river Airf, where l think spent the most uncomfortable night I ever spent TOT With star shells behind us and goodness knew what in front, and we nuddled on an open hill side with mud ahkie deep and 1t raining and our wagon, which had my blankets, never !oand us, all l had was my medical peR and raincoat, not much warmth n those but all were the same and he could have no lights, not even a &hoke' Gorned Bull and hardtack to
 9 U tee, when morning came it
 ss' on always just a little more,
 0ys, forgot the days and nights,
 seems dream now, but l know we
 assed Fleville, Cornay, St. Juvin,
 hampiF Neulle, Diepont, Imecoart,
 se ground between these places look
 as II 1t had been plowed. the shell
 'es Were so thick. Then we went
 selpel, another ruin and full of
 .tmah guns and mines. then to
 "enorgue, Bizancy, Bar, Fontenvis.
 fremont, Somanthe, then we
 aened La Besace, this place is a few
 'es rom Sedan. and we were await
 'nere to go get the Hun in Sedan,
 zen all of sudden II o'clock on
 Il We were surprized with the
 ,'i qulet which We had begun to
 :. then there came one of the great
 shouts the Armistice had been
 n9d and We had a good rest do
 Know the days nor the t;me ii,