Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1919-01-10
LETTER F.Oa FRANCE
Huntingdon Boy Writes Very
EentertaiBinely Of War

AN@'f sAtN - -
ditions not only interesting, but
thrilling:
On active service with the Ameri-
can Expetitionary Force.
Sunday, November 10, 1918.
My Dear Mamma: seat my
self to pen you these few dashing re-
marks. etc." / have forgotten how
they used to begin letters like that,
but what | mean is this: / am GO
ing to write to you.
have spread out before me Sc
unanswered letters, nine of them
from you. They are the accumu-
lation of seven weeks. in all that
time | haven't written a single let
ter. save q few hurridly scrubbed
lines from a notebook to you, just
TO SAY hello and,to let you, know |.
was alive and we'll. ] am sorry /
couldn't write to you for / know
you have been worried about me,
but conditions have been such that
writing was impossible. But in
this letter you will find beau
ceaups bon correspondence" in
plain English that means very
much good news. / have plenty
Of paper. lots of time and plenty
OF news. III not be stin0y with
either Of them. ! am happy today,
due to million things, the
three principal ones are: First,
that / am well and able to write to
you; second, because | can now with
certainty look forward to meeting
you real soon, and third, because
peace is so near at hand; in fact, | be
lieve before this letter reaches you
this terrible war will have ended.
Today is one of the prettiest | have
seen since | have been in France;
just cold enough for fire to feel
comfortable land | have a real
coy one going). The sun is shin
ing brightly and everyone and
everything seem to be happy. It's
an ideal fall day and that is the
season | love best. Let me see,
what will | write first. would
give you a description of the place
I'm now located in only believe
it will work in better later on in
my letter; you see / am trying to
make this a good one. | guess if
! try too hard will make mess
of it. Since you and Mary think
my letters are grand. and A. Nc
Neil has complimented them. /
will tell you what my girl friend
from Bartlett had to say about one
/ wrote to her. She said 1T was
a mystery to her how on earth |
could write such charmingly enter
tanning letters. and, at the same
time not tell anything the censor
wouldn't allow" And Maddox,
the flagman on the train, sent the
letter / wrote him to the Liter
AIRY Digeset". Guess had better
SLOW down" before | begin to
think am a letter writer par ex-
celIence.
/ will read over your letters and
try to answer yours and Mrs. Lees
questions, and while | think of it,
tell her | appreciate her saving the
papers for me to read, | surely do
enjoy them. Before begin to
answer your questions | want to
tell you something else. was
again recommended by the com.
pany commander for the officers
training camp, and for the second
time | told him didn't care to
90. Idon't care to be a commits
stoned officer. ] have in the past
few weeks learned that good and
efficient leaders are the greatest
asset the American army has, and
| have also learned what a
responsibility is upon them and
what a strain they are constantly
under; another thing have learned |
is this, anyone with leadership
qualities, whether he be general
or private, has plenty opportun-
tiles to lead Another reason | is
don't care 10 go to the training
camp would have to leave this
company, and that / don't want to
do. / was in camp with them, |
/ came across with then, fought
with them, and | hope to be mus
tered out with them.
Now to begin my letter. In one
of your letters you asked me to
describe the buildings. the people,
water, flowers, etc. | have already |
written you about those things,
but seems letters never reach you. i
so | will do so again, but will
make it brief this time.
In most Of the villages all the build
ings are alike, old, very old, made of
stone or plaster, with slate roof. One
hardly ever sees a frame building.
The houses are all joined together
and all are about the same height