Salt Lake Telegram | 1918-12-18 | Page 14 | Private Leland Holt Tells of Experience on Field of Battle

Private Leland Holt Tells of Experience On Field of Battle Plenty of Souvenirs at Hand, but None Is Desirable Desir-able as Present, He Writes in Letter. ALTHOUGH be had not seen his brother for h yer and a half. Iceland J. Holt. son of Mr. and Mrs. John Holt. Kant Klrst Houlh street, saw his division come up and go Into action while bolh were under heavy fire. There was n time for mutual recognition, but the experience experi-ence was an unusual one, according to a letter received by bhi parent t- rnvgm -xjpv.uux if"H i"u in Frame fur more than -.ir with the I I-irst antiaircraft bpitshoM. white the ! brother referred to. John A. Holt. was former Iv al Camp Krnv with the :in Hundred Kortv-ftflh field artillery. , hut volunteered with 3! others for I rephu nnerit In the Thirty -second division di-vision and went into action aa anon as he arrived overseas last July. This di vision la ru-f hoMing- the bridgehead on the extreme left of the American forces on the Ithtite. SHELLS PLOW UP DEAD. When you hear of some brave fellow fel-low receiving- the croIx tie guerre for bravery," writes I'rivate I,mid Holt, "just remeinler that there -lire thousands thou-sands and thotiMHiidH of brave fellow reer lyipg the 'rroix d w'"Ltl t My. and "joli tirar imlliiiiK' ojf tht-iu "Out In front of my dugout which, by th way. Is made of corrugated iron and la ten feet underground 1 can see what Is probably the (argent graveyard In the world. Kvery few feet there la a little wooilen cross to mark the place! grabbed It and put It up to Ms mouth to drink the Juice. Home spilt on his mudciiked sleeve, end as soon as he noticed It he licked It all off with hta tongue. He bad been a prisoner for throe vears, he said, and he surely looked It. GREAT EXPERIENCES. "I kimmw you think I am suiting m.,nv aaf; I -m gloom", hi am norfov This I the happiest dv of m life. To think of coming out of t hi wwr, of tf II war, without a seiabb I would not have rutSKed thm experience for the world, even If if hs seemed that all hell had been 1 loone since last April. "Kven rombatlng the rsls seems funny now. Hats aa big as cat they are. and as soon as we try to sleep I Hkmg they come for their battle royal. I have become a pretty good spear thrower from long practice the old Romans aren't In It. J can land one with my bayonet almost every time. "We have a Vlctrola In our dugout and a bathtub. Ha Id bathtub consists of a Hun helmet the fashionable thing In bathtubs Just now. After I the tin i.ff Ihn uat.T In aald tub I can lake an honest to (Aid' wash, even If It does make me feel as if I am In cold storage for a while after. . ! "It won't be very Imig now before we are at home. We were among the first Americans over and of course . mlU be among the first- to return Private Holt, with four other Salt Inke boys from the Est High school, enlisted as soon as Ameilra entered the war. They have been In action almost constantly since their arrival, and not one of the boys has received a scratch. The boys are Krnest Hurd, Tarl ' Brown, Archie Sutton, Clordon Wrick j and W 11 lard Hansen. All of them are f under 20 years of age. j w hre some brave Iv How has givrn ' liia nil. "Kven the drud run't slerp here. Kvery little while a Hun sheJI comes over aad plough them up. I'orpsrs once burled are lyins; all around. "The reason I haven't sent any souvenirs sou-venirs Is, I have no taste fr the kind I c-an get here. I sh;ill wuit until I tret bak to cIvtllEAt Un. No civilian has been In this place fir years. There is everything; from a German helmet to boots with liermtin feet In them to be had for the s;athfrln" HUNS HAPPY, BUT DIRTY. The foregoing; letter ts written two days before the stKnlns; of the armistice, armi-stice, but one written a few days latr whs received the same day, and tella of returning prisoners passing through ; fnm (iermany. "It was a happy yet pathetic ataht, for most of them were In mudcuked rags. Hume had a ragged shoe on one foot and a hoc he hoot on the other.. "Talk about dirt! The poor devils looked aa If they had lived In mud-holes mud-holes for a couple of years, with acarcely anything to eat. Karh carried a loaf of black bread under his arm. We got a loaf from one fellow he r haikeit tisw-w ltMsslanaii(l itaiiitiieil " It. It van ' om posed of sawdust for the niosH Piit I ' d potatoes, with Just enough bran to make the mixture stick. Kr the iwf we gave him a can of salmon and some ot our white j bresd. i "You shotilt' hsvm sen hlin! As soon , ws w . Tn-nd the ran for Mm. h