Show DG W 1 81 ah hm libbi 0 B dal liel z 4 4 av 4 0 J J 4 y F I 1 aa 4 j s N ilk W A 1 1 I WWw iS I 1 il Ks feH s ri irah ir BH somewhere in prance beat 1 1918 mr and mrs airs will WItbeck vernal nornal I 1 have been hesitating lor for some borne time before writing you trying to learn officially all about ual dal but am still uncertain of tits his condition I 1 have watched the casualty casu alCy lists and kept lit in communication alth N ith his company but have seen nor heard anything of him as et two boys tits his company told me he be had died but they had juat heard it un officially ally I 1 have talked with the comrades who were fighting side b side with him at the time he N was as wounded and who dressed his wounds and carried him off the battlefield and they told me that he was wounded seriously and that lie ho realized it giving them some letters and pictures and the pin given him by aint uintah ili count requesting that they at all I 1 bb sent home lie told them to tell you lie he died with his head up and smiling ilig they gave me the articles and abken me to send them to ou with his message and I 1 assure ou it gives me pleasure to do this isaiall small favor they also told me that it if any one could possibly live in his condition lie he could lor for lie he was all courage lie ile was nas killed by a shell shelf from our own artillery one piece of shrapnel ehra hitting him in the abdomen and camo came out of 0 his back ile he also was wound ed in one hip and leg on the morn ing the glat gicht allied drive commenced he in ill with several corn rades were in hot pursuit of the flee ing diun i and held had advanced too rap idia bringing them almost under our wa own ii balage which was preparing ane way ay for them the same shell bell killed and houi dea several efthem of them we can proudly say that the ilund agot t get litin him and that he was not afraid to do his part ile he had won non an enviable reputation among his officers and comrades his officers ha had tried several times to get him to take a coi pot al or but he declined them till all not because he felt inefficient or wished to shirk duty dutye but lie he felt that lie he could do as much good AS a private as he could as an officer and too lie he would rather be on A common tooting with the ma borit ile he was with seven others to represent tits his company at the grand celebration in parts paris on the fourth of juia jul last this is one instance which showed the esteem hla his officers ot leers had for him I 1 well remember when I 1 first met hira him over here we were in the trenches near verdun last spring my ro company mcany being in the second line in support to his hi so I 1 went up to the flout lines to see him and I 1 assure QU ou it was aas a pleasure to see his smiling face for it had been some time since I 1 had seen a vernal boy I 1 saw him quite often after that arid and miss him very much now it he has succumbed you can be proud to know that lie he is the first martyr to fall on the world a great battlefield from vernal ile he gave his life in li bertys cause caus et and never was there one m more ore loyal nor more true or courageous than lie he ks suring ou my heartfelt sympathy and wishing you the blessings of a kind pi evidence providence I 1 am your friend PRIVATE GLO R GOODRICH |