OCR Text |
Show Letters From Bingham Soldiers j Letter from t)oa iL. Dunlavy, dated August 18, 'iSomewnere In France," I to his brother, D&Witt Dunlavy: "Just a line or two to let you knew tbat the HXina have not got me yet and for some time to come. If ju fellows only knew how wonderful tills game Is I know you'd rush at once to get In. It will take some time before they get wise and then it will be. cne big grand picnic, and old iFitz will have to run like hell to keep out of our way. "The boys who hare been l'tcky enough to get in the lines sure hare made some record for themselves and the people back home ought to feel mighty proud of them. As a matter of fact I know they, are, but when vmi are steen miles away from the old fireside it is hard to realize it." A letter from Ella Bakich, dated August 29, . Marseilles, France, to Peter Sudakovlch of Phoenix (Rakich existed in the army from Phoenix, an', has been at the front where he wa& wounded and .was just recovering when te wrote the letter: "I am now about well again and so I write tli's letter to you and family. I goj a letter from you a few -days ago and found enclosed a check for 55 francs. I did not rrpect that so I got a comrade and we went up town and had a good supper. We certainly had a fine time on that r"rey, and after supper two comrades and myself my-self had a big celebration which lasted last-ed nearly all night. "I expect to go back to the front any day now. I meet lots of Bingham boys in our town, but did not meet my cousin Mike, whom I wa3 very anxious an-xious to Bee. The reason I failed to see him was because I was out . of town the day he passed through and he did not stop here very long. He went on to Bezerte, Africa, with a neighbor. I do not know anything of your brother Mike now. He went to Siberia about a month ago to fight on the battle front there, but I expect to see him some of these days. "My brother, Nick, you say, Is coming to see me. I am glad that he is to come because we are going to break through the Austrian line and find our fathers and mothers homeR "Thanks very much for the check, f send beft regards from my partner Save Grulca from Metka. Goodbye. I hone we meet you !n the village of KMBPrKer" 'were born." - (Letter from Max 'Dorrenoug of the aviation in France, to J. T. Dean: "Thought I'd drop you a few lines to let you know that all's well along the Potomac. I never hear much news from Btnphnm and I'd nra iiva TBut it won't take long to finish up over here once the U. S. gets going right, and the old U. S. A. will sure look good to the fellows coming'home. The Americans have sure got the Huns' goat. Whenever they get together, to-gether, and as some popular song goes, they will hand their clothes on Hindenburg's line and go swimming In the Rhine.. The Kaiser will be lucky if be keeps them out of the fountain in the public square in Berlin, Ber-lin, The Kaiser said something of being In Paris on Aprlll, but I guess he decided to come in from the other Bide by the way he has been going for the last month or so. I hope the 10th gets up there before he yells. "Well, Jack, write me the news. A letter is sure appreciated over here. Give my gilt edge to all the fellows and tell them we are 18 K fine." The tolowlng is a letter from G. R. McNeely to his brother, C. D. ilc-Neely, ilc-Neely, of the Press-tBulletin : "I notice In the European edition of the New Yotk Herald that the man power bill has naswed both houses and that there will be enrolled thirteen million more of America's men. to be pitted against the Kaiser's forces. This will include quite a portion of the capital stock, but the physical ! training they will get will be great stuff for their health. Still I have no idea that they will have the pleasure of facing the Huns and hearing the thrilling music of chmhing arms on European soil, for the ebb tide has begun, be-gun, the last spring drive left its highest marks on France's hills, and now the wave of Teuton troops, is flowing towards the Rhine. So as the ctorm of battle continues towards the German soil and (Berlin the Kaiser must submit to an unconditional surrender sur-render to save his nation's very existence. ex-istence. ! ''As 'a whole France Is a beautiful country, dotted everywhere with little villages, The houses are all of stone or brick. The customs of the people i are very diferent from thUt of Ameri- cans. They practically all live in little villages and their farms surround. sur-round. So there are no wayside farm houses, but at that, 3, S., Prentiss spoke well when he referred to "the pleasant vineyards and the sunny land of France." There iife countless vineyards on . toe rolling hills, and ! the quantity of wine made -flm"-grapes is inconceivable. And believe me, It's a great thing for we Americans Ameri-cans over here. For "when we are troubled with some belief or feel the pangs of coming grief" wine will always al-ways bring relief. "I like France fine and most of the j '. . v amvt? numu TCI J UUU times although we go through some gloomy places at the front. Still its grand experience and filled with thrilling adventure. When I get up to where the big guns belch, the shells scream, the shrapnel burst, the planes dip and their machine gun? pop it cells to mind the stories I used to hear the old Civil War veterans tell of the fights around Richmond. I wanted to live those days over, but. now I am having some experiences of my own and when I return I can tell them something they never dreamed of before. "I have traveled over quite a little of France and seen many places of historical note. I have been to (Paris which is a wonderful city. Of course my trip there was rather " a pass through on a b!g truck. like the rubber rub-ber necks in N. Y. C. without the guy who "keeps all the fuss" through a big horn, dtfng the places of interest. inter-est. But at that, it was quite a pleasure pleas-ure to be in the world famous city, where Napoleon, whose wish was fate and whoso word was law. reigned in all his glory. I saw the Eiffel Tower that wonderful feat of Pteel. 985 feet high, and many other buildings that have long since been famous In the world's history. I also saw the mammoth mam-moth ferrls wheel which was in Frisco Fris-co in 1915. I would write more, but I expect before the censor rinlshes reading this he will think I am trying to write a book." The following Is a letter from iB. F. Willis, Bakery Company, 394 Q. M. C. Camp ILfwIs, Washington: Dear Mr. Kelly: The army life is great. Uncle Sam at present is trying to make a beker out of me: all the clerks, merchants and traveling men out of the 2Uh Company T)epot Brigade Bri-gade were transferred to the bakery company. This shop bakes bread, only turning out about seven tons of bread daily. Everything Is up to date and extremely sanitary. I expect to take special training in a different branch of the army as soon as I have seen more service; ' however, this is good. Hoping business Is good, and that the Fourth IJberty Loan will be raised In twenty-four hours In Bingham. I am. yours very truly, B. E. WILLIS. to hear about the doings. I nearly fell dead when I received a letter from Red, the other day, but it wa very brief, containing the date line, the heading, a promise to write later, and his name. "Everything is rosy over here. We have plenty of work, eats and sleep also a good time once in awhile. One can't have one of those right good tmes like tlie States put out, but If one works his imagination a little he oan bull himself into thinking he is Moving one Joyous celebration. My Idea of the biggest time in one's ll.--is to be up on the front right now. We are a lona- ways from where the game is on, and haven't even the chips to sit in. Some ene has to do this work back here so I suppose we should be satisfied with it. Hope we get to see part of it before it's all over. "The work we do here Is rather interesting in-teresting and we sure see some great flying at times. Some of these bird" sure pull some wonderful stunts. I am on the lineup crew and one sure finds out what an honory, obst'nate thing an aeroplane can be at times Had a nice long ride in one the other day. Was up about thirty minutes and higher than I'd ever been before The ground sure looks fine from un above, and a fttered up . barnyard looks like a , flower garden. The French farms are laid out funny. The buddings are usually built to form a ho'low iuare and the barn house, hen coop, and pig pen are under one roof. "It. would drive a sanitary shark Plumb crazy, but living for generations genera-tions in such conditions have got the people used to it and they look a healthy as anyone else who was brought up like a human. iBelng a frog mvpelf I hate to criticize, but there is lots of room for Improvement Their wells are nearly all open ones I've only seen a counle of pumps In thlj country and only one windmill Guess they don't believe in water, especially es-pecially for drinking purposes. Their nntional drink is a kind of pale red. and this cognac is sure barbwlre all right. Two drinks and one is not sure if his shoes are on his feet, and he does not care. ' |