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Show IS BEEN FIGHTiniG 01 BATTLE FRONTS OF FRANCE Interesting letters from F. C. Van Dyko, now in France, a nophow of Miss Chandler of Ogden as follows; "Sept. 1st A. E. F, France, j "We have been travollng and on the go for three weeks travel threo days and rest two. At present we are billeted in a barn I call it witli an old French couple, 5 cows, 20 chickens, 12 rabbits, and 3 pigs. Wo sleep on on the balcony and arc having hav-ing what wc call a good time. Across the street is a cafe. As wo were sitting sit-ting out last evening, wc watched the stock being brought in. Imagine taking tak-ing 5 cows and 3 horses In the saino door that is tho entrance to the cafe and homo! "Wo have been in tho Vosges mountains moun-tains three weeks. Say, but it is" beautiful scenery for miles around! "Talk about cold. We have our heavy underwear on and then our overcoats in tho evenings. When it rains, gee, how it rolls down tho mountains moun-tains in torrents, at the foot of which we are camped. Many times we have been soaked through and through, and It takes days to dry out. We had one wonderful ride over five mountains. moun-tains. It took us a day to get back. Got lots' of scenery and saddle sores. The enemy shot everything at us, from Roman candles to 9.2 guns. We have all kinds of excitement watching the numerous air raids and observation balloons shot down. Machine gun fire you can only hear. The bigger guns you can hear and see. The shells when they burst look like powder puffs, that break in the air. "Wo have traveled In box cars and horseback from two to three days almost al-most every move, and have slept on school house floors, court house floors, green houses and last but not least on the ground. "October Sth. We have just arrived at our billets back from the front for rest and re-equipment for another whack at the front. There were 15 letters waiting for me. They sure were appreciated. Havo had no time in tho past five weeks to write; not even to change clothing. On tho march twenty -six days and at three fronts.' That is going some. Oh, but I sure have had my share of the front and Indescribable horrors. If I get a chance, I will send a Boche helmet and other trinkets that is if I can get near a postoffice soon. But I cannot can-not carry them long, as we have to walk every place we go. Thirty out of our 180 horses are left. They are all heavily laden and are about all In. If, you could only see some of these Boche dugouts the Boche must have thought that he 'was there to stay-but stay-but they were blown out In quick hurry, hur-ry, this last big drive. They even left almost everything and beat It. Some of the rooms could accommodate about 2000 men. They were furnished with pianos, electric lights and had almost al-most all of the modern house equipment. equip-ment. Some of the dugouts approach the size of a small city. "We are drilling hard so we will not I get lax keeping our muscles like iron. : We found some bread in a boche dugout dug-out Their bread is very hard. The loaves are about 8 feet long, 4 wide, and 2 thick, and weigh about 10 pounds. It looks like as though made of potato peelings and other stuff. I got hold of a suit of armor. It fits over the shoulders down to the knees and Is about one-fourth of an inch thick. It weighs about 50 pounds. I did not carry It far, "Octoper 23. Well, we are back from the front again. We have new clothes and full equipment. It took I 'us five days to be shot up and back to j another front about 90 miles from Ar-gonne, Ar-gonne, the place we were on that big drive. You have doubtless read of It We certainly needed all the severe training ve got for the experiences we have gone through. "Maybe you do think tho Red Cross and Salvation Army do not put out a thing. Well, they do. These girls are up cooking for us under shell fire with their gas masks on, suffering the hardships hard-ships that we boys go through and they do not charge a cent for their services and food. "October 31. We are now in a big forest with lots of deafening shells bursting continually around us. We have been on the firing line since August Au-gust 20, with only two to six days' interval, in-terval, and that includes our marches from one front to another six battle-fronts battle-fronts in all with lots of excitement and severe experiences attached to every ev-ery move, "Here is hoping that all are well and in good spirits. With much love. "F. C VAN DYKE. "Bat B, 128th' F. A., A. E. F." |