TRANSCRIBED FROM THE DARDANELLE POST-DISPATCH NOVEMBER 7, 1918 P. 1
Somewhere in France.
October 11th, 1918.
Dear Friend Ray:
I have received two letters from you and was very glad to hear from you. I am sorry I haven’t answered sooner but couldn’t do it for we have been unusually busy the past two weeks; we have been in battle twice. The first time we broke the (deleted) Line and drove the Huns back and captured some of their field artillery. We were in again the other day and that was the time we cleaned up on them. I was in the worst of this barrage, and I don’t see how in the world a fellow could go through it without getting a scratch. When I left the tank I got into a shell hole. The Germans were all around me, and they had machine guns. I had to take a message back to the rear, and before I left a shell hole I knew where another one was, and when I would make a dive for it the Huns would shoot at me until I was in it, and then they would stop shooting until I came out again. I got back to the rear without a scratch. I think I was lucky. I wish I could tell you the whole thing but it would take too long.
They opened a barrage the other night and I was about 2,000 feet behind the line and it was the prettiest thing I have ever seen in my life—shrapnel bursting in the air, and flares being thrown up by the infantry, and shells exploding and big guns flashing! Boy, it was just beautiful!
Ray, the place where I am now has been in Fritzs’ hands since 1914 until this week when the Yanks took it. What we can’t do can’t be done. I was talking the other day to a German First Lieutenant that we had captured and he said that the war wouldn’t last two more months, that Germany would be defeated by that time. I think it will be over by Christmas. We hear that Turkey has thrown up the sponge. Ray, I will close for this time. I want to finish reading the P-D. I got yesterday. I am always glad to get the home paper. Tell the boys I said: Hello.
Your friend,
Pvt. Gervis J. Adney,
Co. B., 301 Heavy Bn., American Tank Corps, % British E. F., France
NOTES: Gervis Jefferson Adney was born on January 22, 1900 and died on April 28, 1989. He is buried in the Missouri Veteran Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri. He enlisted on March 31, 1917 and was discharged on August 21, 1919. He left from Hoboken, New Jersey on April 23, 1918 onboard the Mercury. He was listed as a Pvt. in the Field Artillery from Camp Beauregard. He returned to the US from Antwerp, Belgium on September 10, 1920 onboard the Antigone. He was listed as a Pvt. in a Machine Gun Company in the 8th Infantry.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS
Somewhere in France.
October 11th, 1918.
Dear Friend Ray:
I have received two letters from you and was very glad to hear from you. I am sorry I haven’t answered sooner but couldn’t do it for we have been unusually busy the past two weeks; we have been in battle twice. The first time we broke the (deleted) Line and drove the Huns back and captured some of their field artillery. We were in again the other day and that was the time we cleaned up on them. I was in the worst of this barrage, and I don’t see how in the world a fellow could go through it without getting a scratch. When I left the tank I got into a shell hole. The Germans were all around me, and they had machine guns. I had to take a message back to the rear, and before I left a shell hole I knew where another one was, and when I would make a dive for it the Huns would shoot at me until I was in it, and then they would stop shooting until I came out again. I got back to the rear without a scratch. I think I was lucky. I wish I could tell you the whole thing but it would take too long.
They opened a barrage the other night and I was about 2,000 feet behind the line and it was the prettiest thing I have ever seen in my life—shrapnel bursting in the air, and flares being thrown up by the infantry, and shells exploding and big guns flashing! Boy, it was just beautiful!
Ray, the place where I am now has been in Fritzs’ hands since 1914 until this week when the Yanks took it. What we can’t do can’t be done. I was talking the other day to a German First Lieutenant that we had captured and he said that the war wouldn’t last two more months, that Germany would be defeated by that time. I think it will be over by Christmas. We hear that Turkey has thrown up the sponge. Ray, I will close for this time. I want to finish reading the P-D. I got yesterday. I am always glad to get the home paper. Tell the boys I said: Hello.
Your friend,
Pvt. Gervis J. Adney,
Co. B., 301 Heavy Bn., American Tank Corps, % British E. F., France
NOTES: Gervis Jefferson Adney was born on January 22, 1900 and died on April 28, 1989. He is buried in the Missouri Veteran Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri. He enlisted on March 31, 1917 and was discharged on August 21, 1919. He left from Hoboken, New Jersey on April 23, 1918 onboard the Mercury. He was listed as a Pvt. in the Field Artillery from Camp Beauregard. He returned to the US from Antwerp, Belgium on September 10, 1920 onboard the Antigone. He was listed as a Pvt. in a Machine Gun Company in the 8th Infantry.
TRANSCRIBED BY LINDA MATTHEWS