TRANSCRIBED FROM THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT OCTOBER 23,1918 P. 3
Your most welcome letter of July 14 received in due time. I was in the (CENSORED) drive at the time. The (CENSORED) is not near as bloody as I expected it to be. I went swimming in it and got very clean at the time. I have not had a bath since then. I was also at the (CENSORED) drive. It was there for the first time I was really scared.
A high explosive shell struck a tree close by where I was standing and for a moment it rained fragments from shell and tree. Evereything around me was struck and my companion lay at my feet with a piece of shell through his leg. I believe that it was 30 minutes before I was real sure that I had not been hit.
I am now in a very warm and comfortable dugout. While it would not be of much protection from a direct hit by a high explosive shell, it is a protection from shrapnel and the rain (CENSORED), but how it rains in this country. The rain, the mud and the cold. Next to the Germans it is our worst enemy. This is the worst war I was (CENSORED). This has been a very good day so far. It is about noon and the sun is shining for the first time for quite a while. I hiked two kilometers to the kitchen before daylight and had an exceptional good breakfast, which consisted of boiled rice with sugar and canned milk on it and some sweetened coffee. I remember a year ago if the mess sergeant had given us anything like that and called it breakfast he would have been lynched. We were also able to buy two cents worth of candy for a franc which is about 18 cents in United States money. Also I managed to get a book of cigarette papers and paid five francs for three cans of Borden’s evaporated milk. I sold one of the cans for five francs.
I heated some water in an old tomato can and shaved.
This certainly has been a fine day for us. Good weather, good grub and two months pay and very little work. A year ago this would have been a hardship for me, but since then I have learned to appreciate living. Everything has been very quiet till now. The Boche are sending over a few shells to see what they can stir up. They will find out soon enough. They do not know that there are Americans at this point but they soon will know it and so will the world. They found it out at Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel and they will find out more here.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by A. A. Hogue to his father James E. Hogue. He grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas and was a student at the University of Arkansas. He served in Battery E., 146th Field Artillery.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT
Your most welcome letter of July 14 received in due time. I was in the (CENSORED) drive at the time. The (CENSORED) is not near as bloody as I expected it to be. I went swimming in it and got very clean at the time. I have not had a bath since then. I was also at the (CENSORED) drive. It was there for the first time I was really scared.
A high explosive shell struck a tree close by where I was standing and for a moment it rained fragments from shell and tree. Evereything around me was struck and my companion lay at my feet with a piece of shell through his leg. I believe that it was 30 minutes before I was real sure that I had not been hit.
I am now in a very warm and comfortable dugout. While it would not be of much protection from a direct hit by a high explosive shell, it is a protection from shrapnel and the rain (CENSORED), but how it rains in this country. The rain, the mud and the cold. Next to the Germans it is our worst enemy. This is the worst war I was (CENSORED). This has been a very good day so far. It is about noon and the sun is shining for the first time for quite a while. I hiked two kilometers to the kitchen before daylight and had an exceptional good breakfast, which consisted of boiled rice with sugar and canned milk on it and some sweetened coffee. I remember a year ago if the mess sergeant had given us anything like that and called it breakfast he would have been lynched. We were also able to buy two cents worth of candy for a franc which is about 18 cents in United States money. Also I managed to get a book of cigarette papers and paid five francs for three cans of Borden’s evaporated milk. I sold one of the cans for five francs.
I heated some water in an old tomato can and shaved.
This certainly has been a fine day for us. Good weather, good grub and two months pay and very little work. A year ago this would have been a hardship for me, but since then I have learned to appreciate living. Everything has been very quiet till now. The Boche are sending over a few shells to see what they can stir up. They will find out soon enough. They do not know that there are Americans at this point but they soon will know it and so will the world. They found it out at Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel and they will find out more here.
NOTES: This partial letter was written by A. A. Hogue to his father James E. Hogue. He grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas and was a student at the University of Arkansas. He served in Battery E., 146th Field Artillery.
TRANSCRIBED BY CAROLYN YANCEY KENT