Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 126, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1918 — TWO LETTERS FROM VERN DAVISSON. [ARTICLE]

TWO LETTERS FROM VERN DAVISSON.

Mr. Bnd Mrs. Harvey Davisson have received two letters this week from their son, Vern, who is in the ambulance service with the French army at Amiens. Both letters follow: France, April 24, 1918. Dear Father and Mother;— I received your letter the other day. glad to hear you are all O. K. Sam is in Paris for an operation (minor). He will not be gone from the section long. I am feeling fine. We have moved twice since I wrote you before. We are still on the front, but a little farther up the line, not far from where we have been for the last four months. The weather has been very bad, rainy and muddy here lately, but suppose summer will soon be here. I received your letter stating that you had received my letter asking for a fountain pen and some other things, and that they were sent the same day you mailed the letter. By our packages being held up for about a month on account of the big battle on the Somme I do not expect it for a whale yet There is an American aviation camp close here. Am going over to it tomorrow if the sun shines and I have nothing to, do. They are flying over the lines every * day when the weather is permissable. What do you think of the big battle now? World’s series, I guess we will call it. The Boche will get their’s if they give the U. S. a little more time. How is the southern land selling now? I notice by the home papers you sent that you go South quite often. The war has created a new system of tilling the soil here; they just level off the shell holes ana run a harrow over the ground, which puts it into a high state of cultivation; no plows needed. I suppose lots of farming has begun there now. The ground is farmed here dose up behind the lines, to where the shells . pop around on it. It proves quite interesting for the ones farming it; they have lots to think about. Will close, hoping this finds you all 0. K. Your son, VERN C. DAVISSON. S.—Expect to move again in six or seven days, but not far.

Somewhere in France, Dear Father and Mother: — I am writing this on a flat car in my ambulance. We are all loaded on the train and’moving somewhere. This is the second night and one day traveling. My car is shaking so much I can hardly wrote. We had some job loading the cars, especially the kitchen. I received the tobacco, writing paper, fountain pen, pencils, candy, cakes, etc. Thanks very much. I am trying the pen out on this letter. Well, I heard the trainmen-say, “unload in five minutes,” so I guess we are there. Will continue tomorrow. We unloaded last night about 10 o’clock and drove in convoy about twenty-five kilometres to a little town then got into our cars and slept; up early and had breakfast. We beat our division here so we will have to wait about two days on them. , , One of the packages was broken open and some tobacco and polish missing. The other one is alright. Have had one nice day lately, the only one nice day lately. Have had lots of rain, the grass and trees are green here now and when the sun shines it is the most beautiful country I ever saw. The thing that troubles me most is not being able to get good drinking water in most parts of France, therefore we are supposed to drink the ‘vinrouge’ or red wine, and I have not yet learned to like it. We have to medicate the water to kill the germs before we can drink any. I guess I will order a keg of beer and strap it on top of my ambulance with a rubber tube and mouthpiece leading down to a handy position by my seat. I only got .about two or three hours sleep last night, so I will hurry this up and grab a little sleep before noon. I don’t suppose we will stay on this front much more than one month because our division will be all shot to pieces, then we will have to go to some other front that is quiet to reSt up and recruit up to war strength again as soon as (censored) pulled back and new ones take their place. This is the most terrible place on the whole battle front now. The English pushed the boche back about five miles here just before we got here. I have begun to think the Germans will wiggle their last before snow flies this year. Oh, yes, on the way here we passed through one town that the Germans injected (censored). Back where we left on May 1 is an American aviation camp of little fighting planes, and when a boche comer over he never gets back home. They shot two down in five minutes and they both fell right on the aviation field. The boche aviator asked who shot us down; the Frenchmen' shook their fists and said Americans. The boche were so mad they almost had a fit. The American aviators are using French machines and the boche thought it was the French who had shot them down. The boche were used to coming over and playing around, open up their machine guns on the French and the French did not bother them much, so all at once the camp changed to an American camp and the American aviators surprised the “boche birds.” / Is Lonnie Davisson in the aviation yet? I heard he had enlisted in the aviation branch. Is Lewis likely to be called?, I hardly think so. It is very poor sport, this war game.. How many fighting men do you think the U. S. has over here now? We have no idea, can’t find out anything, but it looks as if there are quite a good many. I will not get a chance to write very often now for a while but will write when I get a chance. Will close, with love. Your son, VERN C. DAVISSON.