Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1918 — GRANDSON OF MR. AND MRS. J. C. GWIN WOUNDED. [ARTICLE]

GRANDSON OF MR. AND MRS. J. C. GWIN WOUNDED.

The following letter was written by .Lieutenant Gwin Thomas to his mother, Mrs. G. A. Thomas, of Monticello. Mrs. Thomas was before her marriage Miss Effie Gwin, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Gwin, of this city : a _ Base Hospital 116, A. E. F. August 15, 1918. Dear Mamma: — -j . . Imagine your young hopeful lying on the flat of his back with the old right leg swung aloft in a splint sling and then criticise my scrawl if you dare. I’m fairly comfortable today and. I guess the worst part of i t is over. I’ve been suffering terribly since the night of August 6th. Nearly Lost the old leg and I passed through the valley of the shadow for two days at the field hospital, but these sawbones pullted me back. The wound Will mend and the leg be as good as ever, though I suppose it will be a long time before I am returned to duty. But we licked the Boche, mother. American infantry has proven itself the best in the world. Mother, I’m proud of my boys, oh, so proud of Co. I, every single man of them. In fact, I’ve not seen a single American soldier behave in any but the most splendid way at the front. Some have been decorated for gallantry in action, but I don’t believe there are any who do not deserve as much credit as any other. They have all been ready and willing to go thru .the worst hell the Huns could invent, at the word, and the Germans assured themselves that Americans would never take discipline and become soldiers. It had been true with the German type of discipline. Fritz sure is some .fighting machine, though. One has to hand it to him for the fight he has put up and is continuing to put up. Mother, I haven’t received a word from home since I left New York and I’m mighty anxious. Hope all my mail will land here within a few days, however. With love to all,

GWIN.