Letter 94

Letter 94

                                                                                                                                                Near Metz. France
                                                                                                                                                November 24, 1918

My Darling Girl:

                Another week gone and it isn’t Sunday either.  I’ll bet you can’t tell why I’m writing tonight. At home they call it nigger’s night. Well dearheart, they have quit censoring letters.  That’s the news we received tonight, so now you will know where I am and what I’m doing. No need for secrets.

                I’m just as happy tonight as one of our meadowlarks at home just after a rainstorm. I’ve been singing, “I know you love me, though I am miles away my little girl, I am coming back to you!” The other two men who are here with me said, “What makes Call so happy tonight?” The only answer I could give them was that I’m going to write to my little dear and tell her how much I love her.  Up to this time I made you read in-between lines, because of the censors.  Listen dear,  even if I have not mentioned my ever eternal love for you, it has been burning in my heart to such an extent that I often catch myself thinking of our future and what life really means to me.  Your picture of our future surely made my heart beat a little faster, and every fiber of my body seemed to sense the same.

                 I have tried to picture such a thing myself, yet it doesn’t seem possible that we are just about to enter upon a new life, and fulfill the mission we were sent here on earth by our Heavenly Father to perform.  If prayers are ever answered, mine have been.  For if anyone has been blessed, I surely have. Our company only missed going into the front line trenches by 10 hours.  We were lucky.  So our division has taken the four leaf clover as an insignia.  It is black and worn on the left arm near the shoulder seam.

                Since the Armistice has been signed I had the privilege of going over a great deal of the country, which the Americans had taken away from the Germans in the last week of the war. You have heard of the terrible hard fighting which has taken place near and around Menz, France. Well I passed over most of that territory the first part of this week.  I helped finish the piece of railroad which connected Toul with Metz. The Germans tore about four to five miles out to build their dugouts.  So last Monday, Nov. 18^th, 1918, the first train crossed over into Metz for the first time in four years.  They surely had the engine all decorated with Allied flags.  It surely was a sight.  I stood near the track and I put a two cent piece on the rail.  I’ll keep it for a keepsake.  That night we went about five miles up toward Metz to help out on a piece of track which had been blown up by a large shell.  That road connected Toul with Cologne, where the Americans are located.

                Well dear, today, or this afternoon, has been a very interesting day because I spent my time going through trenches, dugouts, and going over a great battlefield.  In my travels I saw the graves of two Americans who nobly gave their lives for the freedom of the world. In many places the ground had been dug up.  Trenches and other necessary things were built.  It looked as if they tried to bury an entire army.  They surely used many devices to mislead the enemy. I visited a German dugout which had been dug into the rocks. They had used cement for walls.  The inside had been painted and it had windows, but the roof looked like the surrounding ground.

                 I surely enjoyed myself, but I would have liked to have my dear little girl along with me.  You be a good little girl and I’ll tell all, not barring anything.  Oh yes, I must take it back.  There have been things which have taken place that are disgraceful, done by some American soldiers.  Some in our own company.  I try to keep away from them.  I surely get downhearted at times, especially when all the fellows talk about the immoral side of life. I told them I had not practiced such things, and what was more I was not going to, At that they would only laugh and commence poking fun at me, telling me I had missed half my life.   Oh dear, it hurt me to have them talk in such a manner.  Yet I told them I was proud of it, and that we had in our state thousands of young men who were the same.  Oh hasten the day I will be permitted to return back to my own people and my loved ones who know and can understand my feelings, those who can sympathize with me and give me a little love.  Well dear, do not think they are getting the best of me, for I am holding my own.  And when a person tries to tell me something which I know to be not right, it will have no affect on me.

                I suppose you would like to know of some of my travels since leaving America, now that my letters are not being censored.  I arrived at Liverpool England Aug. 28, 1918.  From there we crossed over to England going though Manchester to South Hampton.  There I saw the great ship the Olympic.  From there we crossed over to France on the Yale, arriving in France Aug. 31, 1918 at La Havre.  From there we went to Les Laumes, crossing through the southern part of Paris.  After staying there for three weeks, we started for Belfort, but we had to stop at Hericourt, on account of Belfort being shelled.  Then from there we went to Belfort, to Chauvin, then to Elback, Germany, about 15 miles from Switzerland.  The Front there was not very active.  From there we left for Belfort.  And then from there we went toward Metz, staying here and there.  We stopped in a town named Troussey, near the Meuse Sunday, Nov. 10, 1918.  I’ve been within 5 miles from Metz, but we are about 10 now.

                Well dear, you can tell Hazel she hasn’t got anything on me for I’ve had the flu, too.  But I didn’t have any nice bed to stay in.  I stayed in a barn.      Three of us are billeted in a French house now.  Nice beds and a good stove full of wood. We found some flour here and Anderson is making hot cakes.  I made them last night, too.  My they were good.  Wouldn’t you like some?  We also had some french fries.  Well dear I must bring my long letter to a close or I won’t have any news for next time.  Remember, dear sweetheart, I’m longing for the day when I can hold you in my arms and say to you, “Thou art mine for time and all eternity.” May my love ever increase.  I’ve sent you many a kiss, but the real thing would be better.  My God ever protect you for me is the loving prayer of your sweetheart.

                                                                                                                                X X X X X  Henry