WRITE FROM FRANCE

Plymouth County Soldiers Tell of Life At Front
See Many German Prisoners

One Tells of Being Billeted in a Historic and Picturesque Old French Building

Boys Are Boosters For the Y. M. C. A. Workers

   Elmer J. Featherston , who is now a sergeant first class in the surgeon's office of the 32d Engineers in France, writes his parents a letter under date of August 6th, in which he says,

"Everything is going fine over here and the reports from the Front certainly make us feel good. I can imagine how anxious you are to get the morning paper. You, no doubt, get the news just as quick as we do here. We get an American paper printed in Paris. There are French papers published in Bordeaux which we can get about ten hours earlier, but the next thing is to read them. I am getting so I can understand a little of it, but to watch Americans and French try to talk to each other you would think there were both deaf and dumb.

Bordeaux is a large place but I don't think much of the town. The largest stores look like an American Jew junk shop. We had a large shipment of drugs sent in from Paris and when we got notice they had
arrived got a truck and went down for them. You should see the way they handle freight over here. We had to go to about fifteen places before we could get any dope on it.

They have a lot of German prisoners working around here at different jobs and our men will have a big bunch to work before long. They are of all ages and sizes.

We have been in this camp for a month and expect to stay a few more as our men have lots of work to do building barracks, railroad docks and a little of most everything."




-source: LeMars Sentinel Newspaper, LeMars, Plymouth Co., Iowa;   10 September 1918