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PRIVATE CARAS’ STORY.In| To our way of thinking one of the best stories o of the great war is being told in the letters which i Private Sam Caras of Helena of the 91st “Wild 1.1 Cat” division, has been writing to his brother :1: here and which are appearing in the Sunday In-J dependent.t1 There is little of technical military description in the letters of Caras—he tells in simple, straight-forward language what he saw during h|the fighting and it carries the punch.Private Caras was born in Greece and before he became an American citizen he had served as a fighter iri two wars in the old country. He had . seen a lot of fighting and a lot of hardships, but g! he is free to admit that the sights he has seen on f the battlefields of the world war, surpass any-tithing he witnessed during Greece’s fights in the ai Balkan campaigns of 1912 and 1913.yi-iThe power of description which this natural-t ized American possesses, especially as he is us-|J ing English which he had to learn after he left ,t the old country, is amazing. And his letters breathe the .spirit of a freeman, one who is de-e1 voted to his adopted country. He was born undr autocracy yet no stronger advocate of democracy may be imagined than he.i-,say•ePrivate Caras has a sense of humor which lightens much of the gruesome details of the fighting. At the close of a tremendous battle f,j during which he witnessed sights which turnedsjhim sick, he tells how he lay down in the mudiof a shell hole while shrapnel burst overhead.• iISirHe says:“We lay there and for the first time that day I found that I was hungry—too much excitement had been going on through the day to think of anything to eat. 1 opened up my pack and took out a can of ‘wullie’ (by the wray, if any of you k'folks mention ‘canned willie’ to me when I gety,ie1?)(ip-j back, you had better be prepared to meet your Maker) and some hard tack. We used to have some in the store for sale, but you had better get rid of it before 1 get there. I hate the sight of it. 1 ate some of it but gave most of it away as some of the boys liked it better than I did.”iVd-rtsbeIdI
Newspaper Details
Helena Independent
Helena, Montana, US
Tue, Apr 01, 1919
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Kenneth R.
USA 28 Sep 2018
Other Publications Near Helena, Montana
Helena Sunday Independent Record
Independent
Helena Weekly Independent
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Helena Daily Independent
