Hide Article Text (OCR)
ANOTHER INTERESTING LETTER FROM COLWELL FRAKESColwell Frakes has wrtten a number of interesting letters to bis parents, 'Mr. and Mro. George H. Prakes, of Cory don, which have heretofore been printed in the Republican, and below we give another which was received by them last week:Saumur Artillery School, Saumur, Prance, Dec. 26, 1918.Dear Mother and Father:—I suppose the first thing you will notice about this letter is the date, and you will wonder what I was doing Christmas day that I could not write you. Well, the boys, or rather we boys, were trying to have the best time that we could under existing circum*tances, and that took up the whole day, and pretty much all night. You c-.uld not have written a letter here yesterday even if you had wanted to do so ever so bad.Day before yesterday I received one letter from you dated December 3, and was sure glad to hear from you, as it had been quite a while since I had a letter. I had a letter from Mrs. “Code” Conrad at the same time. This is the first time I have received a letter from Code,” and I was very glad to hear from her. These letters came in such a short time that it was almost like a visit home to read them.I have not received the Christmas box you mention, and you know it will take a good deal longer for it to come than it did for the letters. I shall be well pleased with the contents of that box, for the reason that it came from HOME and YOU, that I love. Tell Effie Ellen Reas that I Intended to keep the handerchief that “Code says she sent me as a keepsake from my dearest little pal, and I will sure remember her when I am buying some presents to take home with me.Mother, I am very sorry that you did not receive any letters from me during the last five or six weeks ot the war. I knew you were very much worried about me, but the last part of the war, that is, the last three or four months, were very busy times for us. We were continually on the move, and you know the American lads well enough to know when we get into a real live game of any kind we are likely to forget all else and play the game.Would you like to know the time when I felt the happiest since I have been In France? Well, on July 18 the battle of Soissons and Chateau-Thier-ry—the turning point of the war—began, and I was with my old outfit near Soissons. After three days and three nights of real battle we had made a good advance and were firing on one flank of the City of Soissons. I had not had a bite to eat except what I could take from the rations carried for emergency by our good doughboys who had fallen on the fields. You know I was pretty much all in. The Germans were making a very obstinate resistance, and we had to exert every ounce of our strength to keep them moving. On the morning of the21st or 22nd (I forget the date, but can’t forget the day) we were goingone must face—seen men dying with a smile on the face and with a prayer-book or Bible in hnhd—any man whd has experienced the felloirvhl} of comrades In battle and Witnessed the * unselfishness shown by soldiers, their j righteousness and their trust In God to take care of them, and returns to the States no better man than when he 1 came over—well, he is certainly a poor sort of man. Don't get the impression that the good things of war were always to be seen, as they were not. A good many men try to make others believe they are hard guys, but when a man is face to face with death he turns, or the soul within him /seeks a Higher Power to help him face it. This experience teaches him. or should teach him, to rely on this , Power for assistance in every-day life. There is some good in the moat I of us. and It is by cultivating and developing this little good that we can hope to become anything like we were intended to be.No, I am not a preacher, so I will write along some other line for fear that I may get into water that is too deep for me.Father, you ask me whether or not I would finish my course in the Saumur Artillery School now that the war is over. Yes, the school does not closeuntil the classes that are here have• completed the course. That will be the last of January. I do not know 'for sure that I will remain until the .‘close, as I have not taken any interest I in the work, feeling, as most of the other fellows feel, that the war is over and I have done my bit. This may be the wrong way to look at it, but I can not see where it will benefit me any f to get on the officers' reserve list, which we were notified last night would be the case if we finish the ' course. When I get my discharge I don't want any strings to it that pull me back into the service unless It is such a case as was this war, and in that eyent no strings will be needed, because I will volunteer again. I wish I could talk with you about this aub-I ject of army officers, but as I can’t, I , am going ahead and do what I think i best. One thing I am sure of, and ! that i^ that it is best for me to get outof the army just as soon as I can honorably do so.1 am sending you some pictures of i places and scenes around Saumur; also a picture of Marshal Foch. He Is the greatest of all soldiers iu Enrope to-day. The other old gentleman is Clemenceau, by which name he is usually called. I wish I had a picture of him as I first saw him wearing his old felt slouch hat. Ho came on board our ship before we touched France. I shook hands with him on the Toul front in February of this year. He is a very fine old gentleman, and one is perfectly at ease in his presence. I was in the gun pit alone when he | walked in, accompanied by three or four high ranking officers. I came at attention and saluted, and to my surprise and great pleasure, this great old gentleman walked over and shook my hand, at the same time asking me questions in good English. The camera man was there, and it is possible I that the scene will some time be shown in the movies.I must close now, as I have Borne other letters to write. One of them isVJJF.\Flt;C.JIJIAEcc,r-vjGFJVFGJLHG
Newspaper Details
Corydon Republican
Corydon, Indiana, US
Thu, Jan 30, 1919
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
April P.
OH, USA 14 Jan 2017
Other Publications Near Corydon, Indiana
Corydon Press and AntiMasonic Democrat
Corydon Democrat
Corydon Weekly Democrat
Corydon Republican
