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►r«iyci-U*'0-ralin-;a-x-erVoia,senoana-if-ed,n.il!lien,h~ii-ii-v *icidt-s-seinisi-r-B1*111mi-f*.dipeit-iCni-tei-en ei-fiLETTERS FROM OVERSEAS.Iredell Boys Write to Home Folk of Their Experiences in Serv ice With American lionary Services.Mrs. ,lno, M. Sharpe has received the following letter from her son, Sergeant S. A. Sharpe:Franco, Christmas Day, 1918. Received January 27, 1919:' \ am wishing you all a merry by Christmas ancNhappy now year. This he is the third Christmas that r have spent in the army and it is decidedly the worst, being far from home andeverything that makes an Americanos life worth living—-fcxcept we have a turkey dinner today and that means a whole lot when you consider twelve turkeys at $J .2b pur pound. We have two fine cooks, so will have pies also, with candies and nuts. The Y. M. G. A, gave us a couple of francs worth of cigarettes and cakes. This will kind of equalize some of the profits that they have made on us. We have always paid them a franc for a tenement bar of chocolate, and a franc for a 5 or 10 cent pack of cakes, but we suppose^ it takes big profits to keep Y. M. C. A. secretaries in Paris andNice at big hotels with good automobiles to ride in.“The boys gave the French kids a Christmas tree with nuts, toys and candies. It seemed to be the first tree that they’d ever seen decorated, they do not seem to have any Christmas spirit at all here, as it appears as an ordinary day.“We are stifl a* Voisey (Woisey), there is some influenza here among tlie French and quite a few have died. One of the town' mayor’s girls died first, and then three or four deaths since daily, and every time there is a death the chapel bells are rung for about two hours and as there is a chapel next door to us you can imagine the din we live in, with several big bells ringing. Bells are one of the curses of France. Every village has about six and they strike every fifteen minutes and it takes about fifteen minutes to strike the hour. It suregets on your nerves after awhile and is a big nuisance.“The old mayor that I spoke of had three sons .killed within the last two months of the war’s close and the old man himself was gassed and incapacitated for service in Alsace at the beginning of the war. (A/town mayor in France has authority something like Governor of a State with us, as each town is like a seperate province). His daughter, a beautiful girl, was in Jove with an American hgpto officer who was with a iabor battalion billeted here before we came. They make no distinction befcwen the whites and blacks here and it makes some of the fellows boil. if They started to lynchone so no more ever come around this town now.“My Christmas box has not yet ar-i ived but as some are coming* everv day I will probably get it soon.Jan. .‘id, 1919. Received Jan. 26:T have intended writing for severa days, but have no chance in the daj time and writing with just a candle v j light isn’t so nice and so a fellow g*ets h into the habit of waiting and then b too, our life is so monotonous that we b can hardly imagine that it would pass for news to any one else. It rains and keeps on raining all the time we * | have been here—something over a ■ month now—-and I will wager that £ | there has not been a day in the whole ‘ time that it has not rained nor has I there been a day in which the sun has 1 been out for as much as four hours at ^j a stretch. # You can imagine how a- I enow s spirits get under such damp-- ernng conditions. Every thing is wet and muddy and the smell of the “cher-ished Jainily possession”—a manure pue—is always very prominent and it also holds a prominent place, right in front of the parlor window, and right on the main street. All houses and barns arc built in a row and all in one block and practically under one roof. Kach family has its barn right next the residence part and up stairs over the bed room is the barn loft. The women and kids of the family take cate ol the stock and one may see a very pretty girl driving' the cows to water at the town pump-, clothed inthirty garments and wooden shoes oneday, and the next perhaps you will seeher in a very modish Paris gown goingto church. One wonders why theyhave such good taste for clothes andlooks and yet; live in the kind of houses (they do.1 “One sees innumerable old worn-out men and women and so very fewNoting people. Most of the men arein the army now and most of the eirls, go to the bigger towns, its Paris,andwhen they become old move lmck tothe Mnall towns and 1 arming connnurdies The French are a funny rueand hard for an American to undoi stand.“Several of us have in for Cutlough to visit Mice and Marseille'We can pet seven days exclusive o travelled time every four month' Places such as these and Paris i where France pets its name of a tin Country. I have been across it twic but have never yet seen a place' a good to me as the United Sta'iMMai! lias been scarce lately an have just received letters written th first of November.“We kind of expeet. to pet hack lr March but. of course can not tell i thing about it yet.”Writ ing from overseas, Uecembeto his sister, Miss 0*0He B. I.cwix Washington, R C, Neil Lewis, ;kj Infantry Co. A, says:“It is ruining today, as usual, so wi can't pet out much. 1 pot my Christmas box a few days ago and it cer Curdy was a treat* just what 1 wattle, •something good to eat. Candy h(Continued on Pape Three.)I.b
Newspaper Details
Statesville Landmark
Statesville, North Carolina, US
Fri, Jan 31, 1919
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Joel R.
NA, 28 Oct 2022
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