Letter to Mother

[Fragment, page 5-6, during April 1918 at the front]

Last night on the work party John Wild and I were together for a long time, and we talked a lot about our folks at home, He said his more asked in one of her last letters if he realy was as happy and contented out here as he appeared to be from the way he wrote, or if he just wrote that way to cheer his father and mother,

I will tell you Mother if you could only see use sitting around these cellars and dug out cracking joakes you would have no cause to worry for we realy are as care free 90 % of the time as school kids. Of coarse we are shut off from the civilian life that we honestly long for in the depths of our heart, but we don't ponder those longings but very little, And we worry none about what the coming day will bring us individually for every man thinks that the other fellow is more likely to get hit than he is him self.

I have often been under m gun fire it an't nice but if we should carry on, we don't think twice about it. the bullets hiss as they pass, or maby it is more of a whistle,

There is quite a bit of trimmings about a man that the bullet might hit with out giving him a fatil wound, the same with shrapnel,

Hienie uses some very wicked over head shrapnel, but I suppose some boy is saying the same about ours on his side of the line, it just maks the whole air quake for quite a distance when it bursts, and the way the flame and smoke belches out would make an impression on ones mind that they could never forget,

We see large numbers of air craft these days,

I don't seem to be able to carry on with out getting wrong once in a while, I fell out with my medical sergeant a few days ago, but I had to tell the truth, and I know he likes me better for doing it since, Then about eight days later they had me up before the captain for proceeding to do my duty, but thru wrong chanels, I told them the truth and they had to realize that I was only conciencously carrying out my duties to the fullest extent, The Sergeant Major said just before I left Now Cunningham you know I have warned you before, and if you don't carry on your duties thru the right channel, I will have to punish you and I don't want to do that. I said "All right sir" but I had to smile all the time - I could not help it,