[Letter of Robert Lincoln O'Connell to his sister Sarah, October 6, 1917]

A.E.F. France
Oct. 6, 17.

Dear Sara,

	I have received the letters you sent on Sept. 12 and 15 and also the
two notes[?]from Mame. The package with the cigars and things is still on the
way but I will write as soon as it comes. I sent a long letter only last
month but it came back a few days ago so don't look for much news. We are a
long way behind the lines with a party of French engineers who are teaching
us about trenches and mines. The way they spread barbed wire would stop 
anything from a runner to a clock. The section where we are working

(2)
in is too rocky to farm so they let us play there. This may not interest
you but I know Pa will be, so you can read it to him. We are making trenches
3 feet wide and about 5 ft. deep in almost solid rock. There is about four
inches of soil on top of the rock, which is rather soft and so broken by
frost and weather that it can be pried up with a pick. The French showed us
how to pick a hole about a foot deep and then tear up the layers of stone
which are from two to six inches thick. We are also trying to make galleries
for underground shelters but it's slow work as there is little room for a 
pick and the rock is blasted, instead. The French say they have gone down
150 feet in sand, at the Front,

(3)   
to make rooms safe from the big guns. I used to read about the house to house
fighting when a village was captured and wondered how that could be when a
bullet could go through the side of the house and the man inside but I don't
remember seeing a wooden house or shed, even, since I came here. Everything
is of stone or cement and in the villages the houses and sheds are built side
by side and everything connected by stone walls. Most of the windows are small
and scarce, anyway, so that each house is a small fort. At present, we are 
living in tents by the village where the French genie (zhenee) are billeted,
on top of a hill

(4)
where the wind gets a fair chance at our little homes. Yesterday was stormey
and towards night it began to blow hard. About eight oclock, the rain had
softened the ground and the steady yanking had loosened the tentpegs and soon 
we could hear yells in the darkness where a tent had gone down. Then our tent
sagged at one corner. It was fixed up and we went to bed and again it loosened.
By that time, half the camp must have been down, so we dressed even to overcoats
and helmets and waited for the tent to come down on us, after which we intended
to stay under it till morning. But it stayed up, somehow, and the eight of us 
went to sleep, more or less dressed.

(5)
I think I had better quit as the censor has to read the other letters of the 
camp. What do you think of the newspapers I sent? It cost three cents and is a 
regular paper. Let me know if you have to pay the postage on any letters. We
heard there would be free postage for the soldiers, as they have on this side.
It is not necessary to write out the words 'American Exp. Force'. Just put the
initials 'A.E.F.,' instead. There is no sickness whatever in camp, except the
ordinary aches and pains and the French wine and chocolate accounts for most
of those. There are only half a dozen girls in the village and three of them 
are waitresses in a wineshop. I don't

(6)
remember the other three. Some of the boys must have expected to begin killing
Germans the week after they enlisted and are disgusted with the Army. All the
others are working along, as usual. The weather has been good, without mud, rain 
and no frosts, yet. I was surprised to read of frost in your letter. Has Fred 
been called up yet? Have any of the Tabs or the other boys gone in the Draft?
I may meet some of them over here. I didnt send any money, the last pay, but
will next month. Keep the letters moving this way as they are mighty inportant
over here.
Rob 

 

[Transcribed by W.J.Shepherd, April 26,2009]