[Letter to Ellen, October 23, 1918, France]


[American YMCA logo, ON ACTIVE SERVICE
WITH THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE]

Somewhere in France.

Oct 23 1918.

Dear Ellen
I received your letter and was awfly glad to receive it  It makes us 
feel more like living.  This is a dreary life beleive [sic] me.  Your letter 
is the first I have received in about a month and a half.  I don't know 
what is the matter a home for they haven't wrote in a long time  I 
guess they think I am dead but am far from it.  Please asked them to 
write?  Yes we have a lot of rain over here and it is cold too.  Dan 
got in trouble, well that is hard luck for him.  Why don't he write to 
me!  He hasn't wrote since I left the States.  I guess he has forgot me 
with the other [birds?] he has.

(2)
Say it seems funny he isn't in the army by this time.  He allways 
seemed crazy over it.  Please excuse the paper and pencil as it is hard 
to get any other here.  [Them?] pictures were very pretty and looked 
like home.  I hope to see home again before long.  So hair cuts is 
going up to a dollar well I don't blame Dan for not getting his cut.  
They are not high here only one frank and a shave is one half a frank 
or fifty centimes [possibly misspelled as 'cemtimes'] and another thing 
you can say is you have a letter I wrote with my gas mask on.  I would 
like to see Dan with one on.  It isn't [funly?] at all.  It is [rain?] 
now but that hasn't anything to do with us.  One snif of the gas will 
kill you so you can be glad you aren't here.
[pages missing]
[
Transcribed by Lauren Kanne on 5/21/2009.]