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Letter from Ora Huebner, Bird Island Union, 12-5-1918

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Somewhere in Belgium, Oct. 26, 1918

Dear sister and all:

I must write a few lines this evening as putting it off does not get anywhere.

Received two of your letters in the last couple days of Aug. 28 and Sept. 12. This is the first mail that I had received for nearly a month. One of the boys received 26 letters today, that ought to keep him a going for a while.

As you see, I am doing a good deal of traveling and of course see all kinds of country. Land where battles had raged for years is a terrible sight, all shot to pieces and what trees are still standing are all shattered and dead.

Could you imagine a small city like out home town build of brick or stone as these places are, lying in ruins? All this we have left behind. The country where I am now has not been destroyed much. Civilians are coming back again to work their land and repair their homes. Many of them are only women and children.

The weather had been damp and rainy a couple days ago and a little fire was a great comfort. Can you picture a bunch of us boys lying around a camp fire in an old ruined building talking about all the apple pie and ice cream we left in the states, and when our appetite gets worked up beyond control we go out and rustle up some bread, jam and spuds and with the use of our mess kits we make french-fries that would make a Frenchman’s mouth water. The bread we toast and soon we forget all about the luxuries at home and (only wish the war would last a few more years.)

We have “up to the minute news,” that is, when we see it with our own eyes, otherwise we have the opportunity quite often to get the New York Herald and the Fast Mail, both are daily papers and usually only a day old when we get them.

I looked up Mr. Nihart a few days ago. He is in the signal corp. I knew he was in a signal out-fit but did not know which one, we both happened to be billeted in the same building at the time, a large church.

I brought my Kodak and left it behind when we went up to the line. I suppose that is the last I will see of it. Well it matters little as I lost everything but what I had on.

Am getting along fine. The boys say I am getting fat.

Must close now, as ever, Ora Huebner, 91st Div. Hdq. troop G 2, A.P.O. 776, A.E.F.