Camp La Beholle, near Verdun January 7, 1919
Dear Bess:
Such a joyousness-two letters from you last night, one from home, one from Boxley, one from Morgan, and one from some uneasy papa of one of my irresponsibles to know if his son is shot or not. He isn't and never has been over half-shot since he's been over here. (I should be shot saying that, because the kid's one of my best corporals.)
You've no idea how this muddy spot brightens up when letters come. I was so glad to get yours because I have been scared to death, ever since you told me Frank had the "flu," that either you or your mother would get it. I'm so glad you're getting well. It had been almost two weeks since I had received a letter and I was certainly uneasy. Mary was down with it too so you can imagine how I felt.
George Arrowsmith was in to see me yesterday evening and I told him you had been sick, and he said yes he knew it but wasn't going to tell me if I didn't know it. Considerate man, isn't he? Mary says she is much better and I hope that by the next mail I'll hear you are both in excellent health.
I thought perhaps you'd like to see how I am wasting away, pining to get home and out of the armee, so I'm enclosing you a Kodak picture of me made by Captain Paterson. I am supposed to be engrossed with a letter to you but inadvertently I am holding a pencil instead of a pen. I am thinking of you anyway because Paterson remarked that he'd flatter me as much as the camera would admit because he knew you'd like it that way. Don't you think I'm getting thin? It took Pat nearly five minutes to get me posed so my double chin wouldn't show! The colonel says I'm getting thinner. I'm not so obese as I was a week or so ago and I'm still wearing my American uniforms, which by the way are better than any that can be bought over here now.
Tell Uncle Strother that I'll certainly get him an iron cross if it is at all possible to obtain one and I'm good and sure it is. I didn't get one in Verdun the other day because there are no more refugees coming back this way. I am going over to Mars le Tour next Sunday and will try my luck over there. In Metz they sell for 3 marks which is about 75 cents in good money. The Y.M.C.A. is giving a show tonight but I stayed in to finish this letter because I'll have so much to do tomorrow I won't be able to finish it then. I am going to take the Battery out mounted tomorrow for the first time since it came out of the line. We have a lot of new horses, American horses, and new harness. It sure looks good to get lined up like a real battery once more. Parade ground stuff is great for use in peace time but when honest to goodness shootin' is going on you get in and shoot and a few good cuss words properly placed get more immediate action than all the drill ground maneuvers ever did. We've got to exercise our horses and keep the men busy so we should worry. I have some very fine looking horses and I hope I get to keep them until we go home.
I do hope you are well and that all danger from that dreadful flu is past. I am hoping for another letter later than the ninth. I'm glad you like the 77s. They don't amount to much as a present but they are worth something for their associations and the Vosges, Saint-Mihiel, Argonne-Meuse, and Verdun are the fronts the 129th worked on.
Yours always Harry