Dear Lucy,

Never in the 23 years of my life have I missed home so much. At night, if I’m able to sleep, I often find myself dreaming of you, and home. I take back what I said, that Washingtonville, New York had to be the worst place to live. I changed a lot. I feel older, even though it’s only been 4 months, I feel as if I’ve seen enough for my lifetime. War is terrible, I don’t even remember what I’m really fighting for, and I just know that I must fight to live everyday, or at least I will fight until the death. Some of the I’m trying not to worry or scare you.

I’m lucky in some ways, I suppose, or at least luckier than some of the others. I don’t have to work in the trenches, thank god I don’t... I must be very lucky in fact. The first battle I even took part in was a victory. I was a new private, and they still assigned me to a tank, I was surprised but they needed more people it wasn’t very hard to operate. I’m in a crew of 8. I navigate the tank. This stalemate isn’t breaking easily, but the tanks and airplanes we have just may do the trick.

We fought against the Germans in The battle of Verdun, we were close to defeat, but we got the Germans to retreat back after months of fighting. Non-stop, bullets, bombs, and death was the only sound I could hear. I saw many of my comrades die. Many nameless people dead. And more to come

The trenches are most of the other privates are stationed; they are dirty, muddy filthy, hell holes. I’ve met a few men who’ve fought in them, and survived, they like telling there stories. The rats, they say the can grow as big as a cat, and they eat all your food, crawl over you in your sleep, there I no real way to rid of them. . You cannot win; you can not lose, unless it’s your life, of course.