A Letter to the Editor: Trench Warfare

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By Isabelle Haake

Many men in uniform are currently stationed along the Western Front of the war where they spend their days in long, narrow trenches. They live alongside rats, lice, frogs and slugs that feed off the flesh of their dead comrades and cause an illness called “trench fever”. A vast majority of these men died within the first few weeks, even days in the trenches. Please read ahead to see a letter written by a mother whose son has been in the trenches for two months.

 

Dear United States Today Editor,

            My son Peter has sent me a letter from the front lines of the war over in Europe. He is stationed somewhere in France along with 3,000 other men from around the Brooklyn area. He writes that his whole regiment is nearly wiped out and he is one of the few who is alive and healthy. The first major battle he was in nearly killed all but four of his men, including his Lieutenant and a Sergeant. He tells me that when he left the front line to get more artillery, the major wouldn’t let him or his buddy go back because of the heavy machine gun fire the Germans were putting on and I can’t thank that man enough for keeping my son alive.

From,

Mary Shaming