Mechanic Roy E. Fickel
Mechanic Roy E. Fickel, 139th Infantry.
Europe.
7 October, 1918.
To Miss Frances Hoag, Kirksville, MO.
Courtesy of Pickler Memorial Library, Special Collections. Msv1_F.
My Dear Frances,
Well probably you will be surprised to hear that I got injured but it wasn’t much just a cut from shrapnel on my right hand between the last two fingers and a tiny scratch on the back of the neck. I had my pack on with my less kit in it and the mess kit was completely demolished. Probably kept the pieces from going into my back. I consider my self lucky to not be hurt any worse for the way Fritz was throwing over shells and machine gun bullets was a fright. I think machine guns and artillery was all he had for 9 (?) saw a german carrying rifle.
The germans sure had things fixed when we run them out. Had nice stone dug outs with electric lights and big cushioned chairs and all kinds of eats and drinks and the boys had quite a feed. (?) (?) its kinda hard to write with a stiff hand and I’ll close for this time.
As Ever,
Roy
Msv1_F. Violette Collection of WWI Soldiers’ Letters. Mudsp Collection V1. Truman State University Special Collections.
