Free Beast of the Field by Peter Jordan Drake Page A

officer in a infantry co. saw me gathering up some of the wounded boys that were on the battlefield, and he decided I didnt belong "shoving shells in the artilary units". Anyhow I found the fight but good now.  Weve been stuck here in ______ Forest which is a part of the _______ Forest and we have been stuck here for weeks.  If you ever wanted to see hell, well here it is.  We came into a trench outside the village of __ _______ and it was full of body parts, horse and man, and bloody clothing and bloody equipment.  It was my job—me Clem Heigh and some other boys—to clean it out.  No one should ever have to lay eyes on something like that. 
    I got this good buddy from Tex. his name is Clem Heigh--some name huh—I dont know if I told you about him.  You say his name like 'hay.'  Well, it was last week and we havent had any water in three days and the jerrys havent been gassing and so me and him decide to go out to the shell holes and collect some fresh rain water for the boys.  It was nighttime and we thought it would be okay.  We fill up canteens and bottles and were starting back and that’s when the Hun opens up on us.  Let me tell you, I think Mother must of been praying for me right at that moment, we get back to the trench and those German sons of _______ poked holes in our canteens and our uniforms, but not a scratch on us.  We share the water we got back with our boys and some French boys and it was like passing a wine bottle, let me tell you. 
    Well, we got relieved by the 27th so we could get us some sleep.  Cant wait till this war is over, little brother.  Hug our soldier for me. 
                                                            Best to all, Jr.
     
    Now it was all clear to her.  Something went click like an electrical switch and she could not only picture Junior, she was there with him.  Sometimes in her dreams the details of something came to life all around her, so realistic, so many thousands of little details, that it had to be real, just had to, but it wasn’t.  Her mind had invented it.  That’s how it was now:  she was in the war with Junior.
    Now she would see something that would change Junior forever. 
                                                                                       
    Little Brother,                                           France, Spt., '18
    Tired, but I got a few minutes.  Something happened.  I lost a buddy in a bad way.  I wrote you a letter about it.  I havent sent it yet.  Maybe never will. Maybe I should never think about it again.  Were in the woods now, pushing the Hun back.  But we are losing men all the time.  Already were stepping over stacks of dead bodys.  Even pulling our carts over them.  Tired, Going now.  Cant sleep but I have to try.                                                                                                  Jr.
     
    “That’s it?  That was the last letter?”
    Tommy didn’t answer.  Something had come over him.  He was there too, maybe.
    “Tommy, aint there no more letters after that?  How the hell am I supposed to solve a mystery if there aint no more shit-blasted letters?”
    “’ Aren’t’, ‘any’, Millie.  Aren’t.  Any.  My God, sometimes you sound like Huckleberry Finn,” Tommy said, but he wasn’t cracking wise.  He was still in the middle of something darker than the hayloft of the barn.  “No,” he said finally.  “There were a few more.  There was a field card.  Sometimes a sergeant would walk up one way of a long trench handing out these field cards, then come back and pick them up on the way down.”
    He showed her: 

NOTHING is to be written on this side except the date and signature of the sender.