NEWS: Eugene HOFFMAN Writes Home, 1918, Altoona, Blair County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja 

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EUGENE HOFFMAN FORMER EMPLOYE AT STRAND, TELLS JACOB SILVERMAN OF HIS 
EXPERIENCES

  Jacob Silverman, one of the managers of the Strand theatre, has received an 
interesting letter from Eugene Hoffman, of Battery L, Fifty-first artillery, 
C.A.C., and a former employe at the popular motion picture palace.  The 
letter follows:
  France, April 16, 1918 - Dear Friend Jake:  Well, at last we arrived at the 
front and everything is going fine.  We were given a grand reception the 
first night up here.  We were all tired out and went to bed in old deserted 
houses and stables, partially demolished by shell fire, and about 11 o'clock 
the Huns opened fire on the village, shelling it with six-inch projectiles.  
You should have seen us getting out of the bunks and getting down into the 
cellar in the dug-out.  It was a sight.  Not a light and half of us didn't 
know where it was and we got lost in the rooms and halls.  But we all got in 
all right.  They fire six shells every hour all night long and we would go to 
sleep between each series of shells, but very few got much sleep.
  I am on guard just now and last night we had a gas attack, but it was a 
false one.  The village here is practically deserted except for a few old 
people who will not leave their property.  They all have their own dug-outs 
in their cellars or in the side of the houses.  Many of the houses and 
stables are without roofs and windows or doors, as is the case where I am 
billeted, but the French have put temporary roofs and partitions in the 
places and electric lights.  We have wooden frames with wire netting 
stretched across for bunks and our mattresses, so it isn't so bad, after all.
  One of our lieutenants got a small wound in the knee from a piece of flying 
shrapnel the night of the shelling and is laid up now.  Last night I was 
standing in the door of an old stable and was watching the shrapnel burst in 
the air.  They make a bright glare like lightning.  Was also watching the 
trench rockets go up.  Nearly every time a rocket went up the machine guns 
would open fire, and they make an awful funny noise.
  I can't sleep very good yet, as I am not used to the noise of the guns, but 
last night I slept in a dug-out and got a fair night's sleep, as the noise 
doesn't sound so loud in one of them.
  I am in an old stable writing this on a bale of straw and it is pretty 
chilly, as most of the sides and roof are gone.  Our barber shop is located 
in a room with a fine fancy old fireplace, a skylight (a shell hole in the 
roof) and even electric lights, but no doors or windows, but trade has been 
picking up.
  Our kitchen is in a big stable in about the same condition as the rest of 
the buildings we are occupying.  The first night here I slept in an old 
dressing station (hospital) which has been deserted and the place was pretty 
fair (after we cleaned up the debris), but I am now in an old barn.
  Well, I will have to close as it is nearly time for me to go on guard 
again.  Hoping I will hear from you in the near future.
  Your friend,
    JEAN.

Altoona Tribune, Tuesday morning, May 14, 1918, page 9