Mrs. G.H. Lockard
Scottdale, Pa

Dearest Mother:-
This letter will be poorly written, because I am writing it with nothing but a barrel stave for a desk. We came out here to the trenches on Sun. eve. in a pouring rain storm and have not had our clothes off or washed our faces since. We have little dog tents to sleep in and only two men can occupy them at a time. We sleep on the ground and I have slept like a dog every night. Looked forward to a fine cold but have been disappointed and am feeling fine. This is the first time I ever shot a rifle in my life and made a score of two hundred and ten. Surely enjoy this target practice. They give each man one hundred and twenty bullets and when the command is given the targets come up in a different direction each time and you must shoot ten shots and load in a minute. Sure is some noise when five hundred men are at it at once. And then the machine guns work at the same time. We are going in tomorrow and then come back Fri. The weather here has been cold the last few days and up till this morning it has been raining. The first night I slept in a puddle of water and was soaked all the next day. Pretty near the real thing now. I would like to hear from home soon because I haven't heard whether the wedding took place or not. I guess you have written, but it hasn't reached me yet. I’ve have been assigned to this regiment and there is a fine bunch of fellows here. I guess Albert is still in Camp Lee. You tell Dad that I met an old friend of his down here. Ex County Treas. Jim Cramer. He was here on a visit. We have to work harder here to keep up with these guys, but guess we can stand it. Graft and Armstrong have not been assigned yet but are still in our tent. We should get our mail from Camp Lee when we get into camp again. There is an awful bunch in this group that I know and I have seen most of them. Has Ben gone yet? He'll probably get a job in the supply dept. because they are hunting experienced men. Don't forget to send a full account of the wedding when you write and ans. soon.

 

Company F, 112th U.S. Infantry
Camp Hancock
Augusta, Ga

Best love to all.
Your loving son.