NEWS: Eugene HOFFMAN Writes Home, 1918, Altoona, Blair County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/ _______________________________________________ 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