Sidney Towner Phelan letter to Mrs. Steinwender - September 4, 1917
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[September] 4, 1917 My dear Mrs. Steinwender, How do you like this stationary? I am at the front and lucky to get even this. I have been here nearly a month and two weeks of that have been spent in a big attack when we worked night and day with little food and less sleep. I have experienced enough sensations and thrills to last a life time. I have seen some wonderful sights and some horrible ones. The road to running blood, torn with shell holes and strewn with dead horses and men wrecked carts and autos the French bomb-
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ardment of a hill occupied by the Germans, the overflowing morgue at one of our posts, towns so completely wrecked that not a house had the first floor standing those are just a few of the things I have seen. That attack was certainly the most wonderful thing I have experienced yet. Now we are back of the lines resting up, and waiting for our division (an attacking one) to go into action again. The U. S. Army has taken our ambulance service over. I think nearly every man will resign as I
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will be greatly changed and not in our favor. What I will do I don't know go into some other service here, get a job here, or go home. Rex is now in Paris. He got in a row with our French lieutenant. Our section chef has written a letter in which he commends Rex and recommends him for a commission. Rex's departure from here was more like a march of triumph than anything else. Our chef took him to the station in his car and saw him off. The fellows cheered for him and looked bloody murder at the lieut. I don't think the affair will hurt Rex at all, in fact it's lucky as he gets to Paris so much sooner and doesn't have to stay here until the actual transfer to the U. S. Army. Give my love to Margaret and though Rex isn't here I know he would send his. Towner
Details
| Title | Sidney Towner Phelan letter to Mrs. Steinwender - September 4, 1917 |
| Creator | Phelan, Sidney Towner |
| Source | Phelan, Sidney Towner. Letter to Mrs. Steinwender. 4 September 1917. Sidney Towner Phelan Papers, 1899-1960. A1209. Missouri History Museum, Saint Louis, Missouri. |
| Description | Sidney Towner Phelan, a St. Louis native, wrote this letter to Mrs. Steinwender while serving in France as a volunteer ambulance driver during World War I. In this letter, Phelan wrote that he had been at the front for a month and that two weeks of it was spent in a big attack. He explained that he had worked night and day with little food and sleep. Pherlan also described some of the horrific things he’d seen in graphic detail. |
| Subject LCSH | World War, 1914-1918--France; World War, 1914-1918--Medical care; United States. Army. Ambulance Company No. 5; Gas; World War, 1914-1918--Chemical warfare; Ambulance driving |
| Subject Local | WWI; World War I |
| Site Accession Number | A1209 |
| Contributing Institution | Missouri History Museum |
| Copy Request | Transmission or reproduction of items on these pages beyond those allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the Missouri History Museum: 314-746-4510 |
| Rights | The text and images contained in this collection are intended for research and educational use only. Duplication of any of these images for commercial use without express written consent is expressly prohibited. Contact the Missouri History Museum's Permissions Office at 314-746-4511 to obtain written consent. |
| Date Original | September 4, 1917 |
| Language | English |