DIY History | Transcribe | World War I Diaries and Letters | Conger Reynolds correspondence, May-December 1916 | 1916-08-16 Conger Reynolds to Mr. & Mrs. John Reynolds Page 17

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Conger Reynolds correspondence, May-December 1916

1916-08-16 Conger Reynolds to Mr. & Mrs. John Reynolds Page 17

with his service. He was gassed sometime in the course of his other experiences, and his face, once smooth, is now pitted and pimpled from the effect on his blood. Aside from this he looks healthy enough; but his heart is bad in consequence of the various shocks he has received, and the doctors have told him he has only two years to live. He takes it unconcerned enough just as he does all the horrible nightmare he has been through. In the most matter-of-fact manner he told me today some of the most astounding tales of killing and of suffering I ever heard. One was of how he and a friend of his went on an expedition to destroy German officers' bomb proofs. Each had a bag of bombs, two revolvers and fifty rounds of ammunition, a rifle and 150 rounds. They were gone three days, prowling through deserted trenches and up to the enemy lines and into them. Every once in awhile they met German patrols, and it was a case of kill or be killed. The fact that my Candian told me the story was evidence enough how these encounters came out. They destroyed four bomb proofs and killed, so he said, not less than forty Germans each. Before they got back their comrades had given them up and they had been officially reported as killed. When

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with his service. He was gassed sometime in the course of his other experiences, and his face, once smooth, is now pitted and pimpled from the effect on his blood. Aside from this he looks healthy enough; but his heart is bad in consequence of the various shocks he has received, and the doctors have told him he has only two years to live. He takes it unconcerned enough just as he does all the horrible nightmare he has been through. In the most matter-of-fact manner he told me today some of the most astounding tales of killing and of suffering I ever heard. One was of how he and a friend of his went on an expedition to destroy German officers' bomb proofs. Each had a bag of bombs, two revolvers and fifty rounds of ammunition, a rifle and 150 rounds. They were gone three days, prowling through deserted trenches and up to the enemy lines and into them. Every once in awhile they met German patrols, and it was a case of kill or be killed. The fact that my Candian told me the story was evidence enough how these encounters came out. They destroyed four bomb proofs and killed, so he said, not less than forty Germans each. Before they got back their comrades had given them up and they had been officially reported as killed. When