20 October 1918
Dear Parents, Brothers and Sisters, I am well, and feel very good at the present. It is getting colder every day, and it is starting to snow now, but we should (not) worry, we have good heavy sheeps lined coats. We have great times when we advance, that is taking one little town after the other. These places are all along the railroad. The last advance we made was about 18 versts. A verst is about two-thirds of a mile.7 This life is not bad, it is like hunting rabbits, only on a bigger scale. I received the letter that Marie8 sent in July yesterday, and I got one from Eleanor last week, the first mail in Russia. I might write oftener or to someone else but paper and envelopes are scarce here. And another thing, I was promoted from Private to Corporal of a Lewis Auto gun9 crew. I think I will close now until later, with best regards and good wishes to all. I remain your son,
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7 therefore, their last advance was a distance of 12 miles
8 likely his sister, Helen Marie Grobbel
9 he was referring to a Lewis Machine Gun; it was made in Britain, and was an air-cooled design that weighed 25 pounds and had a drum that held 47 rounds of ammunition
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