More Letters From Somewhere in France: Describing the Y

The letters from George Bostrom to his sister document the events of World War One in interesting detail. Only after the war is over, he writes about seeing action in the Argonne Forest. More importantly, in the chronolo0gical order of his letters, he describes his seven days of leave in December 1918. He provides an interesting contrast between life on the front lines versus the luxury hotel he stays in Chambray, France. 

I am having just a dandy time at present, he wrote. Have been over here long enough to be granted a seven day pass and here I am at Chambray to enjoy it. And I sure am enjoying it. After being in the lines for nearly a month of real hardships. Laying in shell holes and digin’s, what we call them, lots of times wet thru and thru and cold and then sent to a place like this with every comfort you can think of. 

 He went on to describe the luxuries of the ever-present Y.M.C.A. The Y.M.C.A I must tell you about. There’s a Y. here in a very large building. They have reading rooms, writing rooms, lunchroom, all of which are large and well fixed up. The have the place open from early morning and up until eleven or twelve o’clock evenings. In the morning they put up a dandy breakfast for a very small sum. In the afternoon and evening they serve hot chocolate and cookies or Ice cream, free of charge. 

 Only in a later letter, he mentions the action he encountered in the Argonne Forest. Our division was doing it’s most important work since they’ve been in France, from October 8th and up until November 1st we were in some real fighting at that time in the Argonne Forest. 

 In his letters, Bostrom only briefly references the actions he fought in. More often he describes daily life and the beauty of the French landscape. Throughout his letters, George Bostrom provides interesting insight into the life of an American soldier in World War One.