War Diaries (August 5) (nonfiction)
War Diary entries for August 5.
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Diaries
Basil Beebe Elmer: August 5, 1918
... We were now near the front line … We entered the line and drove, drove, drove. I can never describe it. It doesn't seem real. It is all a dream – a nightmare. Day after day, night after night, unceasingly. … Ollie Ames and Joyce Kilmer are buried side by side at the edge of the wood … I sat there yesterday, thinking. "Ollie, Ollie!" I thought of his wife and his mother. And I thought of you. How dear you two are to me! Nothing else matters to me – only you. … what a wonderful thing [Ollie] has to pass on to his wife and daughter! I find myself thinking of Ollie constantly. I know I must stop, but he was my best friend and he died so bravely that I cannot forget."
—Basil Beebe Elmer (letter to parents)