The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-07-23
LETTER FROM WAR ZONE.
John A. Gordon Writes Interesting Let
ter of First Experiences.

service on the war front in France, has
written an interesting letter to his par
ents, Mr.. and Mrs. John w. Gordon, tell.
ing of his experiences In crossing the
ocean and in getting ready for service,
Part of the letter was written on board
ship and part after he had reached sta
tion about a dozen miles back OF the fir
ing line. The young mans address is Il
Rue Raynouard, Paris, France, care of
American Ambulance Headquarters.
Part of his letter is as follows;
81 was on board the Touraine at quar-
ter to three Saturday afternoon (June
2ndl. There was a great croxd of people
TO say farewell and / experienced new
sensation as we sailed down the river.
Tom and Ernestine and Mr.. and Mrs. Al
also experienced other new and rather
unwelcome sensations after we had been
sailing for several hours. Although
did not part with Nv OF my meals, yet
during the first two Jays out | had many
strange desires to do so. The weather
has been very good during the whole trip.
1t was very foggy during the first two
days and they kept the foghorn blowing
ntermittingly during the whole time.
"There are about 536 passengers on
board, OF which the majority are going
over for service About 200 of them are
young fellows mostly college studentsl
who are going into the ambulance serv-
ice. There are units representing Dart
mouth, Yale, Princeton and Harvard.
There are as Dartmouth men on board,
which is larger representation than
from any other college.
"tJune l9l passed the time on board
in reading, talking and walking about
deck. A commission of about Is men
representing the Red Cross of America
was on board, only one of whom was
doctor. These men were picked for diff
ferent reasons; engineers, ministers, bust
ness men, doctors, etc. Every evening |
there was some kind of an entertain
ment, generally lecture or singing. The |
first Sunday out we had an afternoon |
service at which Mr.. Davis, member of |
the Red Cross commission, spoke He |
was very good and finished his talk by |
quoting the poem, "Play Up, Play Up, |
and Play the Game" Tuesday night
Paul j. Rainey told us about his hunt
ing experiences in Africa and the Arctic
region. A Belgian soldier who was an
opera singer before the war sang several
songs of the trenches on Wednesday 4
night. Friday afternoon there was an
athletic competition between the repre-
of the different colleges and
lnits on board.
Saturday we entered the danger zone.
The lifeboats were all out and each one
lad his life belt ready. Saturday Sum
lay and Monday nights we steamed ,
Ilong with all portfolios closed and all :
lights out. Thursday afternoon hui
norous incident happened on board. Two
# Paul J. Rainey's men were on the
ear end Of the boat taking moving pic
ures OF the Soixante- quinge French
75) supposedly firing at submarine
BY mistake one of the gunners showed
iC Hiittl lHlt LliF Jun NAiAAI AAit bthNA
rho was on the firing seat and acting
S though it was the real thing, reached
own and pulled the string. There was
oud report and everybody on deck
ushed to the rear to see the submarine,
ut there wasn't any. We reached the
utter harbor OF Bordeaux Monday night
t about 10 o'clock. Great search lights !,
wept the water continuously We were o.
iloted into the outer harbor and an s,
hored for the night. My quarters on
GARD were classed as Especial" and they %
-ere all that the name implied. There
-ere "a hunks in two tiers crowded into
ne large compartment 1t was very n
ose and stufy in there and | slept on N
eek three nights, We did not sight a +.
lbmarine during the trip but got very .,
lterestes in several spars and casks that
e saw floating in the distance.
1--WE were awakened at s o'clock in
lie morning by the customs officials. We
nded at Bordeaux at noon Tuesday, a
ine IL, and were marched about 40
ocks through the streets to the railroad \
alton. We had from two until seven
the afternoon to look the town over. I
e were treated very well by the people
Bordeaux. ! should say that it was
,ry nearly as large as Boston but very
UGH different. 1t is like most French
ties, irregular, spread out, low build
gs, as compared with American cities
i'd wide streets and narrow alleys. We
# Bordeaux at 7:l5 p. m. and arrived
Paris at a. m, having travelled all
ght in third class compartment. We
IRE Immediately escorted to the Amer
In ambulance headquarters at 2l Rue
lynouard. System and efficiency were
tirely lacking there as in New York.
had to buy lot of new stuff and run
' head off for two days getting ready
leave for the training camp. / took
lex glance at Paris and found It a
nv remarkable and beautiful city You IN
uld not realize that there is a war as -
u walk about the streets of Paris ex- sz
II for the great number of men in uni
m that you meet.
4 am no longer an ambulance driver
{ truck driver, or as they call them
French. camionneur drivers. You see,
" cannot secure and build ambulances