Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1917-09-19
HUGO FALES WRITES
PARENTS OF LIFE ON
THE FRENCH FRONT
is HAVING GOOD TIME-STAYED
IN HOUSE FORMERLY OCCU- /.
PIED BY BENZ. FRANKLIN
August 26. 1917,


August 26, 1917.
Dear Mother and Father:
Well, here / am in France Have
been having a good time so far and
am seeing a little of the country.
We arrived in Bordeaux as i cabled
you, on Friday night, leaving for
Paris that night on the train. They
have very funny trains oyer here.
The coaches are very small and open
from the side door right into the seat
which accommodates nine people, il
you stack them up in good shape. We
had our fares paid by the govern
ment to Paris and food, etc. We
couldn't sleep at all on the train that
night because we couldn't find place
large enough to lay down on.
We arrived in Paris in the morning
at nine o'clock. Paris is about $50
miles from Bordeaux. The field SER
vice came down to the station to meet
US with a large truck and we piled
our junk all in and left for quarters.
Our quarters in Paris are fine. They
are in an old mansion, which is about
one hundred years old, but it is right
in the heart of Paris and has very
beautiful gardens about it. 1t is the
house Benjamin Franklin occupied
while in France.
was in Paris from Saturday morn
ing until Tuesday morning and went
all over the town and saw as much
of the city as could, and there sure
was lot to see. / will write about
Paris little later and will go ahead
with this letter.
We came out to camp last Tuesday.
1t is quite little ways out of Paris
and about eighteen miles from the
line at present. / met quite a few
fellows and l want to stay with them
if / can. l met a fellow here at
camp from st. Louis, Mo-, that / was
we'll acquainted with while there. We
will probably be here for couple of
weeks and then to the front. | am
anxious to get there to. We hear the
big guns every night and the aero
planes are thicker than flies. We can
see the big observation balloons at
the front from our camp. There
were five in sight last night about
seven o'clock. we have a very nice
camp here. 1t was held a short time
ago by the Germans and afterwards
taken by the French. The German
officers lived in the house that we
now have. 1t is very large farm
and well kept up.
This is our duty for the day and
every day: Get up at six o'clock in
the morning, take setting up exer-
cises for ten minutes; go back and
get ready for breakfast at seven
o'clock, then work around until nine
o'clock. At nine o'clock we have drill
until ten o'clock, and then a lecture
on cars and so on until eleven o'clock.
Then we eat again. At one o'clock
we start out and drive until five
o'clock, and come back to supper and
then you are off until nine o'clock
when they call the roll, and at $3.50
we go to bed. We have very good
meals, in fact, as good as anyone
could wish, but they season the food
too highly with garlic. Meat pota-
toes, soup, jam, and bread The
bread is dark brown. They don't
have any white bread in France az
present as it takes too much -four.
1t is made of bran and so on. Wine
every meal; sometimes butter.
Yesterday | was sent out to a lit
tie town to haul coal. We have five
ton Pierce-Arrow trucks and they
put six tons on one yesterday and
hauled it from one town to another.
We can see war sure enough here.
The truck that was with me ran into
a shell hole yesterday and we had
some time getting it out, but as
rule the roads are fine.
, We can see air battles here quite
lot. The first night | was here the
guns awakened me but haven't been
bothered with them since. We wear
a helmet made of steel and carry
gas mask, but haven't had to use it
so far.
We went up to the first line
trenches which three months ago yes
terday were occupied by the French.
They are sure interesting and are
made just as you read about and are
drained on the floor by a slat walk.
. We went down into six dugouts They
are made for the officers and are
about forty feet under ground and
are fixed up pretty nice. We went
down into six of these.
/ am getting along fine and am
sure glad / came over, i have seen
lot and expect TO see lot more.
There isn't any danger in this SER
vice and they have never lost a man
in it. We have a fine bunch of col
lege men and sure have a lot of fun.
1t is rather cold nights, but warm
in the daytime.
You can send my mail to 81 Rue
Raynonard, T. M. 23 Convois Autos,
Paris, until l let you know my ad-
dress at the front or where to write
there. Must close now,
10