New Britain herald., 1917-10-22
NEW BRITAIN BOY IN LONDON PARADE
William H. Buell. Marches There
 on "American Day"

1 In the following letters from Will
 liam H. Buell. he is found in London safe and sound after his trip overseas during which time he spent over two weeks on the water. He describes scenes in London and American Day. 1 which was held there in honor of the arrival of American troops. He per- haps bears the distinction of being the l only New Britain boy in the parade over mile long and consisting of American troops.
 Buell. hopes the war will not end by arbitration and says he wants to see the German power broken before any peace is made. The letters follow:
 August 12. Dear Mother and Father:-
 We arrived in Liverpool at a. m. today. There were 27 destroyers cir cling around us last night until we got into the Mersey river. We were from a. m. to 10 a. m. before the Alien landing officer. He has to know all sorts of things; why we are in Eng land, what occupation, what occupa- tion in the United States, etc. It was after 10 o'clock when we got on land, then had until 12:40 when our train left for London. It certainly seems
 
 I can still feel the boat motion. The sidewalk seems to be swaying all the time. As our train did not leave un- til 12:40 we walked around the city a little. We were very near starved but couldn't get anything to eat until 11:30. The restaurants are only open certain hours. Then we can only get 4 ounces of meat, a few pieces of po- tato, some bread and a plum tart, not bit can be wasted. One must eat everything they put before him as one is liable to be arrested if he throws anything away.
 There are soldiers everywhere, some are horrible sights, but still it is all in the war game.
 "The engines here would fit in the cab of one of our big locomotives. The cars are small. Each coach is divid- ed into five departments, like a hack, each compartment seats six persons. The seats are like those in hack also. The freight cars are the queer est looking things. It would take three to make one of ours. They are all wood and on high wheels, only four wheels to a car, no trucks like ours have and just like a buggy made to run on a track.
 "The English are all courteous. We all notice it. Every sentence is suf- fixed with Sir. We are used great. One of the stations we stopped at some girls gave us tea and cookies. It took from 12:4O to z p. m. to get to We are staying at very good hotel. It costs 2 shillings or $1.75. After washing up we had dinner. We met a Canadian in the aviation corps 1 and he showed us around little. We finally went to a movie. There is absolutely nothing to do at night. 1 There are no lights on account of air | raids. Incidentally, there was an air raid about 20 miles from London this evening. The Boche were headed for London but were driven off.
 "Women act as chauffeurs, conduc- tors, taxi drivers, walters, etc. The homes are all about alike with slate roofs and chimnevs with tile sticking out of the top. It Is 12:30 and so l guess I will go to bed soon. Have a lot to attend to tomorrow. Must see the head of the French Red Cross, the l U. s. Consul and the French Consul. 1 There is to be a parade of U. S. troops l ln London this week and VIC may be 1 held here to take part ill it. By the 1 way, I find that you can send me packages of cigarettes, candy, etc. The comes in duty free. As it takes so long for mail to get through you might start something as soon as I give you my permanent address.
 'I sent yo utwo cables, one to the American express and the other to the Sovereign trading company. Hope you get one of them at least"
 London, August 13.
 "It is a little hard to get onto the money here, sometimes we hold out a handful and let them help them selves. For a meal the government won't allow one to buy more than what would mean 31 cents in our money.
 Traffic rules are also different here, turn to left instead of right. No trolleys, only subways and busses. They call the subways the tube. asked a policeman where I could find a subway and he replied that they didn't have any. When we go along the street people look and then whis- per, Tanks