Norwich bulletin., 1917-09-26

Army Hospital No. 2. American Ex-
 peditionary Forces. Trance. havins ago as a member of the Johns Hop
 kins Medical Unit. MT. Gager for sev- eral years was a member of the Bull letin stan and Is well known in this entered Johns Hopkins University. at l Baltimore, Md, and would now be completing his final year at the unt- versity had he not answered the call
 Unit. The information of his safe arrival | in France came in a letter received | by the Bulletin on Tuesday. MT. Ga
 ger sailed from '.an American port l troops, the vanguard of the American army in France. The troop ship he was on was twice attacked by Ger 1 man submarines.
 MT. Gager's interesting letter is as follows:
 Your letter reached me just a
 month ago and with several other communication with home since saA- ing from an American port, early in June. And in these three months you
 may believe me when I say that, we
 had experiences I'd never dreamed of.
 With Pershins's First Troops.
 We came over with Pershing's first
 troops. and that, to begin with, gave
 
 regulars fresh from the border that we'll never forget. For there was no bunch of men ever corralled anywhere on this green earth that ever repre- varied careers as those chaps. And their tales of their adventurous pasts and in particular the rich and 'fiorid vocabulary with which they bathed, that army transport for three weeks, left us changed men. When ono rainy morning far off against . gray sky line we sighted a lone lighthouse, and a few hours later were steaming into a harbor that to Us then was the most welcome in the world. And then we parted company with those infantrymen, the vanguard of our army in France, and we knew as they went out to their first camp that they would be fighters.
 On Midnight Special.
 The Johns Hopkins base hospital unit left Baltimore .he first week in June on midnight special and we did not know where we were going until we arrived. That's the way it has been from the etart until this present hour of writing. It was with the future an utter blank that one gray day our fleet slipped out past the submarine nets at the mouth of & harbor where for five nights we had been wondering when we would see a certain Goddess again. We plowed our way through the trackless sea in all sorts of formations and at all speeds and in almost every point of the compass. Some said we were eff Florida and others in the Engiisn the unsteady deck and got used to the feel of olive-drab. and lay on the deck in the sun when the call didn't come An hospital men below" which It did often. for "chore" or inspection or some drill or other. We had more or less fun at f1rA waiting to get sea sick and many were not disappointed. I escaped narrowly. and the break was always aversion and the practice firing at periscope lowed along behind another boat a fascinat- ing sport. Satisfactory, too! Bridge" ners on deck, but the raging big lea que sport was crap" and the pots were from big hills to sac,-s of Bull Duram., That famous brand was shooter woulds exchange eight sacks for quarter, but the lack of supply l and demand was never better illus l trated than the price of twenty francs for three sacks. before the canteene relieved the strain. Our friends the | regulars starred at this pastime.
 Twice Attacked by Gsrmans.
 I could write a book about that voy- age, but it was really quite | compared to others that | preceded and have followed. We were | only twice by submarines on f at twilight and again in the middle l of the night. One chap in the unit 1 dressed and undressed three tirhes l during that evening and then kept his | clothes on, another seized four loaves of bread and made for the deck: and one provident soul started with two suitcases for his life boat. I atrri- oute 1t to my earlier maritime exper- 1 ences. at New Haven and StoningtoA hat I was able to resist temptation and lie in my bunk externally calm, put. as I remember it. with an occa- sional inward quake, I am told we sank the submarine. but anyway, as saa itn nbest aS we daal ea up that .oofed cottages, and some picturesque stone windmills looking down at us rom the hills. that harbor two months ago was the most beautiful. most welcome place all. could think
 Were Enthusiastically Received.
 The enthusiastic reception that the French gave us that night as we locked. the repeated singing of the ,rythins from Tipperary to Old Black foe and from Hail! Hall the Gangs All Here, to the Star Spangled Ban ger, being suitably supported in all !. 'ur vocal efforts by the resimelhal | aps sounded that night and cleared he decks of many hundred men in dive drab and khaki. we went below 1 o enjoy the best sleep we'd had in a couple of weeks, portholes wide open gain to let in a breath of air and al- 70 the gleam of a street light to as- ure that 1t was not dream and that ve were safe in port
 Occupied French Hospital.
 The first of July found the unit oc- Branch hoanjfal for ! converted school, al charming, we1I-lighted quadranEular Iuilding enclosing a spacious court The country around about us wast eally fascinating with it's picturesque tone wind mills to grind the grain hat was ripening in the wheat fields. was cherry time and we made the est of it, while the demands made up- n the village stores for chocoaAte 1ust have been stupendous (and in arly made the acquaintance of the in blanc and rouge, while triplt sec, nd coguac and ehampaGue are not he-