Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1918-12-26
INTERESTING LETTERS FROM
THREE SOLDIER BOYS

1N'I IEls1sST1NG LETTERS FROM
THREE SOLDIER BOYS
LAgney, France,
Nov. "a, 1918.
Dear Father:
Today is the day set for all Of this
members of the A. E. r. to write
to their fathers. You win receive
this about Christmas, I suppose.
Now, that the war is over l am thank
full for the fact that you did not lose
. boy in action. It is only matter
Of time now when will be home
again. That is the only thing we
have to think about now.se As you
already know, I was in the Machine
Gun Company up until about October
26th; then / was Transferred to
Medical Detachment. I was truck
driver in the Machine Gun, and now I
am driving motorcycle for the captain
of medical detachment.
We left Camp Dodge on August Q.
As long 40 We were in U. s. we had
good sleeping cars to ride In, but
wait until you zee what we rode in
aftsr we arrived in France. We
were in Camp Mills, N. Y, 4 days.
This il the camp where we got all
Of our overseas equipment. At noon
on Aug. 18th, we wsre taken to the
docks and embarked on large Eng
1ish steamship. All this was very
new and strange to me. We spent
most Of the afternoon on the ships at
the docks. Near sunset we pulled
out into New York harbor. Out in
the harbor, in sight Of land, we waited
until noon Of Aug. 10th, when all at
once ths black smoke began to pour
out Of the tunnels Of 16 large trans
ports, several small submarines and
two large battleships, and we were
on for foreign land-over 10000
soldiers. II was some sight. About
2 o'clock Of the same day was the
last time We have ssen the good old
u. s.. "A.
The first 8 or days on the ocean
went by vsry fast because it was q
novelty to all Of we western boys.
In the evening Of the fourth day out
we had mad no headway at all. We
had besn going north, and we were
150 miles on the coast of Greenland.
Iceburgs and whale were very numer-
ous. On the fifth day out it began
to get very tiresome Nothing to see
hut water, water and more water, and
the same 20 or Is ships that we had
bsen looking at for the past or 4
'days. At the end Of the fifth day
our protsction left us, that is destroy
,ers and battleships. And cold. oh, so
cold. and in August, too.
coldl and in August, too.
We arrived in Liverpool, England,
on August 18th, in the morning
some long, lonesome trip. Saw one
sub. all the way. The boys on our
boat raised the devil with the cooks.
ard to get even with us they doped
our last meal on@board. From Liv-
erpool we had to travel by rail across
ENGLAND.
We came across the English Chan
nal and landed In France on Sept. 3D..
One could see. a big difference in the
English and French people. We left
J Shorsburg the port we landed at
on September 4th. We were on
French box cars for two nights and
one day. On each car was printed
10 Hommes or 8 chevoux, which
means 40 men or horses. men and
horses in the same car. We slept on
the nice soft planks Of the car floor.
You can imagine about how much
, room each man had. The box cars
only have four wheels and they are
about one-half the size Of the Amer
lean car. At the end Of this tire
some trip, we hiked miles with fI,avy
packs to town in Southern France
! Uy VuS uAmS VI NA01cIAlS> IA Iuc 4diu.
Sous country Of Normandy. We wsre
not there in apple Blossom Time." !"
The apples were all ripe. For the
first time in my life picked real
swset apples of Of real apple trees.
We spent ten days IN this town and I
averageds 80 apples day. From
here we rode the box cars once more
for .13 hours. arriving at. Harricourt
on the morning Of September 18th.
Another hike Of 8 miles,- to small
town Of Solnot, also in Southern
France. this time in the stAte Of Al
Z sace, part Of the country over which
/ France and Germany have been fight
ing since 1870. We moved from Sol
not to Bessencourt on the night Of
Oct. 27th This is where we saw
our first action. In action from
ClnS, ~ IN Nnv Afh We came mt of