Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-12-20
DIR. ROSS TAKES
A BATH IN METZ
IContlnued irOm page onel

! stood in well enough for a side car,
He replied that he was sorry but he
had to use IL, | had decided TO 40 70
Metz anyway, so taking my haverSack
and a can Of beans and some chocolote,
! hit II for the main road hoping TO
| hop" a transport,
II walked and walked until saw a
Ford coming at full speed, hailed II
and was face to face with major /
told him plainly ] wanted ride, lie
carried me for q way where his route
turned of, again hit the trail and soon
an artillery observatory car came along
! had never seen one OF those animals
but decided to take a chance | made
known to the driver | wished a ride,
He carried me for way, when ! was
again thrown upon my own resources,
This time | had as companion a
medical officer who was looking for
his brother, captain, in machine
Gun Company. He asked me what
state | was from On telling him, Yer
mont, he asked II knew a certain DR.
in Burlington and said a few | then
found one Of my friends was attached
TO his base hospital as surgeon,
I'VE walked on and on for miles UNI
I'll we saw a Ford coming We hailed
il and il was loaded to the roof with
papers for soldiers but you know
Ford car can always take one more,
in this case II was two. He carried us
as far as Pouta a Mousson, where his
road branchcd as did the Lieulcnant'S,
] walked on and saw the Instruction
the Hun had wrought until / reached
the temporary bridge across the river
Moselle. | stopped and inquired OF the
Military Police what my chances were
Of getting over, He said that they were
holding up all traffic towards Metz,
As ! approached the bridge the Mill
tary Police was busily engaged quea-
tioning a motorcycle driver, so | walk
ed by as If were the General, This
was the town where the Negro troops
are quartered On reaching the other
side OF the river found the town
badly shot up. As ! passed one house
heard the sound Of piano and the
melodious voice Of Il negro He had
taken possession aad was seemingly
enjoying himself The families had not
as yet returned.
81 walked on and on again until
| saw an English surrey coming, | hail
ed them and found they were going to
Metz 10 get ,omt "rC@h prisoners 81.
then knew | was safe for had feared
my ability to get by the VI, Po into
Metz. But my identification card read,
attached to K s. T., b. + i, France
and that was Just what | was al that
time We passed many refugees coming
out OF Metz drawing by hand their
small iour wheeled carts loaded with
furniture making their way toward the
territory that for four years had been
40 mans land One old lady had two
goats She was followed by another
leading two COWS. These the Huns had
evidently overlooked. All the towns
had the streets decorated with the
tri-colors, a flag that viii always look
good to me We finally reached the
gate and saw the decorations through
had passed. To my relief the English
lieutenant stopped and fixed up things,
and we proceeded on our way Before
finding the fort that had the prisoners
we visited all four. 1t is said that this
is one of the strongest fortified places
held by the Germans. The sight that
met my eyes was one well worth Civ
ing six months of my life. There were
prisoners from France, Russia, Italy,
and England all grouped i'll different
parts. Some had on a combination Of
the uniform of all four nations. We
went down to where the English
prisoners were and the look OF delight
that came over their faces as they were
told they could go to Nancy and from
there would be sent by ambulance
train to Calais. Immediately saw
there was work for a medical man so
! suggested hold sick call. We gather
ed all in line and found ont what was
the matter with each, but I had moth
ing to do with. Some had diarrhoea,
others unhealed wounds made by Ger
man guards and some unattended alb
scesses. The Y. NJ {. A. had come in
with cocoa and biscuits which was
about all the nutrition they h4u until
later truck brought rations for 100
men.
"The secretary suggested we go to
town and get some bandages and dress
ings and in the meanwhile he wanted
to visit the military auth rities and
find a central location to feed the re-
turning prisoners nearer the station. /
had offered to be Of what help I could
that day and the next. | thought it
meant my missing seeing the town but
the decision meant | saw far more
than if | had gone sight seeing. We
took a tram" car and it seemed so
strange to hear German spoken. ! re-
called few of the phrases that | had
spent hours toiling over at the mi
versity For five, months we had not
been allowed to speak a word OF Ger
man. Once l had stood between
court martial of one OF my medical
orderlies who in speaking to French
priest had used German and was over
heard and had reported to our COM
handing Officer 1t all SCENE so
strange. We finally reached the center
of the town and spotted 4 Red Cross
car, We took after it, only to miss 1t.
about fOr limo and