Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1918-04-11
Letter from Capt. Harry Eoies
Somewhere in France,
Feb. 40, 1918.

Aout iSt1ClS VI NOV. 20, Dec. 4 y
Dec. %, Dec. 80, Jan. 2, and 81
all came today, having been for
warded to me here at our ncy
slatlon where we arrived Febru
airy q. Until tonight no post offic
i was opened. so this is my frs
opportunity to send you any mail
You see we have continually beel
the advance guard, and being tn,
first American troops to enter
district we must organize bcfor,
the regular organizations car
function. Anyway your letter.
were most pleasant arrivals, es.
peclally since they are the only
word | have had i'm month. Since
| wrote you last we have changed
stations twice and are now in {
city OF about 100000 people. ant
are quartered in a French post
With the exception of fuel VIC
are pretty well fixed, and thinl,
we will remain here about SIX
weeks. AL present This regiment
is serving as a receiving depot for
all unassigned engineer troops,
both officers and men, arriving i'm
France. We take these mon over,
classify them and forward them
on to other units as requests for
Army Headquarters arc received.
Last night we received 81 Officers.
The work am doing is purely
administrative. with the exception
OF two hours daily i'm which am
in charge of all infantry drill in
struction. Naturally | am kept
pretty busy and have practically
no time to myself. So far [ have
seen no one from Iowa, but am on
the lookout for any who may pass
through our hands. All engineer
Officers will pass through my of
flee, but so far most of them are
from the extreme east or west.
In the last station where we
billited my Headquarters Com
pany was housed i'm an old fash
Toned abandoned brick kiln, which
was not bad although quite chill
( ly. | had my Regimenlal Head
quarters office i'm an adjoining
villa which was 700 years old,
with an immense wall, garden, etc.
Each room had a fire place that
would hold a cord of wood, but
we had nothing hut brush to put
in them. In this particular village
visited an old chateau which
was built in 500 a. d. met the
owner, Count Hardiman, who was
is years old, and who had been
discharged after 25 months of
+ service. He took me through the
royal rooms which were gorgeous
n ancient fittings, and still in
\ Inhabited. These castles are par
particularly interesting as they
are SO closely associated with
general and local medieval his
sory of France. However | dare
not write its history or you might
know its location, and that is
against censorship regulations.
Sunday ! visited n chateau hero
which was started i'm the lth cen
Jury, and which has been ideni-
lied with Caesars Invasion also
vas in the tower prison where 60
french revolutionists were con-
fined during the Napoleonic wars,
even seeing the shakes with
which they We're chained to the
wallis. The French commandment
took us all through the place, fl
nally showing us where the sixty
men who had been stood up aga
inst wall and shot. The marks of
the bullets were still quite plain.
AT present The castle is used for
storehouSe for government ord
nance.
There are quite number of
Algerian and Italian soldiers that
are quartered in this place, and
which gives cosmopolitan air
to our allied army so far in the
rear. Last saturday | visited one
of the French base supply depots
for enineering material in which
1000 women were doing the heav-
lest of manual labor. Women of
all ages were swinging sledgcs,
making barb wire acknowledgements
and building portable barracks
for use at the front. | think this
sight brought the war home to me
more than anything | have yet
seen. The absolute absence of
men of fighting quality and the
taking over of physical drudgery
by the women so apparent that
/ have come to the conclusion
that America cannot realize the
true significance OF this world
war. When the war is over and
if any men return The displace-
ment of labor will cause a trc-
mendous economical problem.
Last Sunday our band gave a
concert in the public park which
was attended by all the inhabi-
tants of the city. 1t was the first
music these people had heard
since the beginning of the war, al