The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1918-12-18

THHON, DECEMbEk l
y n = = -
Letter From the Front
Mr.. F. B. Creech Writes of Ser.
vice in France and Bel
gium.
Dear Brunk:
! 7 am wondering how you people
back home feel over the war being
Iover. Everybody over here is feeling
fine The first two or three days az
ter the armistice was signed, the
iFrench and Belgians had some time.
They would march up and down the
streets hollering, singing, sending up
rockets and all kinds Of things were
pulled off. Of course, we Americans
are more than glad it is over, but you
can imagine how much more the
Trench and Belgians appreciate what
it means after having seen more than
four years Of it. Have been in Bel
gium for about a month now and
like the country and people very
much. The people are more like
Americans in every respect than the
French are. Some parts of the coun-
try are very pretty, but others are in
awful shape. The worst looking bat
tlefelds I have seen at all are in Bel
GUM. We detrained near Ypres
when arriving in this country, and
from that point to the detraining
point and above the detraining point
was the worst looking sight I ever
expect to see. A single house could
not be seen anywhere that had not
been shelled and all the trees and un-
derbrush had been cut down. The
| fields were completely filled with
everywhere wrecked. When we de-
our station-and through mud, rain
Flanders mud? Well, it is some mud,
believe me. When we reached our
headquarters, which was in small
town evacuated by the fleeing Huns
just eight days before and which was
all but demolished, we found that the
fields surrounding it were full Of dead
Germans. Our Burial Officer put
about sixty-fve of them beneath the
sod and it's hard to tell how many
might have been found. Of course,
his job was not an easy one for some
of them had been there for a week or
more. Shortly after arrival, our Di-
vision made a drive and had great
results. The Belgians were tickled to
see American soldiers for none had
been VI here before, and in more than
one tow they hailed our boys as de-
liverers.
Well, we have seen some service
since we landed, and I feel that the
Division has been honored more than
one time. TIC begin with, we came
across on the largest boat in the
world, which was the Leviathan
formerly the German Veterland.)
1t brought across about $4,000 SOL
|dicrs. We had one destroyer to con-
voy US for about three days, two days
we travelled alone, and the sixth day
four destroyers joined us and brought
us to shore; and we did not see a
submarine. But that does not mean
that we were not expecting them, for
on the last trip the ship made be-
fore she came very near being caught
on the return journey. It is so fast,
however, that it. car outrun a U-boat.
You see it only cook US seven days to
make the trip. We landed in the
port at Brest (can sou find it on the
map?) about 400 P. NJ, the seventh
day. The moon shone bright that
night, and the most beautiful scenery
I ever expect to see was as I looked
across the water that night and saw
the wave-washed shores of. France.
The next morning we debarked and
marched out to the camp, and VIII
you believe me when I tell you that
we were Quartered in barracks built
by Napoleon, I know it is hard for
one to realize such a thing, but 1t
is true nevertheless. We remained
there two or three days and then
started on the journey which has not
yet ended, but the end can now be
seen, however. We have served on
the Lorraine front, in the Argonne,
the st. M ;hiel, and our Division was
honored by being one Of two Ameri-
can division sent up here to help de-
liver the Belgians. You will see
from this that we have seer some
ser:'ice. Everybody is proud Of hav-
ing been with a division which has
seen so much active service and SO
much of the countries, although 1t
has been hard on all of US. No one
can appreciate what it mean 'e
in dugouts and trenches whe .--e
shells are falling thick and fast, ex-
SCl'I lIIOSS WIZ 1ldVC ICdltS CAPSAAN1AN
ed it, and another thing that cannot
be estimated justly except by exper-
ience is to try to sleep in some little
village when those dastardly Huns
come over and bomb the entire town.
More precautions have to be taken
in regard to the latter than any other
one thing. for the Huns are great on
finding out where troops are bllleted
and getting information about move
ments, and as soon as they do, they
get busy And you are simply at his
mercy when he begins to drop them,
there being absolutely no protection
against them unless dugout can be
found that is shell proof and have
not seen one yet that I thought was.
have seen several aviators and talk
ed to them about the bombs that are
used, and I believe that they are real
ly more afraid Of them than any one
else-they know what damage can be
done by one. I have seen number
Of the Huns brought down and it was
always pretty sight to see them fall.
l recall that on one occasion l saw
one of them come over our lines and
set two of our balloons on fire and one
of our observers was killed. anG that