New Britain herald., 1918-12-07
HUNS DESTROY ALL
They POSSIBLY CAN
4. E. Turnbull Writes Of DoVas-
tated Territories in France

The following letter received by
Andrew Turnbull of 10 Rockwell
avenue from his grandson, Private A.
E. Tur1bul l, First Casualty Clearing
station B. E. F., France. The grand
son is 4 5 years of age. He was born
in New Britain and lived here until
the time of going to war. His father
and grandfather were also born and
brought up in this city. Private
Turnbull offered his services to the
American army but they rejected him
Oh account of his age. He was deter
mined to see action in France and
went to Canada, where he enlisted.
His letter, which follows, is the first
received in this city describing the
scenes with which the army of occu-
patton is meeting. Thine letter was
written the day after hostilities ceas-
ed and the victorious armies started
their march into Germany.
In the Field, Somewhere in France
Nov. IL, 1918.
Dear Grandfather:
"At last our benevolent friend
Heiny has been defeated OF course
you will have known all about it long
before you receive this letter, in fact
you folks back home have more IA
cities for securing details than we
have at the front, where all is hustle,
hustle, and hard work.
ITO illustrate, since coming to
France L received two letters from
you and two papers. From other
sources [ have not received anything
whatever in the line Of replies. I
don't allude to letters that were for
warded from England some time back
in August. [ have not seen a news
paper of any kind for a week but
know in a, way what is taking place
il these parts.
To-day is almost like summer and
they tell me that everything stays
green in France all winter with the
exception of few trees that shed
their leaves, and I guess that is so.
T observed q bunch Of Cinnamon the
other day planting turnips. Think Of
that, planting stuff in November! The
idea is to allow the green tops to de-
velop sufficiently for fodder for the
stock. We are billeted in houses that
Fritz was formerly installed in and
ing to observe.
Imagine a good-sized town, say
half as large as New Britain, where
everything and anything before evacu-
ating, block after block, from door to
door, business houses and all! You
would think bulls had been turned
loose in China shops Sewing ma
chine legs broken off with hammers,
pianos broken to smithers, paint
smeared all over walls and carpets
and from cellar to attic everything re-
sembling glass, chinaWare, books and
pictures looked like garbage dumps.
The church steeples were blown off
with explosives and we came on to
Red Cross signs built in a big school
yard in the ground that were put
there to deceive aviators. I might add
that the place in question was used
by the Germans for ammunition sup
plies (violating all Red Cross princi-
pies, by the Way.) You have to be
mighty careful what you take hold of
in these houses. Trap guns of in
geniou8 device, internal machines
near wine casks and inside bureau
drawers. oh! Fritz is a sweet dew
berry all right. All this wreckage is
not necessary from a military stand
point, but is merely to ruin the poor
people who are forced to flee for their
lives. . question is now, will these
people return in safety to their
homes? Tt is very uncertain when 7
point but a short time and expect to
move forward again very shortly.
Well, daddy. good luck and lots of
love I've held my end up"