Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1918-09-12
Ex-Cunner and Chief Petty OMleer. US
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mixed up In such dirty work - they
said there vas In Belgium. ! figured
the soldiers were like the sailors. But
! found out I was wrong about both.
One thing that opened my eyes .
bit was the trouble my mother had In
getting out Of Hanover. where she
was when the war started. and back
to France. She always wore q little
American nag and this both saved and
endangered her. Without It, the Ger.
mans would have interned her az q
Frenchwoman. and with It, she was
sneered at and insulted time and
again before she finally managed to
get over the border. She died about
two months after she reached st. Ma.
| zaire.
Moreover, I heard the fate Of my
older brother, who had made his home
in France with my grandmother. He
had gone to the front at the outbreak
Of the war with the infantry from st.
Nazaire and had been killed two Or
three weeks afterwards. This made
It a sort Of personal matter.
But what put the finishing touches
to me were the stories a wounded
Canadian lieutenant told me some
months later In New York. He had
been there and he knew. You could
not help believing him; you can al
ways tell 1t when a man has been
there and knows.
There was not much racket around
New York, so I made up my mind all
Of a sudden to 60 over and get some
for myself. Believe ME. I got enough
racket before I was through. Most
Of the really important things I have
done have happened like that: / did
them or the jump, you might say.
Many other Americans wanted a look.
too; there were Eve thousand Amer
leans in the Canadian army at one
time they say.
I would not claim that I went over
there to save democracy, or anything
like that. I never did like Germans,
and I never met q Frenchman who was
not kind to me, and what ! heard
about the way the Huns treated the
Belgians made me sick. I used to get
out Of bed to 60 to an all.night picture
show. / thought about 1t SO much.
But there was not much excitement
about New York, and I figured the
o. s. would not get into 1t for a while,
anyway. so l Just wanted to 60 over
and see what It was like. That Is
why lots Of us went, I think.
There were i've Of us who went to
Boston to ship for the other side
Sam Murray, Ed Brown, Tim Flynn.
Mitchell and myself. Murray was an ex-
garby-two bitches (enlistments), sun.
pointer rating, and about thirty.ive
years old. Brown was a Pennsylvania
man about twenty.six years old, who
had served two enlistments in the U.
8. army and had quit with the rank
Of sergeant. Flynn and Mitchell were
both ex.navy men. Mitchell was q
noted boxer. OF the FIVE Of US, I am
the only n who went In, got
through and came out. Flynn and
Mitchell did not 60 In; Murray and
Brown never came back.
The five Of us shipped on the steam
ship Virginian Of the Americana Ia
waiian line, under American flag and
registry, but chartered by the French
government. I signed on as water
tender-an engine room job-but the
others were on deck-that is, seamen.
We left Boston for st. Nazaire with
a cargo Of ammunition, bully beef
ETC.. and made the first trip without
anything Of interest happening.
AS we were tying to the dock at St
Nazaire, I saw q German prisoner sit
ting on a pile Of lumber. I thought
probably he would be hungry, so ]
went down into the oilers mess and
got two slices Of bread with a thicl
piece Of beefsteak between them and
handed 1t to Fritz. He would not take
1t. At first I thought he was afraid
to, but by using several languages and
signs he managed to make me under
stand that he was not h~ungry-had
too much to eat, in fact.
I used to think Of this fellow occa
sionally when I was in q German pris
on camp, and q piece Of moldy bread
the size Of q safety.match box wal
the generous portion Of food they
forced on me, with true German hos
pitality. once every forty.eight hours
I would not exactly have refused q
beefsteak sandwich, I am afraid. But
then I was not a heaven.born German
I was only a common American garby
He was full Of kultur and grub; ]
was not full Of anything.
There was . large prison camp Q,
st. Nazaire. and at one time or an
other I saw oil Of It Before the wal
II had been used as q barracks BY the
French army and consisted Of we'll
made, comfortable two-story atonl
buildings, foored with concrete, with
auxiliary barracks Of logs. Tho Ger
man prisoners occupied the stone
buildings, while the French guardi
were quartercd IN the log houses. IL
side. the homes were divided fnt0 1ons