Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-14

along the upper decks during the day. Every day we had band concerts on the decks as several army bands were on the boat with us with never a. single thought of a submarine. After dark however, we had to stay inside but that was no hardship because we were singing and dancing among ourselves to pass the hoRrs away No subma- rines were sighAd and it was just as well for them because from what saw Of gunnery while on the boat any submarine that showed anything as large as q periScope above the sur face of the water might just as well say good night. As the days passed and we drew near to the danger zone the suspense of course became the more keen and when the green fields of France came into view before the setting sun of a beautiful day I guess we al! gave a. sigh of relief when we realized that the first stage of danger was at last safely passed. After dis enbarking we were marched to quart CTS of great historical fame for a brief rest, and in due time were then | marched away to get aboard trains ] that brought us to where we are quartered now. The trip I will never | forget. It surely was wonderful. Every | where along the line the French people were eagerly waving greetings to us ] and when it was possible we were giv- | en hot coffee which was very accept 1 able under the conditions then ex- 1 isting. All we saw was old men. wo- men and small children as we passed village after village, and city after 1 city. When one considers conditions here as they really exist, and can set with their own eyes as well, just how conditions are here the blood of any true hearted American will boil witt l hatred toward anyone responsible il l any way for such conditions. I am glaf today that I am among the boys will l ing to give their all for humanity liberty and justice for all nations. have seen German. Austrian and Turk l ish prisoners since I have been here They were at work under guard al along the line fand of course we gav
 them the once over and they did tn
 same to US. We jeered them a lot a. we passed and told them what "
 would do to them in English whicl
 they diS not of course understand, hI
 that did not make any difference t
 us as it gave us a chance to get ri
 of some of our pent up rage towar i their race in general. They locke
 at us rather indifferently as we passe
 but made no demonstrations of an
 sort with perhaps a few exceptions ] We are now quartered just about te
 minutes walk from the heart of
 large city and while we drill muc 1 harder here than in the U. S., we hay
 chances to visft the city proper ever | evening after retreat and all day o
 Sunday which we all appreciate. Jus
 how long we will stay here I do nc 1 know as we are not here on a sight
 seeing tour as the Germans will fin
 out befort very long.
 4 We do not. hear very much abol 1 the progress of the war here, as the1
 are no such papers as the Herai World, Sun or other great paper printed as in America here where W
 are and so you people are really niuc
 better posted about the war than V
 are here. From time to time I will tr and write such a letter as this so yo
 will know just how I am getting alon
 It has rained every day since we haN
 been here and I guess it is the lattt
 part of the rainy season.
 The crops are all looking fine ar l the parks here are beautiful as u
 season heer is far more advance than in America just now.
 If can learn to speak French