The Ordway new era., 1918-09-20
With the Boys
Here and There
From Harold Cook

Dear Mother:
1 will write you now that 1 am
settled and have little time. 1 had
fine trip coming across with the
exceptions of the first three or four
days and fed the fishes to a certain
extent
England and France are sure pretty
countries. All the low hills and
everything is green, and all the farms
are SO neat and trim. The houses
are all made of stone or brick. AS
the country is thickly populated there
are few forests. The railroads are
quite disappointment as they re-
mind me of our mine cars. The box
cars are about one-fifth as big as
ours and the engines are about half
p the size of our switch engines. The
coaches are cut up into little COM
partments with doors on the sides.
We are having quite time learn
ing French and English money. and
Low much it is worth. 1t runs lower
than our mills and you can buy
pocket full for two bits.
We are getting to see all kinds of
aircraft and it is nothing to see
twenty-five aerOplanes in the air at
one time.
Z, and on August Is, he wrote again,
in part as follows:
1t is harvest time mere now and
they raise mostly grain where we are
located. 1t makes a very pretty
sight One thing that is most dis
gusting is to see the farmers still
using two wheeled carts and hitching
the horses single file
The nearest town to us is Issodoun,
but it is not much of place. AS VIC
cannot talk French 1T takes us all
day to buy anything. 3ut l am TAX
ing French lessons and expect to
'parley VOC Francais before long.
There are two Y. NJ. C. A and a
Red Cross station here to supply our
necessary wants, and you sure have
got to hand 1t to them for doing
great work. We are not working in
shops yet but expect to relieve q
bunch of men who are in the shops
Harold's address is:
4 Co a Regt, M. NJ. & M. A.
A. p. o. 724 A. T.. r.
Harold Cook, who is in the avia-
tion department. mentions in his let
ter that he is located near the town
of Issodoun. and here is what an
Associated Press correspondent has to
say about that place and of the ac-
tivities there:
Liberty airplanes were darting
across the sky, other Liberties were
drawn up In hattalions across the big
plain, and still other Liberties were
putting and struggling at their an
chor tests, as the Associated Press
correspondent arrived at this great
center OF airDlane production for the
American fighting army. The nearby
town OF lssodoun is the great center
for American aviators.
crowds OF soldiers and workmen
mad gathered to see one of the fight
ing Liberties completely equipped
with bombing machines. wireless out
mt, all Its guns. and every device for
going into combat. There had been
other Liberties turned out, scores and
hundreds OF them now moving in a
STEADY stream. In this and others
which had preceded, the last step had
been taken to give them their final
eduipment for actual fighting.
The big machine had spread of
wings forty-three feet across, and like
all others, was of gray cloud-color
seen from below, tho above the color
changed to green and merged into
the green fields. Ahead pointed the
machine gun operated by the pilot,
with synchronizing device by which
a hundred shots a minute flew be-
tween the arms of the spinning pro-
peller. Further back, in the obsery-
er's nests, two more machine guns
had sweep of both broadsides and
upward and rearward. There was no
angle they could not reach. and even
the Gotha trick of shooting straight
down thru floor tunnel was more
than matched, tho details of how this
is done cannot. of course, be given.
1t is sufficient to say that this new
type, long and anxiously awaited and
now reality, armed for combat was