Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1918-08-27

s. army and had quit with the rank
of sergeant. Flynn and Mitchell were
both ex-navy men. Mitchell was a
noted boxer. OF the five of us. i am
the only one who went in, got
through and came out. Flynn and
Mitchell did not go in; Murray and
Brown never came back
The five of us shipped on the steam
ship Virginian of the American-Ha-
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
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, saw German prisoner sit
ting on pile of lumber. I thought
probably he would be hungry, so
went down into the oilers mess and
got two slices Of bread with thick
piece of beefsteal, between them and
handed it to Fritz. He would not take
1t. AT first | thought he was afraid
to, but by using several languages and
signs he managed to make me under
stand that he was not hungry-had
too much to eat, in fact.
used to think of this fellow occa-
sionally when l was in a German pris-
on camp, and piece Of moldy bread
the size of a safety-match box was
the generous portion of food they
forced on me, with true German hos
pitality. once every forty-eight hours.
l would not exactly have refused a
beefsteak sandwich, am afraid. But
then was not a heaven-born German.
was only a common American garby.
He was full of kuitGr and grub; /
was not full of anything.
There was a large prison camp at
st. Nazaire, and at one time or an
other saw all of it. Before the war
it had been used aS barracks by the
French army and consisted of we'll
made, comfortable two-story stone
buildings, fioored with concrete, with
auxiliary barracks of logs. The Ger
man prisoners occupied the stone
buildings, while the French guards
were quartered IN the log houses. In
side, the houses were divided into long
rooms with whitewashed walls. There
was gymnasium for the prisoners, a
canteen where they might buy most
of the things you could buy anywhere
QICn in tho ctr 60
the painters among the prisoners. Of
ficers were separated from privates-
which was a good thing for the pri-
vates-and were kept in houses sur
rounded by stockades. officers and
privates received the same treatment
however, and all were given exactly
| the same rations and equipment as the
regular French army before it went to
the front. Their food consisted of
| bread, soup, and vino, as wine is called
| almost everywhere in the world. In
the morning they received half loaf
of Vienna bread and coffee. At noon
|. they each had large dixie of thick
soup, and at three in the afternoon
more bread and bottle of vino. The
soup was more like stew-very
thick with meat and vegetables. At
one of the officers barracks there was
a cook who had been chef in the larg-
est hotel in Paris before the war.
All the prisoners were well clothed.
Once a week, socks, underwear, soap,
towels and blankets were issued to
them, and every week the barracks
and equipment were fumigated. They
were given the best of medical atten-
| ton.
Besides all this, they were allowed
to work at their trades, if they had
any. All the carpenters, cobblers,
tailors and painters were kept busy,
and some of them picked up more
change there than they ever did In
Germany, they told me. The musi-
clans formed bands and played almost
every night at restaurants and thea
tiers in the town. Those who had no
trade were allowed to work on the