South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1918-03-07

+ varre 81. Wednesday from his
son, Paul a. Ross. who is with the
+ American eXpeditionary forces in
! France. The letter bears but one
censorship mark and is a splendid
story OF the trip over from the
time of embarkation until the sol
diers were pretty well inland. The
letter follows:
Arrived i'm France all O. h. aft
or stormy trip across the Atlantic
After days Of travel and packing
and unpacking. We arc at last at
what we think will be our perma-
nent camp until the end OF the war.
/ will tell you more about the trip
across the Atlantic and also some OF
the things / have seen since / have
I been in France.
We left the barracks and travel
ed down 10 the big concentration
camp. After staying there for
few days we left for the port Of
embarkatiOn. We arrived there all
+ o. X. and boarded the transport at
once. As soon az the ship was load
ed with her cargo, she pulled out
and We were at last on our way TO
] that country we had heard so much
about and had enlisted to save
The first night out was SPLEEN
did one The stars were shining
and the moon was never more gold
en- than it was the first night out.
J ] felt all right and slept Just fine.
But on the next day, About 4
o'clock / was seasick. II held on 10
| al "a inc
and after that began 10 feel
pretty good. Believe me. there is no
sickness like seasickness.
Il will tell you something Of an
average days routine now and you
viii see that we were not idle all
the time even on the trip across. OF
course from the day We left port
the lights were all turned off on the
ship and everything was in total
darkness except here and there a
o about a foot from the floor
and they were only where it was
/ absolutely necessary.
Rise and Shine
Each morning we were awak
ened az o'clock by the coxwain
f.. or coxs'n as they are called in the
} navy NJ nu came III UueA TIE Slttp-
( ing quarters and blew on a little
shriil whistle or pipe as they are
( called. and who sang out at the top
of his voice, rise and shine and /
( guess that was about all he knew.
/ You could hear him away down the
I aisle OF the quarters singing out at
/ the top of his voice. rise and shine.
At 1:30 we had breakfast or rath-
pr chow. We all lined up with mess
I kits the best way we could among
the tiers Of hunks and fled by "a
food station or rather. the pans OF
7 grub sitting on che floor. The X.
. P.'s Kitchen police) dished it out
/ TO us. Kitchen police doesn't mean
that one is a policeman. 1t is just
an expression All they have TO do
tatoes and onions and clean up
around the galley on the ship or
( around the mess shack on land.
we ate the best we could stand
ing up and holding the kit. or up on
! deck hanging on The rail, or else
+ down in the quarters. sitting on the
i floor with the mess kit out in front
of us Sometimes the ship would
roll about the time YOU had a cup
of coffee up to your mouth and
could not see the mess kit and
when YOU got through drinking you
would find that your kit had roll
ed away over in some out of the
way place or in some corner with
others all i'm pile It was funny
to see them all chasing their mess
kits across the floor
Keep Moving on Board
There were only certain places
on the deck we were allowed TO
stand in we were always kept
moving 10y the guards, The guards
would call out, you can't stand
there. or move on and off we
( would go 10 be stopped 10y anOth-
err guard with a you can't pass
B here They kept us busy chasing
. below decks. too. and after dinner
was over we would go up for in
spection. We had throat inspection
everyday and every precautiOn was
taken TO safeguard against sickness
or disease. After that was over we
would be mp on decks again only
TO be called down to boat drill. We
would be lined up and We were as
signed 20 boats the first day We
taU had life preservers on Us at all
times and at boat drill time had
them around our necks and fasten-
ed Then when the alarm bell
rang we would all run up TO the
third deck above us To our life
boats Then we were kept stand
ing there until the bugler would
blow secure" Then We were dis
missed
supper was called at o'clock
on account of lights out at O'Clock
and after supper we had Is minutes
i'm which 10 take the last smoke. as
no smoking was allowed after lights
were out We usually went 10 bed
pretty early. This about all we did
i'm an average day.
we arrived in France finally and
/ disem barked at fairly large town
and hiked out 10 a big camp. We
/ thought that would be our perma-
nent base but were Just there a few
/ DAYS when orders came To pack up
land leave the next morning We
/ got up at O'Clock the next morn
\ Ing and were back TO the town 10y