The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1918-12-20
From ChaumOnt, France.

| is pretty ndppy ny INV, oihNS tHO
| war has ended l don't know when
l will get home, but think I will be
there by spring. The town general
| headquarters is in is Chaumont
(Haub Msrne), France. The first
town was in when won't with the
first army is La Ferte (Sur Jourrer),
about 16 miles of Chateau Thierry,
that was during the Chateau Thierry
! drive. La Ferte is 35 miles west of
Paris. When we were there / used
to get to go to Paris three and four
times a week. 1t only took one hour
| to run it. When we left there after
the drive, we went to Neochauton, a
town about 40 miles of here. Was
there about rs days, then moved
closer for the st. Mihicl drive, to
the town of Ligny Zen Barrois ten
miles of Bar lie Due. We moved from
Ligny to Souilly for the Verdun
drive, the one that finished the war.
| When / went to Souilly l met up
with Paul johnson there just in the
edge of town in en- aviation field, and
l used to go up and eat with him
quite often.
There were about IA drivers from
the general headquarters who went
| to the first army the same time /
did. l would like to hcve stayed
with the first army, but the general
headquarters called their chauffeurs
back, and we had to come back. II
we could have stayed we probably
would have got homo sooner than
the general headquarters. DR.. Young
blood came to the first crmy head
quarters about two weeks cfter / left.
/ haven't been able to sec him yet.
/ received card from him few
days ago, telling me he was with
the first army. / will give you names
of some of the towns l used to drive
to during the battles: Toul-Noney is
town about the size of Paducah,
KY, Bar lie Due, Chateau Thierry,
Scissors, Rheims, Compoigne, town
where the French general headquar-
tiers used to be before the Germans
made the push towards Paris. They
had to move further from the lines
to Provins, so miles southwest of
Paris. Compeigne is town little
bigger than Union City. All the
kings used to have their summer
homes there long years ago. 1t is
ITO miles from Chaumont. l used
to drive there every other day before
they moved closer. A lieutenant and
myself used to carry dispatches there
to Gen. Peton from Gen. Pershing.
1t wasn't so hard after they moved
closer to Provins. = 1t was only 108|
miles then. Sometimes l used to
make round trip in a day. / drove
it once in three hours. l had orders
to drive fast, but we have all good
roads to drive over. l am in 155
miles of Paris, only a five hours
drive. l know Paris better than I
do Memphis. 1t is sure great city,
and hard one to drive in-no traf-
fic rules or traffic cops. Each man
drives for himself. Some more of
the towns / used to drive to are
Baccout, where the AID division
first went in the trenches. Lune-
vile and Remermont down close to
the Swiss border, where the 9Th
division first went into the trenches.
There were only nine killed in the
battalion of artillery used to belong
to. They were pretty lucky. Octob-
er 10 the first division came out of
the trenches in the Argonne with
only 40, SO and 60 men left in q
company. They went in with ESQ
men to company. Capt. Whitson
Joined them about the 18th of Oc-
tober; that is his division. My last
trip to the front was to Souilly,
Monfruson, Sepearges and Cheppy.
held for four and one-half years.
One of my friends that went to the
first army when / did was killed in
Cheppy by shell. He was in his
car waiting for an officer and Ger
man shell hit tho front of his car
and killed him. He had new car
and it was his first trip out with it.
He was Texas boy and a good
friend of mine. 1t wasn't so safe
driving on the front during the
drives. l have been in towns on the
front when / had to go to the dug
out to keep from getting hit. II
have had one or two shells to whiz
over my head while was driving. III
have heard several of them come
singing over. They go whizzing
along and the dirt goes flying up
from the ground. have seen several
of them burst. / was up at the
Argonne front one day and was