Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1918-02-20
RENNETHOYER WRITES
STORY OF TRIP ACROSS SOUTH
ERN STATES PROBABLY IN
FRANCE NOW
Camp Merritt, New Jersey.


Dear Sister and Family:
Well we are here at last. The trip
was long one but not so tiresome
as you might imagine. We travelled in
tourists sleepers, ST you see we had
a good bed at night. We arrived here
last night about IL, but didn't unload
til morning. We have good barracks
to stay in. They are we'll heated and
lighted Well, l suppose you would
like to know something about the trip,
will give you brief summary of it.
We left Camp Macarthur, Sunday af-
ter noon, Jan. 10, we started south
through Houston, Texas, down to Ba-
ION Rouge, La, there we crossed the
Mississippi on a ferry. Our next stop
was at New Orleans. We arrived there
in the morning, got off the train and
took a little hike through the quaint
old southern city. The appearance of
the city differs a great deal from any
northern city because of the different
nationality Of people and the archi-
lecture Of the buildings, New Orleans
would be a very good city for a tour
ist to stop and spend about a week.
When we left New Orleans we road
along the gulf for about an hour You
imagine it quite a sight to see the gulf
Of Mexico but it was not much. Just
few large boats and an endless
stretch Of water, There were very
few waves, that is they were not very
large. We left New Orleans that
morning and passed through the
state of Mississippi and into the state
Of Alabama. We reached Birmingham,
Ala, the next day This was our next
big stop. We got off the train and had
another hike. Birmingham is a city
of about 10000 inhabitants and of
course is of the southern type.
We stayed in Birmingham only a
short time and then passed on thru
Alabama into Georgia. Our next stop
was at TOccO, Ca This was small
little town about like Bloomington
Here the band played and we marched
up through the main street and out
the opposite side of town Always
This was the first we noticed of the
effects of snow. The snow had melted
and the roads and streets were muddy.
From here we travelled up through
the Carolfnas and Wirginias, making
two stops at two towns of no import
ance. OF course, we were anxious to
get to Washington so I will take you
up through the Blue Ridge mUUtains
in a hun ry and into Baltimore and then
into Washington. You could tell it
was a capital city on account of its
neat and dignified appearance. TIT was
about O'Clock at night when we pas
sed through Washington and such a
sight I never saw before. There the
great executive building of the U. S.
stood, "a mammoth building, the same
type as our capitol only much larger.
The buildings were pretty we'll light
ed so we received a general impress
sion of Washington, d. G. Our stop
at Philadelphia was a Short one but
very pleasant. The Red Cross people
greeted us there very kindly and serv-
ed hot coffee, sandwiches, cinnamon
rolls apples and smoking tobacco and
cards to write home on. / helped them
get the coffee out of the lunch room.
We did not get off the train again
until we arrived here. When we pas
sed through New York City I was a
sleep so I didn't get to see the statue
of Liberty as most of the boys did,
but they said it certainly was grand.
nm, Cf n
Importance only when you refer to
history.
Well, l have given you few brief
facts of our trip, [ am in one of the
largest field Y. NJ G. AS I have seen.
1t has q basket ball ha1l and different
divisions for writing, reading and talk
ing Tonight is Sunday night just
week agO this afternoon since we left
Camp Macarthur.
Well, I am a little better than when
I left home We will probably be here
only a couple or three days before we
load ON the ship for somewhere in
France. 1t begins to seem as though
we are really on an errand for we
are at the port Of embarkation and
our boat is waiting for us to load.
suppose you know Roger is in the
navy. I wish I was with him or he
was with me- But we are both able
to take care Of ourselves. Well, I guess
] will close, answer very soon,
Kenneth g. Oyer.
Co. E., 10Th Am. Train, 80 Division,
Camp Merritt New Jersey.