Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-07-17
INTERESTING LETTER.
Gives Detail of Trip Across and Work
| There.

Gives Detail of Trip Across and Work
| There.
The following is letter written by
Harold w. Graham to his mother,
Mrs. A. Graham, of South Albany:
Somewhere in France,
June 10, 1918.
Dear Mother:
A soldiers life in the camps at
home is not very exciting, it is most
ly work, so I'll begin this letter when
our battalion left Washington and
tell you a little Of our life after we
started for France.
The ninth battalion left Washing
ton March 28th about 2.30 2. N. 1t
was only four miles to the station
where we boa led the train and every
one made it except one fellow who
dropped out and rode in the ambu-
lance. He hal been sick for week
and missed q lot of drills so the
march vas too much for him:
The -eal excitement began soon
after leaving the station. One Gtls-
gage car decided to burn up and we
lost all the barrack bags Of Co. A and
about half of Co. B. Almost every
thing we owned was in those bags.
lost all my forestry note books L
had at Michigan. Our mess sergeant
lost a sos suit of clothes. Everyone
lost something worth a million to HIM
and we spent the rest Of the trip tell
ing each other how much we would
give for those bags back again. The
car was half burned up before 1t was
discovered and the engineer just left
it on the the first side track he came
to. A one-horse fire department was
trying to put it out when we left.
At our sailing port we were gwen
new barrack bags with an outfit IN
each one but the sizes were fright:
[ got trousers with AZ waist ana
shoes that were mile two large,
liza. We boarded the ship March ~;
and the Red Cross were there to I'LL
US up on hot coffee and sweet rolls;
They also gave us sweaters and Red
Cross kits. We were on ferry boat
half of the forenoon, up all night on
the train, stood around a couple OF
hours taking medical exams, so we
were ready to sleep when we reached
our boat. Co. A was in luck on the
boat, for we got the upper deck. The
lower part of the ship was given to
the cavalry and they didn't think
much of their new home. A number
of the cavalry were trained at Fort
Ethan Allen and some of them were
Vermont boys who we're in Burling-
ton all summer. The trip over was
fine for the first three days, then it
began to get rough and we began to
get sick and "feed the fishes" We
left the harbor at $50 p. m. March
80, Good friday. Two other boats
went across with us. One of them
was a German ship taken over by us
h. of
the war our ship had been a first
class passenger boat on the Pacific
and was fixed up better than most of
the troop ships. l can't give the
name as it wouldn't get by the censor.
If this gets by it will be a wonder.
Most of the 5000 engineers on
board were from Camp Meade and
Camp American University.
Some of US had to do guard duty
and lookout work on the boat. A re-
ward of $25 for the first man seeing
an enemy ship kept everyone on the
watch. A fellow from Co. B got $40
for locating boat, but we never
found out what it was. Our convoy
picked us up on the seventh day out
and some of the fellows were glad to
see them.
We were only eight days crossing
and landed at the extreme western
part of France. Here we stayed a
few days at so-called rest camp.
No lights were allowed on the boat
and besides guard duty and lookout
work we had to help in the mess hall
as kitchen police. They had to draft
men for that and 1 escaped. The Of
flee force got too sick to work and
helped make out the payroll I had
to stop between lines and stick my
head out through the port hole once
In while, but my seasickness didn't
last long and 1 enjoyed the trip very
much, considering the number on
board
At the rest camp we began to miss
those barrack bags. Chocolate was
z8c each and my bag was half full of
them. They are the same size as the
Sc ones at home.
The natives told us this rest camp
was built by Napoleon. 1t was sur
rounded by a stone wall 10 feet high
and six feet wide. The barracks were
built of stone and cement and were
old and dirty. Most of US slept in
tents. The ground got pretty cold
nights, so a couple of US found some
would-be beds and put them in our
tents. Two nights on those beds was
a great plenty. They contained nu-
merous small animals. In Minnesota
they call them "gray backs" in
France, "cooties." The medical corp
were not very well prepared for their
new friends. However, they had a
fumigating plant and bath house. My
"roomie" and l rolled all our clothes
in our blankets except our raincoats,
and fired those beds outside We ran
relay races for As minutes while our
clothes went through the fumigating
plant. It was real cold day for
raincoats, but we decided to part
with our friends at any cost. The
whole battalion left rest camp April
IL and started across France. We
went inst few miles so,,+h If +bo