Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1918-09-04
A Letter From France

was sent to Professor irving Foster of
the State College of Pennsylvania.
Professor Foster is lecturing on
paris" and the Navy during his
! stay at Camp Hancock. Thinking
that the readers of Trench and Camp
might be Interested in this news from
| over the seas, it is published herewith
Co. I, 10Srd Military Police, a, i. r.
| July 10, 1918.
| My dear DIR. Foster:
! l received your letter on the Goth OF
| June, while my unit was resting for a
| few days near Paris. We have since
moved up to the front, and have been
too extremely busy to pay much atten-
| ton to my correspondence. With your
| letter came three others, and half
| dozen from home. 1t was the first
| bunch of letters that ] got from the
! States, after having been over here
| nearly six weeks. and as you can
imagine l was happy
| The last few days have been the
| fullest in my life. have been out
| with a detachment of M P.'s working
| in the rear of one of our infantry brig
AIDES, and have been under shell fire
| in one Of the fiercest bombardments
| that the BOChe have launched in long
| while Our work has consisted in the
directing of the streams of reinforce
ments and supply trains going up to
| the front and of the amhulances COM
| ing back and the picking up of stray
glers and the conducting Of prisoners
Of war back to the receiving depots
about ten miles back of the line. We
| have been working night and day since
| the 18th of luiy. and were busy before
| that. You win probably understand
| the significance Of the date, when you
| receive this letter Most of our men
| have stood on duty under fire. and
| without flinchinR ! myself rode on
| horseback through an area that was
| being riddied with shrapnel and the
| high explosives, where six men had
| been killed by a she'll few minutes
| before / went through, but without ac-
| oident.
| l have been better content with my
work since | have really gotten into
| 1t than ! was for the first six or seven
weeks after coming to France We
came through England, spending a few
days there, ana Immediately after
landing in France we were shipped
nearly to the eastern border where we
remained for over month, doing very
| little While l was there had the OPP
i portuntty of studying the French Ian
| guage and history, at first hand. Act
| ing on your advice, / plunged right in
| with the few words I know and was
| surprised to find that / could make
myself understood. and could very
| well understand the common talk Of
| the people. Indeed, I was getting
along famously when / was sent back
| with my company toward Paris, and
| then up to the front, where I have no
| time to study French, and no oppor-
tunlty 10 talk to Frenchmen. While
| In the eastern part of France, I spent
some time IN the Departments Of
| Haute Marine, Haute-Saone, and Cote
| dor ] visited the most interesting
medieval walled city Of Langres.
! walked around the top Of it's wall not
/ without thrill at the thought Of the
| historical associations OF the old city
| Also, I passed, one day, through the
| battlefield OF Fontaine- Franchise
where Henry ~ oyercame the Span
| iards in 1895. ] rested, too, for a few
| days, in the town where Phillip Au-
| gustus was born in 1855 You see,
/ have been absorbing a little French
| history right from the ground. in spite
| OF all my duties.
| have seen some sad sights, In the
| last few days, that l shall not speak
| Of, except to say that some Of the boys
whose fathers persisted in the cause Of
| Freedom on the bloody fields Of the
great Civil War have proven them
| selves Of equal glory with their fathers.
| here upon the fields Of France. ] have
seen this with mine own eyes. and as
/ an American. / am proud; and as a
| Pennsylvanian, ! am proud. You would
| experience the same pride II you had
; seen what l have seen.
| Very truly yours,
| w. ROY DIEM.
Note: Lieut. Diem received his en-
| tire military training at Camp Han
| cock. He came to this camp from
| Mount Gretna, where he Immediately
| enlisted in Company A. Military Po-
| lice. He attended the first Officers
| Training School at Camp Hancock,
| and was one Of the first fourteen grad
| yates to receive a commission upon the
| completion Of the course. At this
! time there were one hundred and fifty
| men attending this school The lieu
| tenant is a member Of the 28th DIvis-
ion, and has been in France since the
| first part Of April.
|