The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1918-12-26
Iseghem, Belgium.
November q, 1918.
Dear Mother and All:

AS | nave time tonight will write
you. l suppose you are fixing things
for dinner tomorrow. ! can guess
who killed the turkey. Well | wish
could be with you, but as it is am
thankful to be where am, and | will
have a good dinner too, no turhe.
nor chicken but perhaps roast beef
or mutton, nothing fancy at the most.
have no regular place of eating.
You see as | travel on the mail trucA
know most of the cooks along the
line and eat just where ever | can
get my head in.
We are moving out of Belgium
and expect to be near Paris for some
time. We have been in Belgium a
month. We came to Belgium by way
of Dunkirk France, got off the train
at little station named st. Jean, the
terminal of the railroad, which at
one time was little town the sizt
of Heppner, all that is left now is
the sign. We stayed over night
there. AS transportation was scarce
| had to walk the next morning with
the troops. My pack was about dou-
BILE weight and after FIVE miles Of
struggling | was forced to fall out
| and rset my arms. OF course the
others marched right on and | was
left alone with my weariness. How
ever, after a few minutes of rest l
proceeded along the way at muc!i
slower pace, and finally overlook a
| Dal or rather jim NunGn, a chap just
my size but with a still larger pack,
! We moved along at our own speed,
seeing the sights. The first town we
came to was Npre5, town that hau
been about 10000 population, ana
now just a lew walls, not a roof in
The place. However, there are a
great many interesting things there.
We ate our lunch, Which consisted OF
hardtack and a one-half pound bar
Of chocolate and went on our way.
We came upon wheelbarrow in the
grave yard of a small town, and as
our packs were quite heavy we we're
glad to unload on it and proceed on
thru the mud. We met some French
officers who told us it was the first
time they had ever seen soldiers 60
to battle with wheelbarrows, so they
hailed "Lairie" for us and we got
aboard. We rode about four miles
and the thing turned off the wrong
way and we were obliged to take tC
our heels again without knowing
where we wanted to go, but a Belgian
NJ. P. told us which way he saw
Yanks going so we followed three
hours behind, and mind you. botl
rain and darkness were falling anc
we had ten miles to go. We walked
on for about three miles and came
to cross roads and were lost. Bu
with some luck thru the fog an(
darkness we discovered a light which
led us to a bunch of Belgian soldiers
some officers pumping information
from Hunnish prisoners and bunl
for the night, which consisted of
3, dugout three feet deep and eight fee
square and covered with boards ant
:. about six inches of leaking mud. W.
awoke early the next morning andsaf
. tel crawling out of our wet bunk
= ana swallowing a little coffee ant
- hardtack, proceeded joyfully on ou
: way, and by sheer luck we were OF
The right track finding our camp am
= one of our old friends with whom W
= went up town or what was left @
:, Oosnewkirk. Even the country abou
: here is all practically ruined, tn
ground is full of holes, the trees ar
all cut away, such is the effect TO
twenty miles around, even the rail
;, roads, merely a mass of tangled iron
= either all blown to pieces or carrie
+ away,
O | expect this will do for awhile
f and from now on eau name a
v places and tell you everything an
r will send you cards every day. sen
q lot of Xmas cards for you and til
@ girls all in one letter and hope yo
Q get them.
q Well l am tired and have done
lot Of writing so will close, with loy
q and best wishes,
A. JOE.