Baxter Springs news., 1918-12-27
TED TREECE IS
ENJOYING TRIP
Baxter Boy Writes An Interesting
Letter from France to His
Parents In This
City
American Expeditionary Force;
On Active Service,

4AABCAAbACheAy SANNg
On Active Service,
Nov. "a, 1918.
Dear Dad:-Today is Fathers Day
The censorship lid has been taken oil
the A. E. F. so we can write most
anything we like. will start from
the time / left the states and try and
tell you some of the different places
/ have visited and some Of my exper-
fences for the past six months.
/ left Selfridge field on August II
1918, for Long Isalnd, N. Y. We ar
rived in due time at Jersey City, N
Y. We were then loaded on a boat
which was rather small, there being
only standing room. It took US just
about two hours to cross the N. \
channel. We then took the train fol
about 40 miles down Long Island to
small service camp by the name oi
Hazelhurst field. We stayed there two
weeks getting our first overseas equip
ment together. On the morning Of
August 80th, we started for the port
of embarkation at Hoboken, N. Y, ar
irving there about three in the after
noon. We loaded on the boat that ev'
ening and pulled anchor the next day
at noon. We lined up down the har'
Dor with bunch of troop ships. The
following morning we were at sea
When we got up there was no land In
sight. There was twelve other ships
with us and four submarine chasers
which made quite a convoy.
Everything went along fine for the
first three or four days then the boys
began to get sea sick and l never saw
such q mess in all my life. They threw
up everything on the ship. ut wa:
enough to make a well man sick.)
But made it through all right with
out getting sick. The ship we came
over on was an English freighter, the
one we were supposed to come ovel
on was torpedoed a short time pre-
vious. The name of our ship was the
Lycano. We were fixed up pretty
well for sleeping. We had hammock'
but the chow was not very good, but
we made out alright.
We arrived in Glasgow, Scotland
about four o'clock on the morning OF
September 18th. 1t sure was a long
trip. suppose you wonder why il
took US SO long to cross. 1t was be-
cause instead Of going straight across
we would zigzag in order to keep the
submarines off our trail. There was
q convoy some distance ahead of u:
that had some ships torpedoed and one
convoy eight hours behind US that
suffered losses at the hands of the
submarines, but we were lucky, al.
though one of the battleships in oul
convoy sighted two German submar.
ines one morning before daybreak
about four miles off. The U. S. Ship
made a "B" line for the submarines
and dropped a depth bomb which got
one of the subs, but the other one got
away.
Well when we landed in Scotland
there was q large crowd of people to
welcome US. We took the train from
there to England. Winchester was
the first town to which we were sent
It is a big city and at one time was
the capital of England. l saw the
Oldest cathedral in the world. The
first rock in the foundation laid in
the year 500 and it took until the
year 1896 to finish the building. II
was the largest and grandest church
ever saw or ever expect to see.
We stayed in Winchester for two
weeks, then we took the train to South
Hampton, another port, where we took
another boat and crossed the English
channel over into France. We land
ed at Harve, France, where we stayed
all night then we took another train
This time we rode in box cars. Wher
in England we had third class passen.
ger tickets. We did not know wha:
to think Of the box cars but we made
the best Of it. We travelled for three
days and four nights in these side
door pullmans and arrived at st. Max.
ent, France. This was another rest
camp and we stayed there for three
weeks and then loaded on box carE
again and rode for two days anC
nights and arrived in Romarantine
France, in which place ! now am.
think have told you about this place
in letter heretofore. / could write
you a lot more, but if l were to write
everything / would have nothing left
to tell when / came home. / think
will be home in two months, it might
be sooner.
Later:
/ am well and feeling fine. / only
weigh 1853 pounds, If keep on gain