Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1918-06-03
Miss Ethel Virtue Writes Interesting
Letter on the Visit Of Belgian
War Party to the
Capital City.
TALKED WITH ONE OF THE MEN
Learned Many Interesting Things Con.
corning War and Experiences
OF Soldiers.

Miss Ethel Virtue of this city, who is
employed in the state historical de-
partment in Des Moines, has written a
very interesting letter to her parents
concerning the visit Of the Belgian
soldiers to Des Moines last week. The
letter in part follows:
Was sorry daddy" couldn't come to
see the Belgians. They were surely
worth long trip to see, and very in
teresting to talk to. All are healthy,
husky looking fellows, and apparently
happy. 1t was hard to believe that
they had spentsthree years in the
trenches. Mr.. Harlan detailed Miss
Watson and myself to follow them
through the day, so we went down to
the reception in the morning and then
over to their train and had a genuine
visit with them and stayed to see them
eat their noon mess.
One Spoke English.
We met one young soldier who
spoke English quite fluently, and he
seemed to enjoy talking, so we quizzed
him for nearly an hour. He thought
America great, better than he expected,
and said he expected a lot. He said
Russia was in hopeless confusion, the
soldiers in each town debating the
government for that particular local
ity. The Bolsheviki is opposed to all
foreigners and allied interference, the
others welcoming anyone who would
help against the Bolsheviki. One of
the party wore Kerensky cross which
was given to each soldier of the death
battalion. He had two other medals
which were given for special acts of
bravery, one for rescuing three wound
ed men from the first line. He had
never been wounded in battle, but had
one finger crushed by the plates on his
armored car in which he served. All
of these were artillerymen, many of
them serving in armored cars.
Saw War Helmets.
We had the pleasure Of holding in
our hands and inspecting several genu
inc war helmets. One had been pierre
ed near the top with bullet. They
are made of steel and weigh about four
pounds, and are padded on the inside
with wool and leather. II bullet
strikes the top or sides it glances off,
but on the front it goes through.
The blue Devils" were rather
rough looking fellows, not nearly so
friendly or pleasant as the Belgians.
They wore soft blue tams for head
dress, similar to what our sailors
wear. We saw two of the women,
both rather inferior looking. Neither
could speak English.
The Parade.
The parade started from the Capt.
toll grounds in the afternoon, and was
an inspiring and thrilling sight. The
soldiers from Camp Dodge, head
quarters troop" under General Getty,
and all on horseback, rode as escort to
the Belgians. They marched with he'll
NETS and guns, and surely kept in trim
lines, marching in companies of one
hundred.
The Blue Devils led with their guns
and bayonets bare, and carrying huge
French flag. The Italians of the city
brought up the rear, and you should
have seen the flags and flowers. l
didn't know we had SO many Italians
in Des Moines.
Monday night the great Teddy was
here. We are surely getting our share
Of the war speakers. We went to see
Gerards -Four Years in Germany" at
the movies yesterday. 1t surely pictur-
es the Hun in the worst light possible.