Carrizozo outlook. [volume] (Carrizozo, N.M.) 1910-1945, 1918-11-29

months before Joining the navy ngain.
After the war started, OF course, |
had heard more or less about the Ger.
man atrocities In Belgium. and while
| was greatly Interested. was doubt
full at first as TO the truth OF the re-
ports, for I knew how news gets
changed In passing from mouth to
mouth, and / neve was much OF n
hand TO believe things until I saw
them. anyway. Another thing that
caused me 10 be interested In the wal
was the fact that my mother was born
In Alsace. Her maiden nnme. DER
vieux, is well known In Alsnce. I had
often visited my grandmother In ST.
NnZnlre. France. and knew the oun
try. So with France ut war. It was
not strange that ! should be even
more interested than many other
garbles.
As | have said, I did not take much
stock in the first reports OF the Huns
exhibition of kultur. because Fritz Ii
known rs n clean sailor, and ! figured
! that no real sailor would ever get
mixed up In such dirty work ns they
snid there was In Belgium. ! figured
the soldiers were like the sailors. But
l found out 1 was wrong nbout both.
One thing that opened my eyes a
bit wns the trouble my mother had In
getting out OF Hanover, where she
was when the war started, and back
to France. She always wore n little
American flag and this both saved and
endangered her. Without II. the Ger
mans would have interned her as a
FrenchwOmnn, and with II, she was
sneered nt and insulted time and
again before she finally managei to
get over the border. She died about
two months after she reached st. Ma
znire.
Moreover. / heard the fate of my
older brother, who had made his home
IN France with my grandmother. He
had gone TO the front at the outbreak
OF the war with the infantry from st.
Nazaire and had been killed two or
three weeks afterwards. This made
it a sort OF personal matter.
But what put the finishing touches
TO me were the stories q wounded
Canadian lieutenant told me some
months later In New York. He had
been there and he knew. You could
not help believing him; you can al
ways tell II when n man has been
there and knows.
There was not much racket around
New York, SO I made up my mind all
of a sudden to go over and get some
for myself. Believe me, l got enough
racket before l was through. Most
Of the reilly important things l have
done have happened like that: l did
them IN the jump. you might say.
Many other Americans wanted a look,
too; there were Ave thousand Amer
icnns In the Canadian army at one
time they say.
l would not claim that l went oveT
there TO save democracy, or anything
like that. ! never did like Germans
and ! never met a Frenchmnn who was
not kind to me. and what I heard
about the way the Huns treated the
Belglans made me sick. l used to gel
out OF bed to go to an all-nlght picture
show, l thought about II so much
But there was not much excitement
about New York. and l figured In,
U. s. would not get into II for a while
anyway, 80 I Just wanted 10 go oveI
and see what II was like. Tint II
why lots OF us went. l think.
There were Ave OF us who went Il
Boston to ship for the other side
Sam Murray. Ed Brown. Tim Flynn
Mitchell and myself. Murray was an ex
garby-twv bitches (enllstments). gun
pointer rating. and about thlrty-hv'
years old. Brown was a Pennsylvania
man about twenty-slx years old. WHIT
had served two enlistments In the u
s. army and had quit with the rani
Of sergeant. Flynn and Mitchell were
both ex-navy men. Mitchell was I
noted boxer. OF the i've OF us. l an
the only one who went In, go
through and came out. Flynn an,
Mitchell did not go In; Murray an,
Brown never came back.
The Ave OF us shipped on the steam
ship virglnlan Of the American-Ha
wallan line. under American flag ant
registry, but chartered by the Frencl
government. l signed on al water
tender-nn engine room job-but tn
others were on deck-that Ia, seamen
We left Boston for 81. Nnzaire will
a cargo OF ammunition, bully beet
etc, and made the FIRST trip wlthou
anything Of interest happening.
As we were tying to the dock at 81
Nazalre, ! saw a German prisoner sit
ting on a pile Of lumber. though
probably he would be hungry, q
went down into the oilers mess an
got two slices OF bread with q THE
nlnnn ~ hnnlnAnnl hnlmnnn than an