The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1918-06-05
WAR LETTERS
FROM THE BOYS
WHO ARE GONE


THINK FRANCE BEAUTIFUL
The Banner-News is in receipt this
week of letter from President HUI
bert M. Engemann of the Banner
Publishing Co. In it he tells of the
impression Memorial day made on
him and how the biggest impression
of this great day was made by the
smallest gathering of people.
Mr.. Engemann, it will be remem-
bered, is in the National service as a
naval gunner and for some time back
has been under treatment for a mi
nor operation at the United States
Naval hospital at Annapolis, Mary
land
Hubs" letter is as follows:
U. s. Naval Hospital, Annapolis, Md.
May 80, 1913.
Dear Brother Ed. and All: Well.
here 1t is Decoration day and at last
l nave gotten up energy enough to
write to you ALL All the ceremony
or celebrating have seen here today
was on lone auto drive into the naval
cemetery next to the hospital and an
officer and two women and a little
boy get out and put flowers on
grave. One of the women wore a
heavy black veil and l suppose it was
her husband who lay in the grave.
| and though / watched intently
could not make up my mind whether
the child was the son of the officer and
wife or of the man who lay buried in
the grave. I'll tell you Ed, of all
the Decoration day parades and exer-
cises | have ever seen this little body
of four people moved my thoughts
more, ] think, than ever before, and
l know they had a good parade in
Belding last year. But somehow you
see, this was different. wonders
If the officer ever thought that in an
other year they might be picking
flowers for him. It's funny, but it
did not occur to me at the time that
l was practically in the same boat.
Well, l sure had fine time while
! was home and met many old friends
and made good number of new ones.
/ did not get tine to get around and
see all that | had wished to. | had
fine trip back here, sonly we came
near having a wreck just before we
got to Orleans. The first two
wheels of the first truck under the
tender left the rails and we stopped
for about 15 minutes on account of
that. 1t is wonder the others did
not leave and / guess if they had we
would not have gotten away so quick
ly. l had nearly six hours in De-
troit, during which tine it rained, but
of course you know + did not mind
that. Also had two hour wait m
Buffalo and finally arrived in Bal
tlmore at 7:45 p. m. On my way to
the hospital | stopped from one car
to the next, one hour, and saw Mart
and arrived at the hospital just as
minutes ahead of my time. | saw
Niagara Falls both ways, coming and
going and lot of nice scenery all
along the way down through the
hills of Pennsylvania They look
nice, but / guess that is about all
they are good for. When we went
over the ridge l noticed little creek
less than two feet wide and we fol-
lowed down along side of it through
the valley all day, watching where
other streams emptied into it, until
at Harrisburg, Pa, it was a mighty =
river. Some of those mountain
streams sure are swift.
Sunday the doctor asked me how
| was feeling and when | told him
''fine" he only said that l had better
stay around a while yet. Monday
! the doctor who makes the rounds on
sick call was going to send me to
duty but the other one would not let
me go, so | suppose l will have to
stay here for a tine yet. Well
don't think it will hurt me any as to-
day when | weighed myself r found
l weighed more than | ever had be-
fore in my life. Only ABOUT Is
pounds more than / usen to at home.
The boys ct the ranges are having
vacation today on account of it be-
ing Decoration day. | was up and
saw Mart last night for q couple of
hours and just after | got there it
started raining and when it stopped
| beat it for the car back. Bob
Reeves and Mart had been at Balti-
more and just got back after | got to
the range. Say. those boys sure do
'lavc lot cf fln out of. the trips to
Baltimore working on the Bullet,
they found OFT \ restaurant there
why strawberry shortcake is so call
cd; namely, because it was short of
strawberries and cake also.
We had a great dinner at the hosv
pital here today; roast beef, mashed
potatoes, peas, bread and butter and
saucer full with Strawberries piled
81 Otiit ~ oheti ~ Wao eAtttdhy ONti-
flowing.
Was over to the Annapolis srange
yesterday and had good visit with
Art Dehn. can get over there quite
often from the hospital here. After
get back to duty / won't be able to
get over there so easy.
The folks at home all thought
looked black or tanned, but you ought
to see the rest of the boys here. To-
day it is nice and cool, but most of
the time it is real hot here. The
other day went out to get some wild
strawberries. It did not take long
to find patch, but also it did not
take long FOR me to hunt the woods
and sit down and cool off.
Well. Ed, as have run out of
news and wish to 60 out for walk
this evening will close.
Your brother,
Hub.