Denver labor bulletin., 1918-12-28
IAN INTERESTING LETTER FROM FRANCE
Frank Liston r Employed the Capacity
Ford Plant Here, and Who Enlisted Replacement
Engineers Corps and Later Transferred to the Tank
Corps, Writes Home Telling About Some of
His Experiences Since Leave

Inc Bulletln puDllSheS IN full a
letter received from one of the boys
in France. F. E. Liston, Jr.. by his
father, F. Z. Liston, Sr., TIA South
Grant street. 1t contains some in
teresting history about how the boys
left this country and how they ar
rived in France and finally landed
on the battle front. Young Liston
was employed in the capacity of fore
man at the Ford works before enlist
ing and was rated as first-class au-
tomobile mechanic, which knowl-
edge secured him place in the tank
corps.
November "a. 1918.
Dear Father-Well, this is the
big day set aside by the A. E. F.. to
write to Dad. i have always writ
ten to the family Jointly heretofore.
l am quite well and hope that this
will find you the same. AS / have
said before. we are having some cool
weather, but nowhere nearly SO cold
as l expected.
I'VE are permitted to write in full
detail, so here goes, as l know you
are quite anxious to know just
where / have been and what l have
seen and experienced.
I'VE sailed from Philadelphia on
Sunday, July IA on the 'Orita,' an
English boat. There were approx
mately two thousand engineers on
board. We went to Halifax, Canada.
and lay there two or three days.
awaiting the rest of our convoy.
Putting out from there we sailed
north and east and nothing of spe-
cial interest happened until July 13,
when we ran into a nest of U-boats.
After about forty-five minutes of
fighting. in which three U-boats were
sunk, we proceeded in our correct
course. We landed at Swansea,
South Wales, on August l. and being
the first American troops to land
there. received grand reception.
That afternoon and evening we trav-
eled by train to Winchester, England.
and went into rest billets for two
days. England is a beautiful coun-
try. Every inch of soil is cultivated.
even TO the rights-of-way along the
railroads inside the fences. The live
stock is of an exceptional quality.
very plump and fine. The people
dress much like us and talk like us,
with the exception of being very,
very polite and having a peculiar ac-
cent. The houses are well built, and
what cities l saw were clean.
From Winchester we went to
Southampton and crossed channel
to lie Havre on Sunday night, the
4th. Again we went to rest billets
and stayed over night. At noon
Tuesday we left LIE Havre and rode
in troop cars. or cattle cars, as we
call them, to Angers, arriving there
Wednesday evening, and put up in
a classification camp, which was a
big French barracks. The barracks,
three in number, were all four-story
affairs and very comfortable. We
stayed here for ten days and then
went to the 116th Engineer. training
camp on the other side of town.
That was wonderful training camp.
and after two weeks there / was
transferred into the tank corps My
pal and / parted on September 2,
and / with twenty-five other men
proceeded to the new outfit at or,
rather, near Langres, arriving Sep
tember g.,
THE tank service is rated three
points higher than any other branch
and consequently / was very lucky
The company / was assigned to was
a salvage and repair company. The
tanks we travel with are the 'Renault
twO-man' tank. They are a wonder
full little piece of machinery. built
II 4
cylinder, high-speed motor in them.
well, to continue the story: On
September Z we loaded and started
for the front. The following day
we landed on the 'Toul front at or,
rather. near Menil-la-Tour. and
camped -'Menil-la-Tour.' until
the day the st Mihiel' drive started.
Believe me, Dad, that was some bar
rage that they put over. We were
about eight or ten kilometers, or six
| miles, behind the front lines. and the
earth fairly trembled. 1t was my first
experience, and very interesting. too.
People at home cannot imagine the
noise. That afternoon we moved up
to Beaumont, about eight kilometer
but the troops had advanced SO far
that we proceeded on and put up
camp the following day about one
| mile to the right of Seisheprey. in a
pocket in big woods. You cannot
imagine what traffic is until you see
it on a front like this. 1t took the
outfit about eighteen hours to move
about four kilometers. 1t was GER
tainly one rainy place, and the roads
were terrible. We did what repair
| ing we had to do here. and it took
US until the 22d. We had one hun
dred German prisoners working for
us doing the heavy lifting. etc.
FritZie's aeroplanes were busy the
last few nights bombing Essey and
| Fliery. but lucky for us. he never
| came anywhere near our camp. One
| evening l came in with a bunch of
prisoners 1--WE had been out after a
tank in creek), and Boche plane
| sailed over our heads about five hun
| dred feet in the air. and, thank God.
he never saw us, as 1t was just dark.
] surely kept my eyes upon ditch
| alongside of the road as well as the
prisoners.
"On September 22 our company
Inad nm mi, frurEa and cfa ad for