The Punta Gorda herald. [volume] (Punta Gorda, Fla.) 1893-1958, 1918-02-21
American Soldier Serving in
France
vECoUERAY WRITES AGAIN
Describes French Street Cars and
Railway Coaches and a Disa-
greeable Trip He Had in the
Latter.-Enjoying Life in a
Base Hospital

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Another very interesting letter
was received Sunday from Ser
geant VIM. Il. Vecqueray, who is
serving with the American engi-
neers in France. The place where
it was written is not named. 1t is
dated Jany. 14th, was passed by
the censor and reads as follows:
Dear Mr.. Jordan Il promised |
would write you telling you more
about our journey over here and
my first impressions. can't tell
you much about the town where
we landed for fear the censor
would-take exception to it as dis
closing the identity of the port |
am not fiattering myself on being
able to write such a graphic de-
scription, but the ways of the cen
sor are weird and wonderful and
we musn t take too many chances.
One knew at once that one was
in an Old World town. The streets
were mostly of cobblestones and
narrow; leading in any direction
except straight. The street cars
carried one back to the forgotten
past, except for the fact that they
were run by electricity. The use
of electricity with the type Of car
used was decidedly incongruous.
Another thing which struck me in
the town itself was the absence of
men around, such as we did see be-
ing nearly all in uniform. The
motormen and conductors on the
cars were women. Of course that
was easily accounted for, as all
the men have been drafted into the
army.
When we got to the station,
there was train awaiting us con-
sisting of few passenger coaches,
the rest being box cars, each mark
ed "Chevaux s Hommes 40, -
meaning s horses or 40 men. The
French cars are very small, there
being only four wheels to each car.
The passenger coaches are divided
into compartments with seating
accommodation for ten persons in
each compartment in the 3rd class
coaches, for eight persons in the
End class and for eight or six in
1st class. Each coach has five
compartments in the 3rd class
coaches and four in the End and
1st class coaches. The box cars
had wooden seats down each side
for seats and a double row down
the middle. By the time 35 to 40
men We're placed in car, with
their rations and full packs, there
WASH t much room to move. Be-
fore we left the station, we drew
our rations for the journey, con-
sisting of corned beef, hardtack
and few cans of tomatoes. One
of the other companies managed to
get hold of a case of jam, but we
were not SO lucky. ] shall never
forget that journey. | am not al
lowed to tell you how long we
were on those cars for fear some
German spy should get hold of
this letter and estimate from the
time we were in transit, what part
of France we are in or something
of the sort. If war is hell, we
were certainly getting our first
taste of it, only from popular con-
ception hell is decidedly warm,
while our trip was exactly the re-
verse. The weather was bitterly
cold, temperature somewhere a.
round zero, and there was no heat
in the cars; in fact, they had
cracks in the floors IA inch to 1-2
inch wide and several feet long,
which we tried to stop up with old
papers or anything else that came
handy.
At one Of the stops on the way,