The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1918-11-15
XXI.



Late that night we arrived at Dull
men, Westphalia. We were rousted
out OF the carriages, mustered on the
platform, counted, then drilled through
the streets. In spite of the lateness,
the streets were pretty well filed with
people, and they ~zig-zagged us through
all the streets they could, so that all
the people would have q chance to see
the crazy men, as they called us, Most
OF the people were women, and as soon
az they saw us coming, they began
singing the "Watch on the Rhine" or
some other German song, and it was
funny to see windows opening and fat
fraus, with night-caps on. sticking
their heads out of the windows. They
would give us a quick %once-over, and
pipe up like a boatswain: "Schwein-
Observation-Disclosures am Rhein"
all kinds Of things and all mixed up.
So we gave them 'Tipperary" and
-Pack Up Your Troubles" and
showed them how to sing. Our guards
had no ear for music and tried to stop
rs, but though they knocked several
men down, we did not stop until we
had finished the song. Then. after we
had admitted to- each other that we
were not downbcarted, we shut up.
VIZ would have done so, anyway, be-
cause by this time we were on the out
skirts Of the town, and we needed all
the breath we had. The road we were
on was just one long sheet Of ice, and
we could hurdly walk more than four
steps without slipping and falling. My
shoes had wooden soles, and II was
Just one bang after another, with the
Ice and myself trying to see which
could hit the hardest. Every time we
fell-smashl came a rifle over the
back.
I was getting pretty tired. SO I said
60 some of the fellows that / was 60
ing 70 sit down and rest, and they said
they would also. So we dropped out
and waited until the guards behind
had just about caught up with us. and
then we would 60 on We did this
several times until they got on to Us,
and we could not do 1t any more.
Up the road a piece I fell again, and
this time ! did not care what hap
pened. so I just sat there In the
middle Of the road until Fritz came up.
Instead Of giving me the bayonet, he
made me take OF my shoes-that Is.
he took them or of me with q knife
through the strings-and / had to walk
the rest Of the way In my bare feet.
II was about four miles altogether
from the station to the camp.
When we got cal the camp. all the
boys came out Of the barracks and
lined up along the barbed wire, and
yelled US q welcome. We asked them
II they were downhearted, and they
said no, and we said we were not eth
er. We could hardly see them, but
they began yelling again when we got
nearer, and asked us, us there anyone
there from Queenstown" and then
Hull, and Portsmouth, and Dover, and
Toronto and a lot Of other places.
l did not pay much attention until
! heard, "Any Americans therer and
] yelled back. "Yes. where are your"
Barracks 6-B. Grippe g."
"Where from7" / yelled.
"Boston. Where're you fromf"
"The u. s. A. and Atlantic ports.
See you later"
30. the next morning. / went over to
his barracks and asked for the Yank.
They pointed him out to me. where he
was lying on the floor. / went over
and laid down with him, and we had
quite q talk. i will not give his name
here for certain reasons.
he had received several wounds at
the time he was taken prisoner. He
had been In the Canadian service for
two yeaxf. We used to talk about
New Yoyk and Boston and the differ
emit places we knew in both towns, and
we also talked a lot about the rotten
treatment we were receiving. and tried
20 Coos up some plan OF escape. But
every n we could think Of had been
used by some n else, and either had
failed, or the Huns had fixed 1t so the
plan could not be tried again. We
doped out some pretty wild schemes at
that. Altogether. we became great
pals. and were together as much as
possible at Dulmen. The day I LEFT
the camp. he gave me q ring made
from q shell. and told me to get II safely
back to the States. but some one stole
it at ~Brandenburg.
One day while ] was In his barracks
N Engiishman stepped out Of the door
for some reason or other, and though
he did MT cay q word to Fritz, In two
minutes he was dead, In cold blood.
We never knew why they killed him.
AT Swinemunde and Neustrelitz, I
must admit that the Germans had us
pretty badly buffaloed, but at Dulmen
the prisoners were entirely different.
Dulmen was the receiving camp for
Ne whole western front. and the pris-
Sners there got to be pretty tough
kzEgs, ~ far as Fritz was concerned,
III hAd been In camp many