River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-12-26

but now that the censorship is lift
ed, | will, of course, have to write
again. The censorship was lifted
at noon today, and, believe me,
there certainly was some great
cheering, and you ought to see the
number of men writing letters,
where before there were only very
few that ever wrote home.
The first thing | will do is to tell
YOU where l am, and have been. |
am stationed at Gibraltar, and have
been doing convoy duty in the Med
iterranean Sea to the ports of Tan
gier. Oran, Algiers and Bizerta on
the coast of Africa, and to Genoa,
Italy, and also up the coast OF
Spain to Marseilles, France, and,
believe me, they are beautiful. The
east coast of Spain is surely pretty.
We also did a lot Of patrol duty out
in the straits of Glib" We were
doing this duty the last night of the
war, and the night just before. We
were given the credit of destroying
2 submarine, and | am sure we did.
We surely have had some exciting
times over here. We sometimes
get way out to sea and run out of
coal and water, and then have to
send for tug to come out and tow
as into port. One Of those times
the seas tossed the ship like a
whirlwind would feather.
You see l left Boston last June
II, going TO Halifax, N. S. There
were two hundred of Us in all. That
was quite trip in itself. There we
boarded a British cruiser which left
the next day in charge of ten ship
convoy loaded with aeroplanes,
autoes, ammunition, etc. Three of
them were loaded with American
soldiers and another with sailors.
After Just two weeks at sea, we ar
rived safely at Liverpool, England.
OF course, we had several submar-
inc alarms during this trip. One
good thing about it, the sea was
quite calm, but | have seen some
awfully rough sea since, and ex-
pect to see some more, especially
when we start home, as the seas are
always rough during the winter
months. The next day after our ar
rival in Liverpool, we left the ship
and marched through the city to
the Great Western Railway Station.
OF course, we had to wait quite a
while before our train was made
up, so during this time we visited
the city, and let me tell you, old
liverpool is quite place.
After about twenty-four hours,
we boarded the train, which was
made up especially for us, and took
an eight hour ride to Plymouth,
and there we were put aboard the
u. S. S Birmingham. After lying
there for week or so, we got IN
der way for Brest, France. We
made the run in about seven hours.
Brest is quite a place. That's
where the first and most of the
American troops were landed. After
Being in Brest overnight, we went
out 20 sea and picked up a convoy
and escorted it to Gibraltar. After
seven days in rough sea, we ar
rived at Gibraltar, and then the
next day there were several of us
transferred, and I have been here
since aboard the U. S. S. Druid,
and, believe me, mp to November
IL, we have certainly been busy,
but we haven't moved from here
since. So l guess the miserable
old war has stopped for good.
All we are doing now is waiting
orders to return home. We may be
there by the time you get this letter
and az ain we may be here for some
time. but hope not. l know it is
going o be rough trip, but l am
willing to take a chance as long as
know we are homeward bound.
The ship | am on is only small
yacht. 1t was owned by John Wan
amaker before the war. 1t has a
crew of six officers and about one
hundred and ten enlisted men
quite difference between this one
and the Pueblo, isn't there? The
Pueblo had over one thousand men,
but it seems that the smaller the
ship the more work there is, as the
small ones are always on the go.