Abilene weekly reflector., 1918-12-26
m Ea M
Journeys Of Co. II.

coat to their fathers on Fathers Day
Well dad, You probably know as
well as we do that is Fathers Day
and we are all supposed TO write to
our father. so here goes We don't
know just how to start this letter
but will try to write II so you can
get some meaning out of IL. The
start of our journey: We left Camp
Doniphan the 9th OF April, arrived
in Camp Mills the Nth, we stayed In
Camp Mills until April the oath, and
then we moved on to the big ship,
Coronia, across the Atlantic. There
were about 5000 of us on this ship,
so you can imagine how crowded we
were. We pulled out of the New
York harbor about o'clock the
morning of the 25th, and from that
on. there was plenty Of sickness, as
almost all of the fellows were sick
and feeding the fish, but we hap
pened to be lucky enough to miss out
on the sickness. We are not sup
posed to critlcise anything that per
tains to the army, but the eats we
got on that ship were enough to kin
us. but nevertheless there was a little
canteen on the ship and furthermore
1t was run by some English men and
we could buy only cookies and ap-
pies. Being In New York for week.
we had spent almost all Of our money,
so you see we did not visit the can
teen often. Well about the 10th DAY
out we went fiat broke, and then we
had TO partake OF the fish and rab-
bit, morning, night and noon, but we
managed to get by all o. k. After
ed Liverpool, unloaded there about 5
o'clock In the evening, boarded a
train, and rode all night to our des-
tinatlon, Romsey. England. We re-
mained there about ten days, and
from there we moved into France.
We crossed the English channel In Il
stock boat at night, everybody seem
ed to be afraid OF the submarines,
which were very plentiful. We mr.
rived at LelIarve, France. May 9th,
and were put under quarantine eight
days, and from there we moved to the
British sector. We can't tell you just
what happened, but someday you all
will know. Nevertheless we were
with the British about 30 days and
everything didn't get along as well
as was expected, so we were moved
back from the British sector to AN
American sector, Good" and from
that on we got plenty to eat. some
thing to eat Is our motto 1t took
us three days Of solid hiking, with
full equipment from Monchy, France
TO Morgane. France, and then came
another long train ride Of two days
and two nights, which brought rs to
lltlOif JlHHAts w y NNAN INV AhNAf
by the French, and with them we
went into the trenches our FIRST
night on guard in the trenches Is one
we will never forget, as 1t was full
OF thrills, and frights.
One detail of the first night on
guard: JEFF" was made corporal,
upon our arrival in France. and had
charge of the guard this night. 1t
was one Of the darkest nights in the
history Of the world. AS we left our
dugouts, and started to our sentry
posts 1t was so dark you could not
see your hand In front Of your face.
jeff put me on guard at II o'clock,
and when he was bringing relief IT
was so dark he could not find my
post After falling over an embank-
ment into No Mans Land he finally
reached me at A o'clock In the morn
Ing, and then came the journey going
back to the dugout, hand In hand,
we tried to find our way back, and
after hours of hard searching, we
finally found 1t.
The French who were in the
trenches with us were fine bunch
OF fellows, and we got along good
with them. After ten days we were
relieved and moved back, out Of the
trenches, to small town where we
put in many hours each day Of con-
stant training. We were In this town
fifteen days, and then were moved
by trucks back to the trenches. We
had 1t much easier In the trenches
this time as we were in reserve. This
time we spent about fifteen days, and
then back again to training. About
this time is when ARMY" left Co.
II to work at the C. X. o. office, and