The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1918-12-02


uate of the School of Journalism of the
University, to his brother. Arthur NJ.
HALEY, student in the University
"On' Friday October II a lieutenant
friend of mine from one of the big
railhead supply depots back of the
American front was in Paris In a big
car in which he had brought some Of
ficers that were returning from the
front and as he was going back Sat
urday he asked me to go back with
him. OF course l had no orders TAX
ing me into the z. of A. but l figured
| could get by with it SO at 1880 Sat
urday morning we left Paris in big
Cadillac s. driven by good chauffer
and headed for the front.
I'VE went through Meaux, and on to
Chateau-Thierry where the American
Marines made their first stand against
the Hun. The results Of the battle
were very evident but as we were
headed for bigger things we didn't
stop until we reached the famous Bel
leau woods north of the city where
fighting was thickest. Then a little
further on we turned off the main road
into the Bots de Chatalet and visited
the emplacement of the big Bertha
that once shelled Paris. 1t is large
steel base mounted on a concret
| foundation about ten feet in the
ground. On the top of the base is the
turn table on which the gun rested.
! This is about twenty-five feet across
and is mounted on ball bearings as
| big as a mans head. AS souvenirs of
| this we managed to get a bolt loose
| to take with us.
From there we went on thru the
territory over which We hauled sup
plies and shells last year when we
were working for the French on the
/ Aisne front Our route took us
through Fere-en-Tardinois, and Jou-
aigne (where we were camped for six
months). The little town was pretty
well shot up and was then occupied by
| Italian troops on repos. Our trip then
took us through Mont Notre-Dame
where we saw the chaTred remains OF
big French hospital that the Huns
used to bomb when we were out there
last year. 1t is now nothing but a sea
/ of the wrecks of iron beds. From
there we went through BaZouchs-
once a big French munition depot
where We used to load, now nothing
but a pile of rubbish-and on to Fis-
mes where the Americans had some
hard fighting for several weeks. Along
| the read one saw the mute evidence
| of this in the crosses on which were
hung the helmets of American SOL
diers.
Our next stop was Rheims, one OF
the martyred cities of France. have
| a few pieces of shells that had spent
their force against the century old
walls of the cathedral and few
pieces of glass from the famous win
dows, also a piece of the decorative
stone work. The last shells from the
guns of the enemy had fallen in
Rheims Just three days before We
were there, but no civilians had yet
been allowed TO return. The city is
almost a complete wreck, with hard
ly a habitable place left.
From there we turned away from
the front and drove through the IA
nous Champagne vinyard country be-
tween Rheims and Epernay. Turning
south again we stopped at big Amer
lean Aviation advance training camp
and then went on into the railhead
supply depot town where my friend
is stationed We arrived there at
nine D. m. having made $50 miles dur
ing the day One could hardly do
that in a car in the states but the
roads here are certainly wonderful.
Imagine driving that far over Illinois
roads on a day when it rained con-
tinually from noon until after 3 p. m.
Saturday night l stayed at the Red
Cross hotel for American officers, had
a good bed and a fine American break
fast all for francs fifty Qess than
fifty cents). The breakfast consisted
of oatmeal with cream and sugar, COZ
fee. buttered toast, three wheat cakes
with syrup and butter. Rather hard
| to beat that is it not?
Sunday morning | visited the Air
Service supply depot and the quar-
termaster bakery where a million
pounds of bread are baked every day
and shipped to the troops at the front.
Some little bake shop that! Had
lunch at the officers mess where near
" two thousand officers eat and went
around to the quarters of 1t. H. McC.
Burrows. a former English instructor
at NJ. U. but failed to find him as he
was gone for the day. Then at two
O'Clock l took the train for Paris and
passed through a dozen or more
american cities" where supplies are
stored and troops are trained. One
of these was the American G. II. q.
Living in Paris one can't realize
the immenseness of the American ef-
fort in France but this trip opened up
nv eyes a bit. You can believe me
IL was good for sore eyes to see big
American freight engine coming pun
ing into town with long string OF
American box cars trailing into the
| I;..opoa Ono who has never seen a