Norwich bulletin., 1918-02-12
Sixteen Days on the Ocean.

The following letter. dated New Years day. somewhere in France has been received from George M. Skelley, Go. D, 9th Engineers corps;
 New Years Day,
 Somewhere in France.
 Dear Sister: No doubt you are won dering why l have not written to you since leaving Washington. We have been constantly on the move Our trip taking twenty-six days, From Wash ington we had one night on the train Then a trip on a ferry boat. We stayed two days in an American port and then started our trip across, and believe me, it was some. trip. In all my travels I never experienced such rough weather We were sixteen days en route. The first two were fine and then the storm broke, and it was just a case of hang on. The ship rolled and tossed about on waves mountain high You would have laughed to see athe men trying to eat their meals You know we have no tables and have to stand or sit any where we can. The
 deck was slippery and about halt the men sea sick. Well, we battered along this way for a couple of days and the storm abated. It was better then for about. three days. then we had another which was worse than the first. This one lasted until we were about two days out. Then it catmed down. and everybody was certainly pleased. It was a great relief when we saw the shores of France. We expected to l have a great time when we landed but | no liberty was allowed, and we had to spend our Christmas aboard ship. The l dinner was fairly good. Had. turkey and cranberry sauce. All the Catho- lies went to mass in charge of an of ficer and then were marched. back to i the ship.
 !. We finally landed here and we were all assigned to biliets. There are | eleven of us in one room, about the
 size of our library. We s eat, sleep
 and wash in, the same room. It is | inspected once week. The first night
 here we, had to sleep on the floor and
 after our experience on the train nc I one grumbled. This is a little French
 village and reminds me very much of the villages in Central and Soutf America. The only difference is thai these houses are built of brick and stone while those of the Tropics are
 built of adobe mud. =; ....7 !,
 Regular country people kind and
 courteous, But I don't believe thes
 have very much now. Everything 1T
 the line of eatables and provisions is
 controlled" by the government. The
 soldiers are not allowed to buy bread E. when .yoG go to a cafe for lunch vol ], have to take your bread with you W,
 do this by drawing our daily bread al
 lowance from the kitchen and takirt it to the hotel or cafe. There we ke
 fairly good meal for sixty. cents. A least it is a change from the every 4 day army food. 'The coffee is fine st Just like Costa Rica coffee. I haven met person here who could tall English. Everything French. Howev evr I met one man who runs a caf : here who talks Spanish and ann al to the good there. He has trave1le, through the Tropics and we enjo,
 talking about. different persons an, places. Through him have learne, , a great deal about the war. Takint everything into consideration we ar : quite comfortable here. Most every thing is high Candles ten: cent :. each, oil cannot be bought, potatoe } two dollars a bushea. Tobacco an :, cigarettes are very high and hard t : get. While in Washington some on sent me in box of tobacco and cig arettes from Fagan's Smoke Shop. N name on it sol don't know whom t thank. It. was very welcome.
 Your loving brother, .e , GEORGE