The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1918-10-26
Am Having the Greatest Experience
Of Ny Life, Writes Frank Vessel

The following letter has been re-
ceived from Frank Vessel. formerly
of the Thomas and Vessel Shoe shop.
and now located with Medical detach-
ment of the 321st Field Signal Bat
talon with the American Expedition
airy Forces in France. The letter
follows:
France, Sept. 81, 1918.
Dear Mother suppose you must
think that l have dropped on OF the
earth or something like that; don't
you? No; 1t isn't anything like that,
only I have been so busy travelling
and moving from one place to another
that l never got the chance to write
anyone.
We have spent almost this whole
month travelling either on land or wa
ter as you can Judge from my last
letter which was written IN England.
We have probably travelled between
four and five thousand miles SO far
this month until we are finally settled
for few days at least in little
village In France. We have been at
this little town for five days now and
we are all glad that we have chance
to get some good rest. 1t Is very tire
some travelling and one doesn't get
very much rest especially In these
countries where the railroads are moth
ing like our own and they are so busy
and overcrowded that we have to
travel in the best that can be had and
Is handy. Our last trip coming to
where we now are lasted about forty
hours and we travelled in stock cars
about half the size Of our own. The
cars were all nice and clean though,
and we slept and ate on the floor,
which was quite a novelty to US only
1t got to be very tiresome as l don't
think we went any faster than fifteen
miles an hour on the whole trip and
think every wheel on the car in
which we were, was fiat or the road
was very rough as 1t was bumpety
bump all the way. We also have made
some good sized hikes In going to
and from camps. Our last big hike
was to where we are now, which was
over ten miles from where we got off
the train with full packs on our backs.
Not man in the whole bunch fell out
Of line on account of foot trouble or
anything but there wasn't any one who
cared about walking any more than
five miles anyhow, especially after
nights. This battalion has reputa-
ton of being hiking bunch and all
the men are in fine physical condi-
ton We don't have near SO many on
sick call at our dispensary as we did
have are mostly minor ailments such
as blister on their feet or a slight
cold
The place where we are located is
a very pretty country and Is located
right in the heart of the grape dis
trict. Grape growing seems to be
the main industry among the farmers
here although they raise some wheat
and other things such as we raise
at home. You can see acres after
acres of grapes planted in long even
rows and the bushes are about three
feet high. They are mostly blue and
white grapes such as we have at home
only l don't think they are quite so
tasty as ours. not being so sweet.
They make wine out of the grapes
but I haven't tasted any yet that
liked as we'll as the wine you make
from grapes although some of these
wines they make here cost a pretty
good price at home. The people
around here are all old fashioned
and do everything as in the olden
days. They don't seem to try to live
or do their work any different than
their people before them and are
about hundred years behind us in
all methods of living and working.
Wooden shoes are still worn and you
see women washing clothes on plain
board bench down by some brook,
scrubbing them with brush and beat
ing them with club or paddle to get
them clean. l don't suppose they
know what a wash machine is They
have no plumbing work of any kind
around their houses. They keep their
COWS and goats right next to the build
ings in which they live. l haven't
tried to drink any of the goat milk
yet. They beat the wheat out of the
shocks with fail or whatever they
call it. The town where we are liv-
ing only contains about dozen
houses and most all of them are over
hundred years old or more, l guess
We sleep in the attics of the houses
or the lofts of the barns and have real
good beds of nice straw and plenty
Of cover. We sure sleep some The
people are very nice to us and will
do most anything they can for us but
we don't understand one another's
language and it is rather unhandy to
try to talk with them. l can speak a
few words of French and think will
get so l can talk it little bit We
are about three hundred miles from
the firing line and the way things
look, it will be over with before we
ever get any closer as they sure are
giving the Germans all they can take
and more too You hear tales of
some cowardly dirty tricks the Ger
mans are doing while retreating, from
some of the French soldiers who are
home on furlough. They put women
and children in front of their armies
when We get close to their cities, to