The Big Sandy news. [volume] (Louisa, Ky.) 1885-1929, 1918-12-20
Ed. SPENCER
TELLS OF HIS
NARROW ESCAPES
MISSED SAILING ON ILL FATED
TuscANIA BY SLIGHT MAR.
GIN.

The following interesting letter WAS
x,ritten on Fathers Day TO Mr., ID, Z,
soencer. the Louisa merchant. by his
son. Ed, OF the y. 8. Aero service;
Sunday Dads Day) Nov "a, 1918
Ny Dearest Father.--Today has
been set apart for Dads Day 80 I'm
going to spene just a few minutes
writIng 20 the finest dad In the world.
i expect most OF US boys have neglect.
ed 70 write dad (and am one OF
them) but don't think you have been
forgotten.
This Is supposed 10 reach you IN
tiuae for Christmas but from the way
tbinrs look now win be able TO tell
YOU more personally than could write
In n month. We can tell YOU (not ev-
erybody eiae) nearly everything We
have done and everywhere We have
beer. where we are now--in fact we
could write a SO page letter easily.
wish | had time 10 write you every
thing, but will tell you just little
NOW.
Well. guess you know about me ieaN
ing Washington 10 "join up" then 10
Fort Thomas and Kelly Field. Kelly
Field was bad enough and every one
was glad 20 get away tand have wish
cd many times 10 b. back) Then Park
Field. Tenn. was our home. Those
were the good old days and We GER
tAinly enjoyed our stay there.
We left Park F1ele January ~ and
arrived In Garden City January 80,
Iaft for overseas February l6- Just
before We left we learned OF the Tus-
oanla accident and were warned how
partIcular we must be In our writinH
We were TO have saiied on that ship
but aidnt get on. We got up on the
morning OF February 10 at o'clock.
No one had taken his clothes on and
No wefa ready to go IN about 10 min
|. ufos. II was cold and eark and the
tramp. tramp. tramp or steel heels or
Z 5000 men sounded strange TO me-but
good. We plied in coaches with no
one 10 say good bye. but a few fellows
-and didn't know them. Went from
Garden City TO New York. got on the
ferry and vent down--or up--the Hud
son. saw the ole statue. and finally
landed at the dock. We were shortly
loaded on boat-doWn in the hold
and began 20 settle down as best we
e0ulQ OuI w aNAh stNNefF'-S
afternoon. February l6. at O'clock.
We had TO all 20 below deck when
We left. We played around the har-
Dor until dark and then slipped out.
The last thing ] saw was the old
Statue OF Liberty with Its many lights.
or course we had our life belts on ana
has 20 wear them all the time. We
pulled In Halifax harbor Monday af-
ternoon and stayed there until Thurs
day. Gee, but IL was cold, AZ degrees
hollow zero. We waited for our con-
voy here and left Thursday afternoon.
We were In Halifax Just after the ak
pIosIon and the damage was awful. We
nav the boat which contained the ex-
plosive. The San Diego was our cruis
Ter on tho way over. You remember
she was ruined or torpedoed recently.
Our boat was the "Carmania." and
fairly comfortable. There were II
aero aquadrons, two or three medical
eetachmenta about 800 nurses. and
500 officers on board. We had an en-
joyable trip.
The first Saturday out was Sgt. OF
the guard. and that night II was the
one rough night we had. The sea was
Wild and quite few were sick. was
fortunate TO escape
we had boar drill. calisthenics. box
ing matches. singing dancing, etc, to
amuse us. At night 70 smoking was
allowed on deck, We had a phono-
graph and used TO dance on deck in
tho moonlight. During the day we
used, to watch the sea for sign of
ships or anything of life, We used
to wish for a submarine-but never
one came. The days and nights were
niways the same. The eats were not
very good. but we managed to get
through, with the aid of three can
teens. Our hunks were about 2 IL IT..
vide but slept pretty good
The San Diego left US Wednesday
i sening about o'clock. We were to
,mtp tcontinued on page four)