Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1918-12-26
TWO INTEREST
ING LEITRS
FONA.E. JONES

esting letters home recently which
We take pleasure in reproducing as
follows
Have you ever tackled big job
that appeared to have no end and
then suddenly it was really over and
you wondered if it was true and
moped and poked around restlessly
because there was nothing to d O?
That is the way our bunch feels to-
day. We are garaged at what a
fortnight ago was the most advanced
and busiest evacuation point for
wounded troops on the Verdun
front. During battle pressure the
minimum evacuation here was
1000 wounded and for weeks the
number has scared above this figur-
sometimes doubling it.
But / wish you could see this
place today 1t has all the appear
ance and general atmosphere of a
deserted village. 1t is a combined
French and American hospital, aItho
the great majority Of patients have
been American. Looking out of the
window ! can see the Frenchmen
packing up their paraphernalia prior
to folding their tents and going home
In the street are a couple of Boche
prisoners toting some boxes. A few
4ha1 would Iovro hoo,, ly1oNal--
ed flat by the never ending stream
Of ambulances arriving from and de-
parting for the front. And the big
brick incinerator where they used tc
burn the huge piles Of bloody cloth
ing and bandages and other equip
ment, is like a dead volcano. | have
seen blood-soaked clothing in piles as
high as a farmers hay stack around
that incinerator.
And then the hospital barracks
seem so queer. Most of them are
absolutely empty and smell of anti
septic How many times have | gone
into these barracks and watched the
surgeons working at top speed under
the big electric lights, or heard a con-
tinual groaning that made one think
of Dantes description of the pit. 1t
is so quiet and peaceful that one is
almost inclined to believe one is sleep
ing and dreaming pleasant dream.
And over on the other side front
line division is loading its guns on
flat cars and packing equipment on
the first step home They are going
to a port west of Paris and one Of
the officers said he knew they would
sail early in December | wish you
could see that gang l don't suppose
guns were ever loaded faster in mill
tary history. nor to the tune Of such
music Everybody is talking about
being home for Christmas. You really
can't imagine what feeling it is to
know it really is over. When there
was evidently no chance of peace all
two Anex lads ever talked of on meet
ing was going home. Then it might
have been five years away. So now
YOU know the way we feel Every
body simply wants ''home" No wild
parties or anything like that Just
home. l was talking to lad a few
minutes ago on the subject.
"All | ask IS to get back to my own
back yard" he said "And believe me
/ don't care if l never leave it. The
homesickness is the worst feeling in
the world. A toothache will let up
for awhile, but homesickness never
does" l guess we all feel about that
way.
The front was a queer place the
day after the armistice was signed
We were garaged that day too and
part of our bunch went over to Yer
dun 1t was the first time the town
hadn't been shelled in four years
The Frenchmen were pol1ing around
as though they were lost. They al
most seemed to resent the lack of at
tantion thev were used to and walk
ed around the fort and above in the
wilderness of stone that used to be
city, kicking at sticks and things
as though they had lost something
or tramping around with their hands
behind their backs with the blankest
looks on their gray faces. 1t was
really pitiful to watch them And the
veterans of an old American division
were almost the same way. They
looked blank and talked in jerkv mon
osvllables. The replacement members
who hadn't been in the mill so long
were down fixing up the old citadel fol
a movie show. St. Margaret's Cathe-
dral and school for girls is a ghostly
snectre against the sky as you stand
down in the valley on the way through
the fort gates. J wonder how the
parts still standing remain up with.
ont violatiog the laws of gravity
And yet, looking through the window:
Of the school section of the building
YOU can see the tiny desks, with, il
some cases the books still on them jus
as they were when war broke out.