Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1918-12-27
LETTER FROM FRANCE.
November 20, 1918
V aUn, France,


My dear Beacon: ID
To-day I was most pleasantly sur
prised to receive a number of Bea
cons, and have literally devouret
them. To show how thoroughly
read them, will say I went into tn,
adv. columns and read 5 Bills adv, 81
sent him an order for a civilian suit
You ean eonscientiously tell Cal thai
your paper got him that order, fol
really and truly it did. have thought
Of you and the Beacon often during
the last few weeks, for / have had nc
work to do,and / recall so vividly the
promise you made me once upon 9
time to "send the Beacon to me over.
seas if you had to pay first-class pos.
tai rates on it." Well, from the sar-
castle remarks L used to hand you
about the Beacon guess you didn't
think considered it worth first-class
postage, but I'll tell you right now
that those Beacons received today
were worth at least a dollar an ounce,
and you may charge that amount to
my account; thaH is, if you think
there is any possibility of your ever
collecting it. During my first two
months on this side I didn't have much
Time to think about anything except
wonder how I was going to be able
to get through that Artillery school
without being busted" but believe
me, brother, I am sitting back on my
rights now and am taking life easy.
havn't hardly turned a hand in a
month, and the prospect for such an
occurrence is certainly not very bright
at this writing.
! noticed in one Of the Beacons,
something you had had to say re-
garding Captain Dismukes, U. s. N,
and the transport, Mt. Vernon, which
)le commanded along about the first
of September. I read the article with
quite a personal interest, and you will
perhaps be interested to know that
the transport on which l crossed ar
rived at Brest, which was the Port
into which the torpedoed Mt. Vernon
came, the day after Captain Dis
|muke's ship came in crippled. I re-
Imember very well that on the day Of
Jour arrival, before we disembarked,
the news got spread around our ship
nat dr.n American transport had just
[beerC 2edoed day or so earlier
Ind tnat made us all stop and think
what a. chance we had just been
|takng in coming through the "Sub
,one." Well, our men landed on the
French soil about noon on Sunday,
September 9th, and I was detailed to
emain in the city of Brest that after
boon and night and look after some
81 our baggage, so my work completed
bout 300 p. m. started out to
box up this torpedoed ship, but be-
ause everybody was so awfully busy
round there that day and it was so
rowded and mixed up gave up my
earch after getting all turned around
nd lost. However, had l known that
Macon man, even tho stranger to
ie, was in charge of the boat l GER
inly would have made a more
borough hunt for the ship. But there
ere so many ships in the Port and |
much stuff on the docks that l |
ubt if | ever could have found it |
hyway. And the statement you made |
out Secrtary of War Baker being
England at that time is wrong, for
came across on the same ship that |
regiment came on and we didn't |
en- go in sight of England. He
1ded in Brest on the afternoon of |
ptember 7th and those letters you
pte were written from Brest on the
lowing day, Sunday, so you see
Beacon s. II puts out bad news, or
her incorrect news. tell you all
simply because it marked a rather
nor able day in my life and be-
sse it is rather odd that circum-
hes should have been just as they
e. / enjoyed my seven days on
Atlantic more than ever have
Ioyed the same length of time
mt anywhere else, but I'll tell you
y that dry land, even French land,
ed mighty good to us that Satur-
afternoon. / didn't know the
an was quite SO big, and had
lost decided in my own mind that
Captain had lost his bearings and
we were just circling around and
and out in the middle of the ocean.
couldn't quite understand how it
possible for fellow to go at
rate of about % knots per hour
seven days of "a hours each and
see only water. The Atlantic is
only thing I've seen yet, except
French girls possibly, in which
1T experienced disappointment.