Mexico Missouri message., 1918-09-12

the soldiers were like the sailors. But
found out 1 was wrong about both.
One thing that opened my eyes a
bit was the trouble my mother had In
getting out of Hanover, where she
was when the war started, and back
to France. She always wore little
American flag and this both saved and
endangered her. without Il, the Ger
mans would have interned her as a
Frenchwoman, and with It, she was
sneered at and insulted time and
again before she finally managed to
get over the border. She died about
two months after she reached st. Ma
zaire.
Moreover, 1 heard the fate Of my
older brother, who had made his home
In France with my grandmother. He
had gone to the front at the outbreak
Of the war with the infantry from st.
Nazaire and had been killed two or
three weeks afterwards. This made
It a sort of personal matter.
But what put the finishing touches
to me were the stories a wounded
Canadian lieutenant told me some
months later in New York. He had
been there and he knew. You could
not help believing him; you can al
ways tell 1t when a man has been
there and knows.
There was not much racket around
| New York, so 1 made up my mind all
of a sudden to go over and get some
for myself. Believe me, got enough
racket before was through. Most
Of the really important things have
done have happened like that: I did
them on the jump, you might say.
Many other Americans wanted look,
too; there were five thousand Amer
leans in the Canadian army at one
time they say.
would not claim that went over
there to save democracy, or anything
like that. I never did like Germans,
and never met Frenchman who was
not kind to me, and what heard
about the way the Huns treated the
Belgians made me sick. used to get
out of bed to go to an all-night picture
show, thought about it so much.
But there was not much excitement
about New York, and 1 figured the
q. s. would not get into 1t for a while,
anyway, so I just wanted to go over
and see what it was like. That is
why lots of us went, think.
There were five of us who went to
Boston to ship for the other side
Sam Murray, Ed Brown, Tim Flynn
Mitchell and myself. Murray was an ex
garby-two bitches .(enlistments), gun
pointer rating, and about thirty-five
years old. Brown was Pennsylvania
man about twenty-six years old, who
had served two enlistments in the u
s. army and had quit with the rank
of sergeant. Flynn and Mitchell were
both ex-navy men. Mitchell was
noted boxer. OF the five Of us, / an
the only one who went in, go
through and came out. Flynn ant
Mitchell did not go in; Murray and
Brown never came back.
The five of US shipped on the steam
ship Virginian Of the American-Ha
waiian line, under American flag ant
registry, but chartered by the French
! government. l signed on as water
tender-an engine room job-but tn
. others were on deck-that is, seamen
We left Boston for st. Nazaire witt
cargo of ammunition, bully beef
. etc., and made the first trip withou
I anything of interest happening.
}. AS we were tying to the dock at 81
' Nazaire, saw a German prisoner SIT
4 ting on a pile of lumber. though
Z probably he would be hungry, so
e went down into the oilers mess an
n got two slices of bread with thic
n piece of beefsteak between them an
= handed 1t to Fritz. He would not TAX
n 1t. At first thought he was afrai
v to, but by using several languages an
signs he managed to make me undel
stand that he was not hungry-ha
too much to eat, in fact.
used to think of this fellow oect
slOnally when was in German pri'
e on camp, and piece Of moldy brea
d the size Of a safety-match box wa
4, the generous portion of food the
Y forced on me, with true German ho
It pitality, once every forty-eight hour
a would not exactly have refused
.e beefsteak sandwich, am afraid. BT
1t then was not a heaven-born Germai
W was only a common American garb,
a. He was full Of kultur and grub;
I was not full of anything.
r There was a large prison camp 1
lie st. Nazaire, and at one time or Al
t. other saw all of 1t. Before the ws
e. 1t had been used as barracks by Il
is French army and consisted Of wei
to made, comfortable two-story stoI
a buildings, fioored with concrete, vii
W auxiliary barracks Of logs. The Ge
at man prisoners occupied the stoi
ar buildings. while the French guarI
m were quartered In the log houses. /
r. side, the houses were divided into loI
Id rooms with whltewashed walls. The
1t. was a gymnasium for the prisoners,
n canteen where they might buy mo
ao Of tho thfno,o uo,. covtId hUu auUyba