The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1918-09-20

! 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 a little
| American flag and this both saved and
endangered her. Without it, the Ger
mans would have 'interned her as a
! Frenchwoman, and with 1t, 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
xaire.
Moreover, I 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.
| Nazalre and had been killed two or
three weeks afterwards. This made
1t 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
ways tell ii when a man has been
there and knows.
There was not much racket around
| New York, so l made up my mind all
Of sudden to 90 over and get some
| for myself. Believe me, l got enough
racket before l was through. Most
OF the really important things l have
done have happened like that: l 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.
l would not claim that I went over
there to save democracy. or anything
like that. / never did like Germans,
and never met a Frenchman who was
not kind to me, and what l 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. l thought about 1t so much.
| But there was not much excitement
about New York, and l figured the
U. S. would not get into 1t for a while,
anyway, so l Just wanted to go over
and see what 1t 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 a
noted boxer. OF the five of US, am
the only one who went In, got
through and came out. Flynn and
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 and
registry. but chartered by the French
government. l signed on as water
tender-an engine room job-but the
others were on deck-that is, seamen
We left Boston for st. Nazaire with
cargo of ammunition, bully beef
etc, and made the first trip without
anything of interest happening.
AS we were tying to the dock at st
Nazalre, saw a German prisoner sit
ting on a pile of lumber. 1 thought
probably he would be hungry, so
went down into the oilers mess anC
got two slices Of bread with thick
piece of beefsteak between them anc
handed ii to Fritz. He would not take
II. At first l thought he was afrait
to, but by using several languages ant
signs he managed to make me under
stand that he was not hungry-hat
too much to eat, In fact.
l used to think of this fellow occa
slonally when was in a German pris
|, on camp, and piece Of moldy breat
the size Of a safety-match box wa!
the generous portion of food the!
; forced on me, with true German hos
pitality, once every forty-eight hours
I would not exactly have refused ,
, beefsteak sandwich, am afraid. Blu
: then l was not a heaven-born German
, l was only a common American garby
He was full of kultur and grub;
[ was not full of anything.
There was large prison camp a
: ST. Nazaire. and at one time or an
other / saw all Of 1t. Before the wa
: 1t had been used as barracks by th'
5 French army and consisted of well
, made, comfortable two-story ston
, buildings, fioored with concrete, witt
' auxiliary barracks Of logs. The Ger
t man prisoners occupied the ston
T buildings, while the French guard
4 were quartered in the log houses. In
: side. the houses were divided into lOni
! rooms with whitewashed walls. Their
!. was a gymnasium for the prisoners,
+ cantecn where they might buy mos
s of the things you could buy anywher
4 else In the country. and studio 70
r the painters among the prisoners. OF
ficers were separated from privates-
b which was good thing for the pr
s vates-and were lsept In houses SUI
s rounded by stockades. officers an,
privates received the same treatment
{ however. apc ~ were given exactl,