The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1918-08-08

fCIl, 1OIo.
>nar Folk. e.: Tome: ~S>fe>-.-e often
Yssdered he@! 10 all ars, '55 s::aEs Fourth
81 fully mainss; ne think 81 tsome as
;s,.4.G,ing elsss "t!taa the ss;lation to
v. he is 50 Gag that i is2:s4not re-
@. You lras, 1want t. ss'ss'55a:e to all
VI, and Tvs l b. ~ write
would be the, same to all. Letters
have to be censored by immediate
commanding officer, and l can imagine
the horror of the censoring officer, if
presented to him five or six individ-
ual letters, each as long as l expect to
make this one So with due regard to
the time Of the censoring officer, and
inasmuch as that would say to one
is about the same as I would say to
all, l hope you will pardon the use of
typewriter, and the duplication, as a
war time measure, as paper over here
is very, very scarce, and by using the
machine I can condense it, as we'll as
making it more legible for yourselves.
We had a splendid day here for the
Fourth. 1t was awfully cold in the
morning, but the sun came out about
noon, and this afternoon there was a
warm sunshine and it seemed some
thing like Fourth of July weather as
it is known at home.
We are in France, and as you I'M
doubtedly have read in the papers,
the day has been proclaimed a nation
al holiday by the French. A sergeant
and l went down to little town sew
eral kilometers away, yesterday after
noon, to take bath in a large pond
at the place, and in that town we saw
a copy of the announcement posted
on a bulletin board. 1t was in French
of course, but we could read enough of
it to understand that the French were
going to celebrate the Fourth Of July
with us.
The war is very interesting, and
would not miss being over here for
anything. Have had some trip since
leaving our camp, and I shall UNDER
take to tell you a little about it.
The packing up and leaving camp
was a big job and we had to work
"~ hours. !. ----lnaged {. 1t time
Il OK up a.. nd home X Donald
:. ;urplus MFz.s ind l iz,as=aasyst - when
.-l-: box was <sssf ived at ~ e they
IT,, , l was eaNlHs> to leaW:, Ne left
~ a few GsssfSs, 1terwezSa, i'd trav-
q i to the !;as1 attic in Sc Portable
list sleer.... lars. Acc-.- of be-
ing in charge of records, l had con-.
siderable more space than others, a
section being assigned for our head
quarters or Office, and a section for
myself and assistant to sleep in. Did
lots Of work on the train, just as I
used to do when travelling in the
northwest with Mr.. Cleland.
AS we pulled out Of our camp, took
a last farewell look at the pines, and
the azure sky above-a farewell to
the: place where we had so delightfully."-
spent the winter. We were soon
passing through the city, and in some
garden patches saw corn already four
feet high. 1t was delightful change
to pass from the abundant and luxur-
liant vegetation of the south, gradually
to the north. When we got up to Mis-
souri, the trees were just beginning to
leave. 1t was reminder of the aw-
full cold winter that we had escaped
by being in Dixie.
Our train passed through the home
town of our commanding officer, and
we stopped there two hours, and were
marched to the splendid Y. M. C. A.
where we had shower bath. This
was the delight of the trip. The whole
town was out to greet the boys, and
all got lot of cigarettes, gum. candy
ETC., and best of all, good wishes. We
will never forget the reception we got
in the C. O.'s home town. Our trip
all the way to the port was very in
teresting. The field ranges were set
up in the baggage cars, and we had
cooked food, prepared by the same
.Nen, and just ~ well, as VIXEN in our
HESS halls at camp. The "chow" was
sArried back through the train by the
kitchen police, and handed out to the
men.
On Sunday our train stopped at
Wilkes-Barre. We were there from
about noon to p. m. At this point
through the kindness and influence of
some good men who happened to be
at the station when we pulled in, we
were offered the courtesy of shower
bath at the Y. M. c. A., so we had a
nie march up through the business
section Of Wilkes-Barre to the Y. M
C. A., shower and swim in the pool
and march back through the park
by the river-I think the Susquehanna
We have good reason to remember
Wilkes-Barre. It is a beautiful city
much larger than thought it to be
The trip all through the coal region
of Pennsylvania was very interesting
the country being far more mountain
eous than l had every imagined.
We were at camp in the east fo1
several days, and then boarded boat
on the 9th, and sailed the 10th. Again
on account of my having charge o.
! records, got accommodations above
the usual. A large stateroom was as
signed at battalion headquarters. ant
this was occupied by Sergeant Majol
Roy F. Strang, of Charles City, ant
myself. Strang took the upper be-
and I the lower We threw our pack
on the bed and never opened them al
the way over, as we had beds to slee]
i, end did not iced anything out O
the pack. A detail brought our fel,
Gseks and boxes, from the hold, up t,
CUE statercopa and we set up office
sssss7ang and ] set up our Geld desk
s-.ae by SIDE, en- the SOFA, AID sat OF
tvpev ter boxes for seats. The DO:
ssntaining a.-.nll cabinet 1T cores
pondence, and which had an end-open
ing door, l put under the bed and al
I had to do was to turn around, ope
the end door of the box, and pull GU
the cabinet, and there waI the COZ
respondence, handily arranged. A por
lol, ;,,.f obovo orr fold GoskS rov