Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-13
T forgot tc mention that our r .eption at the hospitaI includek

T forgot tc mention that our re- ception at th,s hospital includes a thorough cleansing of our bodies, tath a haircut-one of the scalp pinching German clips-aud five inoc uiations! They certainly were gen erous with their needles,
 Upon awak ening the next morning our first thought was of food The Germans must have been thinking of
 other things. for they didn't hurry to feed us. By this time we had con- l c;ived the idea that we would not be beaten and abused as we had expect
 eC but were solemnIy convinced that we were to bc starved to death. We l had some ground for thinking so. It
 was Monday morning, and we hadn't eaten anything but those TWO nina , tlre slices of wooden black bread since Friday afternoon
 l After time 8 sergean; came in and ordered two of our men Wilo could walk to follow him. Th"se men came 1 back presently with five loaves of 1 tread-blact as your shoe--to feet our 1 party. We were to be allowed 200 1 Grammes of his each day. We ste what was given us and waited about 1 still famished. until q. m, when some
 coffee, made Of aeorns, uas served us. | No more ther until noon, when we got l cur first taste of German var soup, With which we were destifed to be-
 come familiar later
 There came 8 time at shat hospital l at Briey vher l % armed how that soup
 was made. lis chief, ingredient was ! slices of maC-1e beetS-- such as we
 feed to the cows in this country. Real 1 }y. the stuff was terrible. E;1t it was 1 that or nothing: so we forced our ! se1y es- to live upon it and the acorn
 CT burnt barley coffee and black bread. l Cnce-only Cnce-at tha. kosnital I 1 was given an ounce morsel of horse fl>sh. I didn't think back home that | I'd ever care about horsemeat in my ! diet, but il tasted mighty good that ! day. That bite Of horsrilest was the | only meat I lasted ftot April 20. the Gay ! was captured. until the middle of l August, when my first package came trough from the American Red Cross In the meantime my weight had sllrunken from 200 to 13) pounds and I was only skin and bones. Let me 1 say God bless the Red Cross As s'lro as am here today, ] owe my very life to that organization. Had it moi been for tho packages of foodstuffs tiiat they sent me from Switzerland beginning in August, I should most certainly have starved to death. Only
 my natural reserve of strength carried
 me through as long as iI did.
 But to get back to tha Rriey hos ElCal-and those manget beets. Whils
 was in France helping the Frencf
 girls to grind up such vegetables tC
 he fed to the farm animals. I never
 thought that I, myself. would be act.
 ually living or them within a few shor
 months' But here I was, face to fac,
 with the reality.
 We were kept at the Rrey hospita for four weeks During that time ",
 did lot or thinking-anl very littl;
 eating. Among the things we though
 Of was the Germans shortage Of rub
 her. so we pulled the rubber holder. from the interior of our helmets ant T threw the rubber away. There wasn' much rubber in each helmet but. lit . tic as there was, we were bound. tn enemy wouldn't have the use of it!
 From Bfiay they sent US to Con , fans. Here I had 6ne of the mos :. dreadful experiences of my captivity With six other Americans and fou ! British soldiers, I was confined fo
 seven days and seven nights in wha
 Was like an attic room ever a sheG , There was Che little window in thi I room-and that window boarded UT I The room was fitted with bunks w l were never permitted to 20 out. Gu ' rlticns were the now familiar bIac , bread and mangel beet soup and acor coffee. We finally became so hun / i sry that we offered to trade our o. I shirts for something to eat. but tn 6 ssEan6s only snarled at IS. With eleve ? nien confined in the room day an f night and never permitted 10 leave :, even for a single minute tho place be u ca1ne like a pen. We were practical |, ly living in 6 sewer aud the stenc f was awful. At the end of seven dafy Y, and seven nights of this horror W y We're taken out and ordered sent to Il, s prison camp at Darmstadt. Why W a were confined in that hell-hoIe of a o attic ] never learned, TOT can I in = agine now.
 6 Before our party was scnt out = Contans the Germans again ocean
 Interested in that 500 francs I WE
 carrying with me. They had taken !. sway from lne at the hospital at Erie d but gave it back again when I ws q leaving. At Conf1ans they again It l. Eeved me of it. and gavS me instea e what they figured was tfe equivalel e in German marks. The exchange ra> II NtfAF Siii III LilclE lttNDl l--tTaS1c JGF al though this may seeml These Ge It mans were some financiars. Whf e we arrived at Darnstadt after g, rit h that covered two nights. and ds e and half, during which time the -e didn't any of us much to speak Of. 1t was relieved of the German marks al le given in exchange what was consf re cred an equal amount Of prisoner d war money. This was some chans
 Good within the limits Of the prist lg camp, at the post exchanges, but II Ig where else. I often wonder who I. rally got my coo good francs!
 n Well. I was at Darnstadt the fir a real prison ranrp I got into in Ge : many. There were represt ntatfves ot all of the allied nations omong u le Erisoners-BTitish, Canadians. Aus in traiians, Russians, Italians, Frenc 1e 6elgians, and others. Some had be- 1e there since early in the War. learn te fast about prison life at Darmstat en and will not forget the things I e " perienced there"
 a (The next installmont of Priva ly Sarbeaus narrative covers his pris i'll camp experience up to the signing
 the arnistice>