Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-14
DANIELSON

Ihe- JnlrO InStallmenl or fr1Ndle Edelard Baroeau's experiences as plisoners of war in Germany is giv- en herewith today:
 We arrived at Darntstadt hungry, as usual and tired out after long railroad rid9- in side-door Ppllmans. We were now well inside thesGerman empire. Escorted under guard from the train to the prison camp we were conducted into a barfTcl and shown our bedroom. Some bedroom! Bare of everything and onlys&ha hard wood floor to sleep upon, but oUrtNuarters were changed later We went to sleep-hungry, asGusual~
 ''The next morning we found at the camp some other Am~...cans who had baen captured with us. and in this great war prison. of the Huns were thousands of other allied prisoners.
 'i inquired of one Of the prisoners who had been at the camp some time where I would get q mess tin. He laughed Q loud mirthful laugh. I didn't see anything fupry about the qUestion-unrA I went into the sub ject a little deeper. Cio out on the dump and find a tin can: that will be your mess tin here, he said,
 q thought then that he was iok- ing, but it was no joke No mess outfits were furnished for the pris- oners. 1 had to do what thousands of other prisoners of the sallled nations had done at that camp go out into the rubbish heap and hunt around for tin can. n which such food as l r-2uld thereafter get W0u.c be serV- od me. I won't and huntod and pres Cntly found what I was looking for an empty tomato can, thrcwn away by 1f n was regularly receiving packages from home. through the IT ench Red Ctoss. I tool; the can and very care fpllV washed it out, washed it many times, to get it as clean as I could under the conditions tha- was fac iEg.
 Pack to my friend anG instructor went and asked aborr retting 9 spoon. Another laugh from this ex2 Terienced captive of the Huns. If you rave a pocket knife, get it out. find q little piece of board or some kind of Q stick and whittle one out; this l,otel isn't furnishing any extras he told me. l was learning fast.
 fin a short tin1a we q,t cur first rn6al-soTne more black bread and acorn coffee That bread was aR aw- ful substitute for something to eat. We called 1t our 'wooder, lunch It Was made of potato parings you could pick pieces of these out of the loaf and some kind of stray that looked like sawdust. Fine bread,-Iooked like r1Ed and tasted like sardpaper, only more SO. Ton could take a slice of it when you felt like wasting some or simply could not stomach any more oi it. ball it up in your hand and make something like a hand grenade out of | it. Throw ir against wall or par t;t:on. that bread woulj stick there 1 Ike glue. 1t was nothing ike mother User to make
 "Thc weeks I spent at Darmstadt | seem like a nightmare -l mo now | ! was slow" starving. From 200 | pounds | Has gradu2lly 5hrinline l away. growing weaker day by day | Ihc question of eats was the su- i preme one iu ell the world for the 1 iriaQners. Hungry morning noon an6 l right, day aftC" day wec- after week 1 snd always growing weaker
 | 'In the meantime we Nerr not per E7itted to ren'ain idle. Our first ioI ticuS for buildings in an aviation cam 1 that was being constructed neal l Darmstadt At first our guards wer, Trussians-bie'. burIy brutes, who stood over ,Is with thnir rifles ant drove 1ss to work to the limit every minute of inc day.
 "They were nercil9ss io focfng u
 10 work. thcegh they knew/we were weak and hungry; thet- neye 1 physically abused US. l never saw r"isone" strdCll at DarnStadt. thougl II remained in that camp for mum
 Ter of weeks. I 'ouad that if on oheyed tho rules he was not likely t lTeceive any special punishment. thougl ! learned later. from what ] saw don
 to others. what being sent to
 strafe, or D'mishment comp meant fo
 2 FOOT victim. Unless h. had a con stitution of iron. he was not likely t come back. Many did not survive tn
 o"deaIs of hard labor, on q bread an
 water diet that they were put throug in the strafn camps. wDcre the me were forced 70 break a certain quan tity of stone each day and were mad
 to sleep on the stone floor cf window less cells at night.
 Finally. at Da"mstad. OFT Prussia guards were changed and ordere , away, why VIC never I5rew, but as surned they were assigned to dut
 elsewhere. Tn their pace came a
 Essen regiment. The men of that reg , ilncnt. I found personally wore inclin
 cd to sympathize with OFF plight an
 scme of thern were even ki1d to us.
 'G have lrown them. while the
 were guardin'3 us as We dag eXcava
 tons with rick and shovel, to sto and try and converse in q friendl
 way One day a guard succeeded with difficulty. due to barriers (
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