The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1919-02-06
Now Stationed at
AndernOch, Germany


Mrs. E B Back of East Main street
in the Four Mile district is in receipt
OF letter from her nephew, Private
Ben F. Hall of headquarters detach-
meut. A M. C., Third division, with
the army of occupation. The letter
bears date of December 10. and was
written from Andernoch, Germany. He
says.
Il presume you think ] have forgot
ten all aSou: ycu. must ask you TO
pardon my seeming neglect, as have
been on the go so much for the last
month or six weeks that / have had
little opportunity to write anybody.
Now that we are at the end of the
journey ] will endeavor to do better.
II is rather discouraging matter any
way to write to ones friends and
never receive any mail in reply.
have had no letters from anybody at
home since landed over here, in fact,
none since ] left Camp Macarthur. So
you see it is rather hard to write when
one is SO uncertain about his letters
reaching their destination.
.Since ] last wrote TO you ] have
u az t1Cd ofti q iot VI
have been over a large portion of
France and was up to within eight
kilometers of the front lines where the
shells were bursting thick and fast
After the armistice was signed ! got
to see both the Allies and the German
front lines. The Germans had one
big dugout that would shelter 700 men.
II was dug down to depth of 100 feet
and was slightly protected by a hill.
The entrance was winding and camou-
fiaged over. making II hard to find
The inside of this dugout was all ce-
mented. walls. ceiling and floor. There
was wiring for electric lighting and all
sorts of comfortable Furnishings
There was a storeroom for food and
extra ammunition
Some of these towns are all torn
to pieces by shell fire; nothing left
but the crumbling walls of buildings.
After crossing the battle lines we
again entered some very fine country.
some of il rich in ore mines and in
munitions and steel plants After this
We entered Luxumburg. splendid
farming country. The Moselle river
uOHe VI AfcC-4ILtA
we crossed the river and camped on
German soil The German people. as
far as my observation goes. are not in
as bad condition as the French are
Their country is richer than France
and they farm il better. They grow
grapes all the way up the hilisides ard
there is no soil left uncultivated. II
looks queer to see the grapes growing
on the hillsides.
We reached the Rhine on Decem-
bcr 10 at 4;45 in the afternoon, We
travelled down the river and saw sew
eral Iaccs of interest. We arrived
at this place. the end of our journey.
December II. We are TO do garrison
duty here for two or three morths.
perhaps longer. ! would rather re-
main in one place than keep on the
move all the time While we are
marching we do not fare so Wen as
when stationed at one place. II also
gives US better mail facilities and in
oreases our chances OF getting letters
from home.
we are nicely situated here and
have a warm Office in school
house. Our kitchen is next door TO
us and We all have nice beds to sleep
on in comfortable billets. This is a
nice town of about $4,000 Inhabitants.
II is on the Rhine and across the river
IS another town rather larger than
this. The weather is not very cold
here yet, but the temperature gets
down pretty low sometimes from all
accounts. The people here tell US
that the Rhine froze over during The
winter o. 1916 and teams crossed the
river on the ice We are hoping that
such an experience will not be repeat
ed while we are here Well. as there
is little that ] can think of that will
specially interest YOU will close for
the present with best wishes TO ALL