Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1919-01-24
From
Our Soldiers
From PRV'T. A. E. BERGMAN
ITO His Mother, Mrs. Louise Bergman]
December %, 1918.

december -, 1910.
My dear Mother:-
Our mail has been delayed so haven't
heard from you since the Christmas
letter, you probably have my letter say
ing that received my Christmas box
in fine condition, the only thing was
sorry, didn't tell you to fill the box
with cookies, for those three that were
in it were fine, as fresh as they could
be and sure tasted good.
We are still in Pont-a-Monsson and
its hard to tell when we will leave,
there are some rumors that we might
90 near the German border and be in
the Army Of Occupation, for my part /
would much rather be there than here,
because this city has been pretty well
shot to pieces and there is only about
three stores doing business and very
few people, so there is not much ex-
element here. The boys up in Ger
many are having the,time of their life,
SO they say, and are also seeing the
country.
I'm enclosing some views Of Metz,
most of them are pictures that / have
seen SO wish you will hang onto them.
The German Monuments of Frederick
William and the others are thing OF
the past for when the French took over
the city Of Metz they pulled them all
down and those that they couldn't pull
down they dynamited. Metz is a very
old town with crooked narrow streets
and peculiar houses, some of them
hundreds of years old. The Cathedral
was disappointing for much of the
stained glass had been removed and
the whole stripped Of its treasures for
safe-keeping, because the structure
was in great danger Of being lombard
ed, one shell hit within twenty feet and
Clipped some Of the stones. There are
four organs and beautiful carved
wood chancel in it and a very curious
group of sculptors, stone, painted
representing the placing of the body
of Christ in the Tomb" the whole is
medieval in spirit and execution and
more of curiosity than a wonderful
work of art.
About ten miles from here are the
remains Of an old Roman Viaduct,
used by them for bringing down the
water from the hills to the villages,
they must date from about the time Of
Christ, but are in good preservation,
the arches are about a hundred feet
high and the piers about fifteen foot
square at the bottom, so you can see
how large they are, I'm enclosing
couple of views Of them.
/ got several magazines last week
from Detroit, also our home paper and
the papers Mrs. Tynor sent.
I've got several little souveniers but
will wait to send them until I get a
shell and will then send them altogether
Sybil wanted me to get her buckle
from German belt, you can tell her
I've got one and will send it to you
when send the other stuff.
We sure are having holiday this
week, very few formations and hardly
any drilling and good meals three times
a day. worked in the kitchen for
couple of days last week and was filled
up for month when left the job, the
kitchen police are sort Of clean up
squad and finish whats left after each
meal
We are still having mild weather and
Christmas was quite warm, it rains
quite lot here but not hard, it just
drizzles for hours and hours sometimes.
I'm writing this at the 32Sth Canteen
they have still got their Christmas tree
decorated and wish you could see how
pretty it is. The room is all decorated
with evergreen, lanterns and paper
streamers and everything looks like
Christmas.
Isuppose it will not be long now un-
til some Of the East Jordan boys get
back home, envy the first ones that
get there, but don't worry 1t won't be
such an awful long time before we are
all home again. | dream't the other
night was back at Thiancourt where
our guns were and we were in action
and caught in a gas attack. l had a
terrible time and when l awoke found
that was almost suffoeating because
my blankets were over my face and I
didn't get much air. II sure was great
to wake up and find myself just dream
ING and how thankful was even tho
was only half awake.
Have you seen Richard yet? I've
got little souvenier for him too and
hope he doesn't get to fat and big be-
fore il gets there. I'm wondering
where you were Christmas for know
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