The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1919-01-04
PARIS CLEAN IN MORALS
As ANY CITY IN j. S.

day trip in one of these ears and an
other that last over a. days. Well.
! this is what VIC have had. but il beats
walking all 10 h.
! Altogether we spent something like
! 10 days riding around France in box
cars. We were fed mostly on ernbalm-
I Cd beef. beans. tomatoes and hard tack.
with water 10 drink and an occasional
I cap of hot coffee The town VIC are
i now in Is a pretty good sized place,
something Ike Hammond. but now
, there Is not very many civilians here. as
I they left over 4 years ago when the
. Huns took the place. Think Of it, Dad.
/ the Huns have been here over I years
and ] might ada that tho civilians are
now coming back 20 what was their
/ homes. Although this town is not badly
shot up the Huns sure did ransack it
and left nothing Of value They used
the houses and other buildings for bar
racks and sure had ,hings fixed up for
( comfort. They had beds. real feather
ticks. bureaus. dressers and looking
I glasses. all Of which they took out Of
/ the houses. 1 wish you could see this
place. it shows how the Americans had
them on the run They didn't have
chance to gather up their belongings
and lot was left behind
Talk about souvenirs. sure could get
a lot of them. but what could l do with
/ them. / have all I can carry now. and
am iucky TO be able to mail a letter
let alone helmet or anything else.
However, / expect to get some souve-
Mrs and believe me if / do they win be
wor,h carrying Coming up here the
country was pretty much shot UP.
Thousands Of she'll holes showed how
I hot the American artillery has made it
for the Huns. We passed through town
after town that had been completely de
molished b. shell fire no, a house left
/ standing but what had been damaged.
/ Nerdun. you have heard much of il as
it has been famous in this war. is al
most total ruin. in fact 1t is indescrib-
able. We stopped az one place where
| the doughboys went over the Top. We
/ examined their trenches etc. but 1 Will
not stop TO describe them. as it's too
| long a story and not 50 interesting as
some Of the things l have TO tell.
We. Lew and I. took a walk around
town today. looking things over We
went through a German graveyard, in
I reality It was a French one but there
| were more Germans buried there than
! French and some had been there since
4 1914 There must have been 400 at least
who had been killed in war buried there.
/ and that they intended TO hold all the
| country they occupied since the war
! could easily be seen az all the graves
were marked and some even had tomb
stones and monument had been erect
cd there There were about q Ameri-
can graves there too. ali OF whom fell
in the recent lighting. we also spent a
| fatr- in
| had been stripped bare and evidently
the German soldiers had used it as
sleeping quarters. The only thing left
/ in it was a big statute IF Christ ard
/ had they not thought they would g. to
| hell they would have carried ID away.
! We are right on the river Mouse and
every bridge around was blown up by
! the Germans in their retreat and 10 take
their places are the hurriedly construct
| ed wooden bridges put MP by the \ Z.
Z. engineers. 1t sure has been some
| job for these fellows as the Germans
tore UP railroads and all.
| The largest shell hole I have seen
vas about IS feet across and 10 feet
4 deep: this was made by one Of the big
6. I. guns. probably 10 or u inch.
! Well. Dad, We did not get to see any
! lighting but only missed it by hairs
\ breath. We had orders about weeks
/ ago or week before the armistice was
/ signed to move up and we were all
packed and had our material down 70
| the station when another order counter
handing the first came down. Why we
/ didn't go I don't know unless there was
no room for us al the front However.
another reason I think is that while we
were at Camp Hunt near Bordeaux.
nearly all of the horses died and We
/ We're unable to get others 10 take their
! places. We are being equipped With
horses now and viii soon start our
march into Germany Is back UP our
| deughhoys. I might add shat our dough
boys took part in several drives and
we're at the front for 1--WE months. They
had been cited for their bravery and the
Goth division is rated among the pest
We are along with several other divi-
sions, to be in the Army Of Occupat ton
and by the time you get this letter We
Will be Somewhere in Germany.
Have been wondering about Roy and
whether he is with any Sc tho divisions
that are going into Germany, Is he in
the Ssrd division or has he been put
in something else. do you know If not
its more than likely that they will be
among the first ones hone We nave
been wondering whether we will get
chance TO 20 home at an early date
Some Of the fellows have it doped out
that We VIII he among the nrst troops
shipped back. so we are living in hopes.
We go into Germany but suppose that
well get out soon as the peace terms
are signed up.
We'll. Dad. I know of no more news so
viii have 10 close with love TO all