Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1919-02-15
OUR BOYS
OUR C0uNIRY'S SERVICE

Thomas Cannon Of Belfast. vet
eran of the Civil war. has received
this letter from his grandson, Eugene
Cannon. veteran of the World war.
now located in the Rhine region.
Eugene is the son of Louis Cannon Of
Albion. formerly of Belfast, and with
his brother Lewis after leaving the
Belfast High attended Coburn. Both
young men are in the service. His
letter:
Somew where in Germany.
Dec. IS. 1918.
Dear Grandpa
! suppose. now that the war is over.
everybody at home is happy. and
things will soon be back in the old
way as before the war. without any
whea,!ess and meatless and sasless
Sundays.
They have kept US on the jump
most Of the time since the armistice
went into effect on Nov. 18th and we
have ked over good bit of terri
tory. l guess l wrote before that we
we're in position at Loppy. a little
town about Is kilometers north of
Dun-Sur Mouse, when the war
stopped. We have been on the road
ever since bat we expect to stay in
this little town now, until after
Christmas.
Speaking OF the Meusa river. re-
minds me Of the day we crossed. the
D Bat. OF the 18th vas the first Bat
terry OF Artillery to cross the river at
Dun. The Boche aevoplanes had been
constantly dropping bombs. trying to
get the pontoon bridge. but without
any success. Just as was running d
telephone wire across the bridge a
Boche plane came swooping down
and dropped a basket full OF bombs
One hit about Is yards from me and
killed one man and a horse. but none
of them hit the bridge.
We have one thing to be thankful
for. that we are not fighting there
this winter. 1t is bad enough in the
summer. OF course we would all
have liked to have bee" home for
Christmas but l feel sure We will be
on our way back in two or three
months.
will try and tell you the places we
have gone through since We left Lop-
py. Nov. -. we pulled out from
Loppy. went back 10 Dun and fol-
lowed the Mcusc down 70 Nerdun. II
vas there two days ahead Of the out
fit and SO had chance to look over
the city, 1t is shot pretty bad in
places. From there we went down to
near St. Mihiel, then north through
Confiaus. and our next stop for a few
days was Briey. you see we had to
travel in battle formation with. the
infantry in front. etc. SO that We had
to cover a lot of ground that would
not have been necessary if We had
taken a direct route Then we hiked
through Lorraine into LuXemburg and
stopped at Mondorf which is about Is
hilos from the city of Luxembourg
After resting about five days here We
Travelled Northeast through LuXem-
burg. and crossed the Mose.le river at
Renich into Rhineiand. Germany.
You should have seen the hills We
had to climb going through this part
of the country. We went over one
hill. kilos long. about 1-2 milcs).
Believe me. we were glad to get away
from those hills. The next river we
crossed was tn" Saar. at Saarburg,
then We struck across Ishinelan1 and
caught our first view of the Rhine
River at st. Gouer. Dec. 3. just one
month from the time we started.
After spending two days at St.
oil 10
west bank of the river and reached
Coblenz that night. making the dis
tancc which was about 80 kilos.
There are many old ruins Of old cas-
ties on both sides of the Rhine. I
have lots Of post cards showing them.
which l will send home soon. Cob
lcnZ is quite large town with a pop
u!ation Of about 10000 | believe.
would liked to have stayed there a
little longer. but we only stopped one
night and then came to our present
location. which is about 80 kilos west.
haven't found the name OF the place
vet. but expect to soon.
They have just established y. NJ.
c. A. and we will have plenty of can
tiy. smokes. etc. for Christmas. l
doubt if our Christmas boxes sent
from home will be here in time. but
we are in hopes that we will get lit
tie first class mail anyway.
Yesterday / got about parcels of
papers with from Grandpa" written
in the upper left hand corner. Be
lieve mel appreciate them as read
ing matter is pretty scarce here. Will
close now with love to all and hoping
to be able to spend my birthday with
the folks at home. am
Your loving grandson.
EUGENE.
Eour n r Mon Citad for