Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-01-16
XXI.
. Visit From ME-. Gerard.

Late tnat night we arrived at Dul-
men, Westphalia. We were rousted
out of the carriages, mustered on the
platform, counted, then drilled through
the streets. In spite of the lateness,
the streets were pretty well filled with
people, and they zig-zagged us through
all the streets they could, so that all
the people would have a chance to see
the crazy men, as they called US. Most
of the people were women, and as soon
as they saw us coming, they began
singing the watch on the Rhine" or
some other German song, and it was
funny to see windows opening and fat
fraus, with night-eaps on, sticking
their heads out of the windows. They
would give us a quick once-over. and
pipe up Ike a boatswain: "Schwein-
Observation-Disclosures am Rhein"
all kinds of things and all mixed up.
So we gave them "Tipperary" and
Pack Up Your Troubles" and
showed them how to sing. Our guards
had no ear for music and tried to stop
US, but though they knocked several
men down, we did not stop until we
had finished the song. Then, after we
had admitted to each other that we
we're not downhearted, we shut up.
We would have done so, anyway, be-
cause by this time we were on the out
skirts of the town, and we needed all
the breath we had. The road we were
on was just one long sheet Of ice, and
we could hardly walk more than four
steps without slipping and falling. My
shoes had wooden soles, and it was
just one bang after another, with the
ice and myself trying to see which
could hit the hardest. Every time we
fen-smash! came a rifle owe the
back.
I was getting pretty tired, so / said
to some of the fellows that l was go
ing to sit down and rest, and they said
they would also. So we dropped out
and waited until the guards behind
had just about caught up with us, and
then we would 60 on. We did this
1everal times until they got on to US,
and we could not do it any more.
Up the road a piece I fell again, and
his time I did not care what hap
pened, so / just sat there in the
middle of the road until Fritz anne up.
Instead OF giving me the bayonet, he
made me take off my shoes-that is
he took them off of me with a knife
through the strings-and 1 had to walk
the rest of the way in my bare feet,
1t was about four miles altogether
from the station to the camp.
When we got near the camp. all the
boys came out Of the barracks and
lined up along the barbed wire, and
yelled US a welcome. We asked them
if they were downhearted, and they
said no, and we said we were not eth
er. We could hardly see them, but
they began yelling again when we got
nearer, and asked us, "Is there anyone
there from Queenstown and ther
Hull, and Portsmouth, and Dover, ant
Toronto and a lot Of other places.
did not pay much attention unit
/ heard, "Any Americans there" ant
I yelled back, "Yes, where are your
Barracks 6-B, Grippe 8"
"Where from?" / yelled.
"Boston. Where're you fromT
'The U. S. A. and Atlantic ports
See you later"
So, the next morning, / went over t
his barracks and asked for the Yank
They pointed him out to me, where h
was lying on the floor. l went owe
and laid down with him, and we ha'
quite a talk. / will not give his nam
here for certain reasons
He had received several wounds q
the time he was taken prisoner. H
had been in the Canadian service TO
two years. We used to talk abou
New York and Boston and the differ
ent places we knew in both towns, an
we also talked a lot about the rotte
treatment we were receiving, and trie
to cook up some plan Of escape. BIZ
every one we could think of had bee
] used by some n else, and either ha
J failed, or the Huns had fixed 1t so tn
8 plan could not be tried again. W
doped out some pretty wild schemes 6
that. Altogether, we became gres
, pals, and were together as much o
8 possible at Dulmen. The day ! lei
the camp. he gave me a ring mad
. from a shell, and told me to get 1t safel
. back to the States, but some one stol
1t at ~Brandenburg.
One day while / was in his barracl
an Englishman stepped out Of the doc
. for some reason or other, and thong
> he did not say a word to Fritz, in tw
. minutes he was dead, In cold bloo'
! We v knew why they killed him.
!, At ~Swinemunde and Neustrelitz,
/ must admit that the Germans had I
j pretty badly buffaloed, but at Dulme
] the prisoners we're entirely diiferen
. Dulmen was the receiving camp II
tha whole western front, and the pri
Z oners there got to be pretty toug
Q eggs. as far as Fritz was concerne'
. before they had been In camp naz