Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-11
SOLDIERS AND SAILORS
Nothina As Good as J, S. A

Sergeant John F. Fitzpatrick, son Of James c. Fitzpatrick. of 25 Hobart av- | enue. writes home from Trance that | he has seen nothing quite as good as shores for service overseas His letter follows:
 Villeisupt. France,
 l February 6, 1919. l Dear Friend: Just a jew lines to let you know that I am still living and have an occasional thought for my friends back home.
 We are now located in France near the border Of Lorraine. Luxemburg, and Belgium. and have an opportuni- ty now and then to sec some of the country, but that has become rather monotonous. I have he'd quite some experiences since leaving Gods coun- try, and it hasn't been all roses, eith- le".
 We left Carap Devens July 10th, for Montreal, where we embarked for No | Mans Land. That includes all of Europe. If I owned Rose Alley, I wouldn't trade it for the whole Europ- can continent. unless got the bank lof England and France 'c boot We waited in the harbor of Halifax for five Idays, that only seemed Ike five years, for the rest of the convey which com
 
 laboard His Majestv's Tub Durham lCastle. whicl, had form ariv transfer rel "Nigger" troops from South Afri- ca and was alive with fever. Standing room was at premium and if a fellow wanted to sleep at all al night he had to pick his "aed" Ca lost word) about T.. m. and hang on to it.
 We'll, after exploring the whole At lantic and while we were three days ! rJn,. I <J ty submarines which rather unpleas- lantly broke the monotony It was re- D 1rted at that time that three of them he'd been sunk, but we didn't get a 1 scratch ourselves.
 | They have 8 wonderful system on teose English transport. the steward runs the canteen so that the less we were fed the more we bought from the Canteen and believe me. we were soak ed for everything. That's gratitude 1 We arrived 1t Cardiff, Wales. on Aug | 1. and paradcd for abou; seven n'' 'S>7 in the burning hot sun with nothing to eat since inc night before and pros ps cts for a feed in the near future were very remote.
 We were addressed fy the Lord
 Mayor, who was all dolled ur in wha1 looked to me like Mexican hatitrobe
 that had seen service. Those of US who
 Tad strength enough to stand under
 went the painful experlerc. of listen
 ng 10 few .1attering remarks by hi:
 "Nobs."
 The city itself is beautiful and mv
 first impression of Europe certainly
 did please me. hut I didn't hold tha impression very long.
 After we lad been served a ligh
 lunch bv the Red Cross. we were re
 conducted to the dock where we board
 ed trains for Winchester. where ther l is one of these so-called rest camps
 The reason that these are called res . camps is because the "cooties," rat and gravbacks have chance to res . between the coming and going of tn e American troops which are good pick : ing for these friendly little devils, q y well as for the natives.
 l. We were there for two days an, 0 had a chance to wash anf change ou t clothes which we hadn't had off fo s twenty-three days.
 v From the:a we. went to South r hampton, where we enhark rked fo o CEerbourg, France. while we wer 8 awaiting the hour to embark I say s the Manhattan and Narra gansett tha d fad been tied up at the New Londo
 dicks for so long.
 . We crossed the Chan!lt at night i :. the ''Vipcr.' and believe me she coul ,. travel. We doclled at , a. m. ir down a rour of rain and marched six miles t = another rest camp" where we foun e no rest at all
 e We staved llere two days and the h comfortably t?) packed ir box car Y, Or In the language or the soldie y 41XS's, we started out to tour to tn e frog ponds of France, anu. after bein e hanged around five day. and f1v = nights and trying to kid our stomach
 along with canned wiiiv and beam r we landed a- St Armand. from whic e VIC marched eleven mics to a littl d trwn. Charentore du Cher! !, I with about eight others, wa U cuartered in l stable. righ: over a nic II cool cesspool and then began my ca rtcr in France. I fel- badly when = saw an old horse being led out of tn ee barn. so that we could be made com fortable, but such is war. Other mem . ters of the company shared bar I0 with a, number of illmanrered cow
 Cur rations consisted Of canned will, Il beans and canned tomatoes, which " U used to soften the hard tack and ls was sure some hard tack. a. Here we had a chance 70 study tn r. people, and we weren't long in discov n ering that they were O! ly :1 thousan years DeillIlI the times qua thdl Amer
 ica was only a dream to them. l. While at Cllarenton I heard throug h another member of the company fror Jack Woodlnansee. bu; as we mov l., ed out soon after didu't have muc Id of an opportunity to ge. down to SC n tin7.
 r We stayed there about two week a and then again boarding the 40 Hom Id res by s Crevaux we started out
 tour again and after being switche - and knocked around on q railroad tha ,e resembles the c. V, we marched int j. St. Geomes, little town outside ( ,- Lengres. Luck was with ire this tim > a"d I struck a fairly dec,nt room i
 an abandoned house ard eiept in tT
 soft bed of nice. hard board, unt = was able to steal some lumber frol
 which to male me a bed.
 The natives here were jus; as far ad
 vanced as the others we had met an
 were just as generous and gratefu
 l forgot to mention that while W
 were in Charneton, pile of whes
 which was near our kitchen, in son
 unlown way caught fire and we ha
 to dig down in our own pockets to pa
 for it. and it has always been so ever
 where we have been. If there is an
 damage done to property. even thoug
 slight and unavoidable, we must di
 down in our pockets an,i settle, so yo
 Ste that we are paying as well as dc