Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-03-05
BREST.
Returned Soldier Writes His I'M
, preSsiOns About Camp in France

SohNAly nave pi OIiiSSu W give tAS
Public Opinion a short write up on
the condition of the debarkation
camp of Brest, as l found it.
Much has been said of the CON
dition Of this port and especially
from returning troops and the reports
as / have read them are very true
and not over exaggerated in the
least in central France. We entrain-
ed the latter part of December,
destination Brest. We were herded
into box cars, 60 men to the car and
in our car there were SO, and per-
haps if any of the readers of this
article are fishermen they can i'm
agine the resemblance Of that box
car load of humans to a we'll filled
can of worms. We, in the interior
of France, were kept in gross ignor
ance of the true condition of the
camp at Brest, so much so that We
thought upon arriving at Brest we
would be on. the boat in a day or
a
case, however, for after our three
day ride in such cramped quarters
we were detrained, given warm
meal and started on four mile Inks
up the heights of Brest to the camp.
We were all in good spirits and as
luck would have it, it wasn't rain
;nl nf oh
days of good weather that we saw
| while there. After getting up On the
hills all that you could see for what
seemed miles was tents and CORFU
gated iron barracks. We drew a
! small tent city. Each squad of eight
| men was assigned to a tent which
had no floors and no drainage
! bitches around them and the flaps
were rolled up so the ground might
dry out, but this only gave it bet
ter chance to get wet. We were given
no straw for bedding so we began
| looking around for something that
| we could use for a substitute and
| finally received permission to cut
| some second growth fir boughs which
| kept us out of the mud for while
until it rained and the tents leaked
badly and l was awakened by the
steady drip of water in my face
about two in the morning, but there
was little use in changing the loca-
tion of the bed, for in the first place
it was dripping most anywhere you
Il oked and in the second place eight
men fill a tent very comfortably, So
We pulled our rain coats over our
heads and let it go.
Revelie at $50 and raining, we
were told to fall out with raincoats
and mess kits, for breakfast. After
| about half a mile of hiking we run
into the end Of the mess line which
| was about another half mile long.
| So we stood in the mud two or three
inches deep and occasionally stepped
into a hole in the road that was
anywhere from shoe top to knee
deep, and the most wonderful steady
rain that you could imagine. After
half or three quarters Of an hour
we reached the mess hall. 1t was
only shed, this place, and the mud
was generally six inches deep in it,
being off from the road in a field
where the ground was softer; no
tables, nothing to do but find some
extra hard mud to set your mess KIT
on so that you could eat your meal.
The food wasn't so bad and as Il
rule you got enough, but the smell
in some of the mess halls was
enough to take away hungry mans
appetite.
After breakfast We were told TO
fall in on the road and wait. This
was done and we were marched off
and put on details of different des-
Criptions. The detail l was put on
was carrying lumber for the purpose
of building barracks around the
camp. This was all outside work and
don't forget that all TINS time III was |
raining cats and dogs. Our raincoats
soon were soaked through and our
feet and legs had taken but a few
minutes to become yringing wet
This detail lasted until noon and We
were sent to this same mess hall
with orders to be back by one o.
clock. Returned at one and worked
until four in the rain and then dis
missed.
On returning to our tents We were
Just in time to fall in for mess again;
so when we got back from supper
we were pretty tired, wet AMI last
but far from least, thoroughly dis
gusted. The tents had no stoves and
nothing to make a fire with, and no
stoves to be had at the billit!ng Of