The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1919-06-11

A~A6A a. always LOT 6OtnGlAlnk %
eat. and I didn't set far until I could sec
two or three fellows going the same
way. We went over and found the place
deserted. shells were still coming about
every two minutes and striking fairly
close. so we preceded TO look for what
we could find. No luck. 1t was a sal
vage dump. rifles. bayonets. helmets.
etc. but nothing 10 eat. Well we moved
on until we got over 10 the side OF the
dump away from the wind. The only
thing that 1 was really afraid OF was
the gas. l knew that nearly every shell
in that dump was some kind of a gas
shell. and I was afraid that they might
hit a pile and we would be out OF luck,
as we had no gas masks.
The Smelling finally died down and they
began gathering us together again. 1t
was useless to try 10 escape them be-
cause we had absolutely nothing to eat
with US and In our condition we could
not have gone very far. We were all so
thin and weak that 1t was all we could
do to keep going at all.
Smelling continued for three or four
days and as soon as II would stop they
would take US Off work and back to camp.
Finally orders were passed out at supply
10 roll our blankets as we were going to
leave. We moved out at about s o'clock
pthat night. marching 10 Oranges. where
we stayed until about 9 o'clock the next
morning. We were taken on to B~raisnes
On The Nesle. We were kept here a little
over twenty-four hours. or about until
the oath day OF. July. when we started
on a two-day hike 10 Laon. crossing the
Old CheIrin des Danes. passing through
Valley and several other small towns.
At Loan We were auartered in the old
Casserne-formcrly a French civil prison
with several thousand French prisoners.
about 500 English. and in a few days
200 Americans, most of them from Co.
{. 10th infantry of the 2sth division.
which was taken almost intact. These
were originally Pennsylvania National
Guardsmen from the Connelville district.
Without a doubt his was the worst
place I ever saw in my life for coolies.
We Yanks would hold a shirt reading
| session" every day. but the French and
the British made no effort to keep thern
under control. and some of the sights
that 1 saw there were past description.
We were made to work every day, de-
tails taken out every morning and after
noon to different places. There was one
bunch of guards who took a detail of
about twenty men down to some ware
house near the station TO unload rations.
sugar. zwei back (hard tack. etc. and
they would always try to get a bunch
OF Yanks on the detail because they
found we would use judgment when We
stole stuff. so as not to get the guards
IN bad. The truth was that our guards
were as big thieves as we were. and
would give us opportunities TO steal food
when the officers were out OF sight, but
the Tommy didn't have sense enough to
v-e4 .,A4Kl 4LA - h.atr t.r-aJ
so they were always in hot water and
the guards had to be rough to protect
themselves.
Needless TO say I got on this detail
r every chance I got. I've stolen and eaten
: so much Jam and marmalade they call IL
/ that I'd get so sick could hardly stand
up. There were so many things hap
: pened that were dead serious at the
time. but now when I look back at them
: I can't help but laugh. For instance. I
{ wss standing in the main room Of one
OF the warehouses-the rest of the men
: were in another room working-when
the German sergeant in charge brought
5 out q quart bottle and give it to an
/ other German 20 NIL with "schnapps" for
him ont of some big demijohns in one
1 corner of the room. The sergeant start
"a for the other end of the room where
some boxes were piled UP. The 9th IT
s German got a funnel and started for
the eemijohns. Just at his time the Of
= fcer in charge OF the place came in
{ through a door behind the boxes and Of
e course rhe Sergeant was in some FIX.
j The officer couldn't see the German in
the corner but would II he walked a
short way down the room. The sergeau;
!. didn't care call 10 him for that would
be giving himself away. I could see the
sergeant was as white as a ghost. so
n spoke to the German and nodded to the
s officer. He got wise right away and hid
0 the bottle and funnel before the officer
0 saw II. A look of relief went over the
{ sergeant's face. he talked with the officer
5 a few minutes. who then left and as the
Z sergeant came back he looked at me aw-
5 full close. but said nothing. About an
hour later I got around where the sugar
was kept. cube and domino sugar in
pasteboard boxes. and as 1 was alone
r the sergeant looked at me a minute and
! then found something very important to
S do down at the other end of the room
where he couldn't see me. Guess what
q l did, Our little marine colony Jared
. pretty well for supper that night. The
food we were getting was no name for
g ia soup made from evaporated vege-
> taOleS. CdIIOtSs DttAS, HOtdlOtS Win ScAAA
Z sour krout mixed in to make ii sour. and
nS fit to eat. If it wasn't for the ration
2 dump as we called it I should have
0 starved here. 1t was worse than what
we had been getting up close to the
front.
{ Finally they passed orders for all the
Tommies to fall in for transport back to
Germany and there were about fifty of
US Tanks who managed to slip through
with them. that's how ! got back 70
e Cassel. &c got aboard the train at Laon,
e passed through Hirson, Sedan. Luxum-
bourge City. Treves. and crossed the
/ Rhine at Coblenz Geissen to the big
camp near Cassel. We left Laon on the
evening of the 10th of August. arriving
at Cassel on the evening OF the 18th. 1t
vas night when we went through the
city of CobIenz, so we couldn't see much
OF the scenery.
: This camp at Cassel is one Of the big
! gest ones that the Germans had-there
l. were troops there from every nationality
I and race allied against the Central
Powers-truly a polyglot camp.
Dysentary had broken out among the
e Tommies-sixteen died In the hospital
Z the first week we were there. thirty-hve
-