The courier-index., 1919-01-31
Letters From Our Soldiers

railroad that ran into Sedan There
were no railroad builders in our com
pany, but that makes no difference
in the army The road was syste-
matically destroyed by the Germans
when they were driven back. A
charge of dynamite was fastened TO
every other joint of the rails and
after it was touched off every rail
was put out of commission We
were on that road only few days
as the colonel and majors decided
that as a railroad outfit we were
miserable failures. so we got orders
to move to verdun. We reported
there and hiked out to Etain through
what | think history will call the
greatest battle field this world has
ever known. There are lots of things
| dislike about the French, but the
world will have to take off its hat
to them for what they did there in
1916. | got a good look at that shell
torn country, for | was in low speed,
being as | was on hob nails. The
ground was frozen and they were
strings of pup tents all along U. 5.
engineers building railroad twelve
miles and sleeping in those tents on
the ground They worked three
shifts, twenty four hours day Due
to our officers ability to dodge un-
pleasant Jobs, we got off the rail job
and only had to patch up some tele-
phone lines We were billeted in
small village that the Germans had
been out of only few days. 1t was
on the Conflans-Metz road. Our
company got into Conflans early in
the game and got a German freight
train and we moved into it. We
have electric lights. double deck
hunks, stoves, mirrors. etc, in every
car, and we have made use of our
train. too The Germans left lots of
stuff in Conflans. so il was an easy
matter to iix it up. We have men in
our company that can operate the
train so it goes easy We got 1t
about November 20 and still have it.
We have 25 cars for our company.
Our work has been reconnaissance.
Sounds big, like we might have been
doing something, but outside Of the
army it means sight seeing We
have run into Belgium and Germany.
We have spent six days in the city of
Luxembourg Was there Thanksgiv-
ing day While we were there both
Gen. Penshing and Gen. Foch were
there. and we never side tracked for
rierIt Sf1ey
to see an American doughboy come
strolling along through the place
that was opened up for Gen. Foch
to walk through the station. The
boy had on his pack with a Dutch
helmet hung on it. and was strolling
girl he left behind. ! got good
look at Gen. Foch. Luxembourg
city, Judge has a population of
about 100000. 1t is a nice place and
| like it better than any ! have
seen since | crossed the Atlantic.
They are a very intelligent people
and most OF them speak several lam
guages. | met few that could
speak English. II seems that all
these different people that ! have
seen like the Americans best, even
the Germans One old gentleman in
Luxembourg said to America now
and always" and ! agreed with him,
for after staying in Europe II just
comes out automatically with me.
On December 1. with several kilos
of steam we crossed into Germany
and there was no Bill the Kaiser to
greet us. We rambled along from
town to town, usually spending a
day or two, depending on the size of
the place We stopped at some
towns where the people ran from us.
! On December 6 we saw the Rhine
! river between Cologne and Coblenz.
Our route was through mountain
Gus country and | saw whole sides
of mountains terraced off. We spent
four days in Coblenz. II is quite a
! city. The most interesting sight
! there was a statue OF Wilhelm De
| Crosse, mounted on a horse. IL is
! located where the Moselle river
I empties into the Rhine. II is the
= most mdSSlNt pltCc VI NOi n NN"i
! saw The German peop,a have better
I homes than the French. and their
country is better developed. Their
/ country is a network of railroads and
I they were their mainstay during the
war From all indications their mo-
tor transportation was a failure, due
to having no rubber for tires. They
have plenty of cabbages for thea
saur kraut. bu. there are lots OF
things, such as wheat fictr, sugar,
tobacco. soap. etc. that they viii
beg for The children pick bread
crusts out of our garbage cans and
eat them. | have read of faminea,
but it never occurred to me what ii
meant until | saw things on this side.
paid 1925 for a meal in Luxem-
bourg and it was not the equal of
a 1917 thirty-five cent meal in the