Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1919-04-03
Our Soldier Bows.

morrow Tor Lyons, France. Have a
IA day furlough to France. It is my
first furlough in nineteen months.
Expect to take in several interesting
things while out of Germany. MAY
go to Italy and Spain, if time and NJ.
P.'s permit. Many thanks for the
little blossom that you sent. 1t sure
looked good to me-"
Lieut.. NJ. Dudley Riggs, 161 Co.,,
Railway Transportation Corps, writes,
from Gievres, Loir ct Cher, France:
"Well l have moved again. 1 think
this is going to be a permanent as
Segment. l am a railroad man again,
rather than a soldier. They formed
railroad transportation companies cut
of most of u replacement outfits
and shipped them all over France.
One went to Lemans, one to St.
Nazaire, one to Nancy, etc. 1t is a
new organization entirely which no.
body seems as yet to know very much
about. There is nothing very mill
tary about it. They are simply a
railroad, with division s~nperintend-
ents, general superintendent, gener-
al managers, tremen, brakemen,
engineers, etc. They have officers
from all branches of the service,
mostly old railroad men, l guess. If
| was looking for a job to keep me in
France, | think l have found it; for |
daresay the boys who run the rail-
roads and guard them will be about
the last ones home. Captain Coy re-
quested that l be left with him, and
we were sent to this place, which lie
only about 10 kilometers east of
SelleS Il Cher, near which place you
remember l was at Billy. We got
orders et11 O'Clock Wednesday morn
ing, February rs, to leave on a truck
which was then on it's way forus from
st. Aignans for Selles, where we
would join III company, which had
been formed in the F. A, Replace
ment Unit. We waited for a train
which was several hours late. When
we reached our destination it was late
and raining; nobody knew we we're
coming; there was nothing for US to
eat and no place to sleep. But of
course we finally got Strengthened
out. One thing l like about Captain
Coy is that on every move we have
made the officers were not to think of
getting anything to eat or a place to
sleep until the men had been taken
care of. He is an old army sergeant,
and has been in the army sixteen
years, AS widely different IS our
training has been, he and | agree on a
lot of things military and otherwise.
We have six officers. This is a very
comfortable camp, We have wooden
barracks, electric lights, running
water, etc. | have not seen the town
of Gievres pronounced Zhav) yet,
but I do not think it's much of o town
at all. However, the camp is quite
large, being headquarters of Grand
Division Is of the Tank Corps. The
Commander in Chief was here on
March 9th and inspected all the troops
here. He put a couple of Q. M, Cap
tains in arrest because their men did
not have their shoes shined. Our
company got by all right. Our men
carry pistols and will be sent to guard
troop trains. The junior %lieutenants
will also likely be sent on trips. | re-
ceived papa's cable of February ri on
March Z. 1t reached Paris February
%, and was the rest of the time get
ing to me here"
Mr.. and Mrs. Antoine of Doe Run
have received word that their son,
Harold M. Antoine, 805h Co., 9th Ma
rines, had diedin Germany of bron-
chial pneumonia.
Earl Kennedy of the United States
Navy is at his home in Washington
County on furlough. His friends in
Ironton were pleased to see him for
q short time one day last week.
Corporal @. B. Pruitt, Motor Trans
port Co, 658 M. I. c., Camp s, st.
Nazaire, France, writes under date of
March 8: "Am just back from a Il day
furlough, that is our furlough was
seven days and seven nights allowed
for travelling. The Government pays
your railroad fare and your hotel bills:
and you could make the trip on moth
ing. My trip cost me about $50 francs,
or about $50 in our money We went
to Cantarets, about 5 miles from the
Spanish border. On our way there
We were in Nantes. Bordeaux, OAK,
Pau and Lourdes. Pau is n of the
most beautiful places | have ever
seen. We staid all night there at the
Red Cross dormitory. Also stopped
there on our way back and had the
best time of our trip. 1T sure is one
little Americanized city, although
although there are not over fifty
American soldiers there. Nearly
every one there speaks some English.
Before the war it used to be a great
resort for Americans. 1t is the only
place in France that / have seen where
| would like to live. Lourdes is called
the Holy City and they have one of
the finest churches in the world there.
You have to walk on your knees
when inside Of it. From Lourdes we
took tho electric road to Perri6tte.
We then took the mountain line to
C~anterets. This line ran along the
mountains and at times you could
look down for 1000 feet. They had
been having q good many snow and
land slides, SO we had to walk part of
the way. They we're afraid to run
the care over the track. We were
lucky and got into the finest hotel
there. Believe me it sure was great
to sleep between sheets and on a good
thick feather bed. No one need tell
you that l did justice to the eats.
Canterets Is in the midst of snow
peaked mountains.in the Department
of Hautes Pyrenees. You could get
plenty of climbing there il you want
ed IL, but as l went there to have a
rest did not do much. We put in to
good advantage each one of u sew