The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1919-02-27
Letter from France

ceiyed by Mr.. and Mrs. John o Sui
livan from their son Bernard, telling
of the meeting of the two O'Sullivar
boys in France.
Jan. 18th, 1919.
Dear folks;
You will have to forgive me fol
not writing sooner but have good
excuse to offer SO, Me comrrenz-
vous?' | have been moving around
considerably during the last two
weeks and | am taking the first ,op-
portunity to write that has been
given me.
Well the holidays being over with
and New Years eve bringing to me
the greatest, (but most acceptable)
surprise of my life, | will endeavor
to relate to you in brief form the
news of the memorable OCCASION
Tuesday, December 31st at $50
p. m. while resting at my bunk,
awaiting mess CALI, my attention
was suddenly attracted by two sol-
diers coming through the barracks.
Ac tI,ox, J,a,., 49,, ,oooUx;1oJ Al a
first, who was the fire guard. AS
they approached me and upon further
Investigation recognized the second
who was brother. John.
You cannot conceive Of anything
that would be such a surprise to a
soldier in far off France as to have
your brother walk in ON you, un-
expectedly, on New Year eve.
Upon recognizing brother simply
walked up to him and put out my
hand, unconsciously, then stood
aghast. From that instant until
several hours later felt very much
like ] did in mid ocean and imagine
from what all the boys said | looked
about the same.
Since the signing of the armistice
we have learned of each others loca-
ton, but being SO far apart ! never
expected to have the aforesaid visit
from John.
After long and interesting con-
cggrsation which lasted until taps
we adjourned our "to be continued"
visit until "reveille" on New Years
day.
You no doubt can imagine what
took place during the first day of the
New Year so | won't take time to in
form you Of it now. But you can
rest assured it was a day spent in
France that can have no equal.
Brother departed that night MAX
ing his entire visit with me twenty
four hours long.
While John was with me was
waiting patiently for my Xmas pack
age but it did not arrive until the
next night, so he missed some real
American sweets although he had
received his package ten days before
that. The contents of my box ar
rived in perfect condition and Il
surely appreciate and want to thank
you for the useful articles and
sweets. s
One instance of especial interest to
me was that John landed at the same
port did and President Wilson
landed at the same port that we did
ha, ha. However ! heard that the
ship | came across on. was ship
wrecked near New York.
was out to two old forts which
were used to defend the city during
the Prussian war in 1870.
There were guns of all varieties,
stationed in all places about the fort,
also many dungeons, underground
tunnels, and winding underground
stairways.
There are prisoner trains pass
through here daily. French. En-
gDish, Italion and American soldiers
compose the troops. Twenty coach
es passed through tonight with
French and British soldiers most of
whom had been in Germany since
August and September 1914. Many
of them have just recovered from the
Flu" which heard was very bad
in that country.
expect to join my company about
the last of January and then depart
for Bordeaux, trip clear across
France.
Let me hear from you. as often in