Smyrna times., 1919-01-01

THE SMYRlI.
'hob nail" shoes. Some of us, when
the train stopped, got up on top and
thought it would be better-it was all
right for while but before morning
we nearly froze- no more car tops
for me. I'll ride inside if there is a
hundred in there. Well we rode like
that for fYe or six days living on the
good old reliable corn beef, jam and
army bread and some of Hoffecker's
tomatoes from Smyrna. (They were
good
Spent Couple of Weeks at TOulOn.
After awhile we reached our destin-
alton which was quiet little village
called ToulOn. We stayed here for a
couple of weeks to rest and had lit
tie more rain. After a little rest we
were o. K. again. Had a few drills to
keep us in trim and with a little exer-
else we were then ready for more of
the train rides. On this trip we were
steadily heading for the firing, so you
see we were seeing some pretty sights.
We also passed thru some of the larg-
est cities, once we thought we were
going to see Paris, but were disap-
pointed as our train branched off
about six miles of Paris, but we
could see the ruins of France and what
the war was doing to the country.
Separated After Leaving TOuIOn.
When we left Toulon it was there
our regiment started to break up and
go in every direction and at this writ
ing it is still so. After leaving Tou-
Ion we took another one of those JOY
rides as the boys call them for another
week-when we got off again we land
ed in a town called Belleville. At
this town we ran across the Meuse
River, which every body has heard so
much about. 1t was on this river that
so much hard fighting took place.
While we were at Belleville the
Germans were steadily shelling town
about a mile from us. You could hear
the shells screaming and hear them
hit. But as luck would have it none
fell in Bellville as it was in a valley
surrounded by two mountains; it was
hard for the Germans to get the direct
range on it. Good thing certain,
wasn't sorry. Ha! Ha! From here we
hiked still further up to a place called
Marbach and there we struck heaven
we moved in barracks which were
formerly occupied by the French. This
was pretty good little town and
ran into some good old people there
We were warned to be careful who We
talked to as the people generally were
German sympathizers and there haC
been quite a few spies caught there
You were not allowed to have a ligh
of any kind; you could see them up Ol
the hills signaling with flash lights
All! / have no love for a Pro- German
On up Into the Fighting Zone.
The next move was for Regnesville
There were two platoons ordered, tn
third and fourth of our company an
the first and second moved to a plac
called Limey. l went with the Sd an
4th Platoons with my buddies of ou
Company. On our arrival in Regnes
vile we entered a town that was com
pletely destroyed, nothing left but tn
church tower. 1t was here that tn
Americans made their first drive an
you could tell that because we surel
believe in shooting and shelling a
enemy emplacement and they surel
did do it here. 1t was here we live
: in our first dugout and now l thin
| they are "great." We began work hel
: repairing the roads for the drive tn;
7 was to come off using the stone of IL
1 once village on the road. While "
r were here one of those devilish al
planes came over and spied US and