Putnam patriot., 1919-04-11

! er, corporal Stanley onaN, Will VIC
! American Expeditionary Forces.
Clarence Shaw belonged originally
to Base Hospital No. AS, which has
returned to the states. When fifty
volunteers were asked for the Ameri-
can Red Cross to do work in Berlin,
Clarence was one to volunteer. The
letter tells of his trip and experiences
and is as follows:
Dear Stan:-I guess you will be
| quite surprised to learn that | am in
Berlin. Well, old scout. | have been
here since the 18th. Had fine trip
as we went through the pretty little
country of Belgium. The travelling
was rather slow in Belgium, but after
we left Mons we travelled pretty fast.
Only a three days trip. Went
/, through CompeigDe, Noyon, Hout-
mont, st. Quentin, Mons, Namur, and
| Leige. These places don't look quite
as bad to me as northern France, but
of course their industrial plants have
been crippled, so that is nearly as
bad.
Il saw about dozen coal mines,
and out of this number only two
were running. This little trip through
Belgium made me think about the
trip had in England, for the country
| looks the same At Mons | saw Sir
! Douglas Haig's private train. Surely
was fine train From Belgium to
| Cologne all | saw was British troops
and bucco German prisoners. They
are at work rebuilding the railroads
in Belgium and France.
Had real nice weather while we
were travelling through Belgium.
Halbstrat was the first German city
We stopped at. | felt rather funny all
the way in Germany, for every station
we stopped at, we always had bunch
of German people around US. When
we ate | hated to show them the
bread, but it was nothing we could
help. They were very anxious to
] know if we had food Nothing but
this was on their minds, and even
when we landed in Berlin it was the
same. Our next big stop was koln
/ or Cologne. We spent about four
hours here. It's quite city, but all
you see is British and few Ameri-
| cans.
I'VE crossed the Hohenzollen
bridge, which is quite bridge. New
err thought | would ever cross the
Rhine. but | did. At Elberfield | saw
an aerial tramway, which was quite
thing. Happened to see two trains
in motion. 1t follows canal. The
| country was very hilly here, so |
guess it was impossible to build sur
face line, and as the canal was the on
! " space they had, so they built this.
1t must make a person feel funny at
! first. to be hanging over canal.
''All their factories were booming
| here After we crossed the Elbe
river, the land was like plateau and
most of it was flooded. It's very
pretty country, but l guess they are
all about the same when it comes to
beauty. Spandau was our last stop,
| then came Berlin. While we were IN
| the yards, waiting to go to the store
| house, we heard quite little firing
! Don't know whether it was the Spar
| ticists or not We stayed on the
| train that night and in the morning
/ they took us to the hotel. Staying at
/ Hotel Alemannia on Anhalt Strasse,
which is just off Wilhelm Strasse. I'M
agine me staying at hotel. While
we stayed on the train at the store
house they put on a German guard,
and they all wanted to know If we
had brought them food.
.Well, to tell the truth, they do
need food the worst way. The rich
people don't suffer quite as bad, but
| it's the poor people that need the
food. They even stop you on the
street and ask if you have brought
| food to them. That is if they know
! YOU are an American. But most OF
the people think we are English
troops. They even come here at the
hotel and ask for food. All they want
to know, when is the United States
going to send them food. The people
look very downcast. But they still
think they have won. OF course they
have in one way, for they have gotten
rid of the Kaiser.
| 1--WE have to be very careful OF
what we do, for if you don't you are
liable to get shot. There are a few
people that insult you on the street,
but when they do this we keep agoing.
While | was out walking with one OF
the boys, | had German civilian hol-
Ter in my face, Yah, yah, yah, but l
kept on walking. This is the first one
that has done it to me. One fellow
was called a swine. But of course
| everyone isn't like this. 1t makes
fellow feel funny when he is walking
| on the streets, for everyone turns