The diamond drill., 1919-03-22
LETTERS FROM ALPHA BOYS



Alpha Hotel from his son, Harry who
is in France:
4, Rue De Cheyreuse,
Paris. Nov 25. 1918.
Dear Dad:
This letter | am sending you Is en-
titled Dads Xmas Letter" All the
boys OF the A. Eff. have been asked
TO write their Dads a letter such as
this one. We have been given the
right to let you know the towns and
the numerous happenings while In
France
To begin with the whole Of France
OF which have seen, ! mean, Is
very nice country and since the war
has finished the sun has been out the
greater share Of the time, and sure
am glad TO have nice days, when we
first came over 1t rained all OF the
time, so consequently, the powder in
the war had lot to do with II.
/ left New York the 9Th OF Septem-
ber and arrived in st. Nazaire, France
the 18th, nine days in crossing, which
was no time compared to some of the
other steamers. The Maine was the
name OF the ship that we came across
on, accompanied by two other ships.
On leaving port we had two or three
FOL 1gNp nh Hfxs
miles, also Zeppelins, two submarine
distroyers followed us out two days
from land and then we took chance
until we were two days from France.
when we were met by four destroyers
and Zeppelin, also two aeroplanes.
SO you see we were pretty near
safe. There was no sign OF a Sub"
coming across, but we met a school
of them few miles from Brest and
had to go around 100 miles out of the
way. They were captured. however,
SO that made the tripe complete In re-
CARDS to safety. II sure was a tedious
trip across. Nothing but water for
nine days sure was tiresome. We had
fire driu Oife belt drilD every day
and when that siren would give
blast everyone would kind OF get a
feeling that IL was a sub but no
sign-just a drill. A lot OF the boys
were sick for a few days, but /, by
chance, came across a healthy uboy.
The ocean was calm with the ex-
ception OF two days and then we sure.
shook. The waves would be on the
boat half the time. We ate down
stairs, and had hard time doing so
as the ship rocked so. / can't say
that | would enjoy sailing, but will
take a chance on the homeward trip,
which think will be soon now.
We landed at ST Nazaire, and from
there we walked about TWO miles to
rest camp where we camped for about
a week and half. During that time
we drilled and did various Jobs. In
the meantime. ] saw the country
there. | think everything is different
to thN OF the states-much older and
far behind time. The people were
nice, but could not speak English,
which was very confusing. We had
German prisoners all around there,
and ! sure took good look at those
birds They feel contented, however,
and do their share OF the work that
was put before them. We finally got
the order to get our packs ready and
be prepared to leave when told to do
50. The day was a rainy one and
the mud In France is everything but
nice. After wading around in the
mud we got into line. packs on and
ready for a move Ia another town.
This was Sunday We left the rest
camp and walked back to St Nazaire
and there boarded the cars. We. Of
course, had no style. The ears were
French cars used for freight In 9TH
er words, they were box cars, COM
AANhAS AhiANu 1iht~hbOA
We never thought OF hardship and en-
joyed the experience greatly. The
ride was one night, and the following
night We arrived IN st. Agnan a small
village where soldiers camped on the
way to the front
Getting there we lined up again
and marched to the outskirts and to
shelter In an old place that was once
a chateau a dwelling they call billets
here. ! slept as well as ever and the
ride added to rather tired feeling
While there we had good mess, such
as creamed spuds. coffee, cornbeei
hash, and cookies which was very
good meal. enjoyed them as | was
hungry and always had an appetite
In the morning we lined up again