Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1919-05-13
RAY MALONE SEES MANY
CITIES
Visits Belgian and French Places Of
Interest-TOrn by War
Captieux Guonde, France,
nril 10Th 1910

| =
! Captieux Guonde, France,
April 18th, 1919.
Dear Parents,
| l have received a great many let
ters of late, also birthday cards which
1 appreciate very much. l am we'll,
and l wish / was back home. l got
back to the outfit yesterday noon, after
a wonderful furlough. | left camp,
April first for Paris. Spent twenty
four hours sight seeing. / visited the
iNotre Dame Cathedral and Napoleon's s
tomb. l also saw the wonderful new
war picture, the Pantheum de la
Suerra. I can't describe this picture,
it is wonderful; l will try to describe
| it to you when / get home Also
visited several grand museums. From
Paris We went to Lille in northern
France, near the Belgium line. On
| this trip we Travelled through mo
Mans Land" We went through Aras
and Donoi and great many villages
and cities. This part of the country
is badly torn up; cities and small
towns are completely wiped off the
map. There was fighting over this
territory for four years. The country
hills and even the bitches along the
road, have crosses marking graves.
Horses and mules lie dead everywhere
unburied.
Homes Awful
The people are moving to what
was once their homes, but the
homes are now awful looking places,
N of
Frances manufacturing towns, all the
machinery is gone, and here and there
tumble down building. This city was
in the hands of the Germans for four
years, and was one of the last cities
to be taken by the British. l met
many English soldiers there and they
treated me very nice. | spent a day
in Lille and from there went to Brus-
sells, Belgium. Brussels is a second
Paris, wonderful city. Was surprised
to find an abundance of everything
there. Wonderful stores, beautiful
buildings and the finest parks in the
world Living is very high there but
they seem to have "a plenty of every
thing. This city has not been des-1
troyed neither has Antwerp, although
there are some buildings in ruins in
both of these cities. The Germans
signed an agreement when they en-
tered these cities that they would not
carry away or destroy works of art.
We stopped at the Canadian Y M. c.
A, one of the largest huts that have
seen in Europe and they treated us
great We met many Belgians who
speak English so we felt quite at home
In the sightseeing trip in Brussels,
we visited wonderful old historic build
ings; saw beautiful pictures painted
by famous artists. / was in a beauti-
full Cathedral in this city, the pulpit is
one of the finest in the world, it took
two men thirty-two years to complete
it. 1t is all hand carved. I have
post cards of all these things and will
show them and explain to you on my
return home. We also saw the Kings
palace in this city. From Brussels
we went to Antwerp, which is beau
tiful city, with wide streets, and grand
squares. Here / saw the .grandest
cathedral l have seen. The spire is
very high and can be seen from any
part of the city. Beautiful chimes in
the tower sound the hour. The inter
ior is filled with the grandest affairs,
Rueber that are wonderful. 1 cannot
describe the beauties of the interior of
this cathedral, because it is undeScrib-
able. We then visited an old castle, in
which are weapons used in days gone
by to torture prisoners. Will tell you
more about it when l get home. From
this place we went back to Brussels
and then back to Paris again; a sever
al hours ride from Brussels.
st. Quentin Worst
| We went through a lot more of torn
lup country, ST. Quentin is the worst.
This is a city of about seventy-five
thousand. 1 wish you could see it. 1t
lis destroyed far more than anythin &
l saw in Alsace. We travelled through
miles of country of this kind. We
reached Paris at ten thirty p. m. and
stayed until four-thirty the next after
noon. We then took a train to
lChateau-Thierry a place not far from
Paris, where the Americans met and
defeated the Germans. There was a
lot of hand to hand fighting done here,
which is plain to be seen. We found
skeletons or bones everywhere. One
of the boys found shoe with a skele-
ton leg in it. The French and Ger
man dead are buried everywhere. The
Americans are buried in nice little
cemeteries. We took snap shots of the
different places. We were at Belleau
Wood a day. We then went back to
Paris, and spent another night, staid
at the Red Cross quarters. They treat
a fellow great Every moment OF
next morning we spent in roaming
about the city.
In the afternoon we took the
Y sightseeing trip to Versailles
In this city is the largest and
grandest castle in the world, built
by Louis XIV. This ruler broke the
government of France trying to keep
up this castle. 1t is the most wonder
full and beautiful thing l have ever
seen. Its statues, paintings, furniture
rugs are works of art / would have
to live a thousand years, and then
| 1 would not be able to describe the
building and grounds. Well | have
been in Paris four times. I was in
| the room and touched the table or
which peace will be signed. 1 an
ready now to see the Hotel de Vile in
Wausau. Love to all,
Your son,
PVT. RAY r. MALONE,
4S Co. 20 Engs. A. E. f
France.