The Coconino sun., 1919-04-25
Ne,os of Soldiers and Sailors
OUR FRIEND GILMER
 IS DOING" GERMANY

Most every one who has lived ir Flagstaff any length of time know: H. s. Gilmer, former lightning juice jerker at the Western Union office and will be glad to hear that he is still on the upper crust. He writes tc Herman Kahl, an old pal, as follows
 Treves, Germany,
 March 30, 1919. Herman Kahl,
 Flagstaff, Ariz.
 Friend lizzie:
 At last you've come to life and have shown little speed with a pen. Was surely glad to hear from you, and also of the bunch. Boy, you make me homesick when you talk about the sessions of old, They seem far away but are not forgotten.
 No, I haven't learned h. of 8 lot of this language and trust that 1 get away before 1 do. AS for the frauleins, they are nice, and are quite friendly towards an American soldat; but the M. P.'s have most of them cornered. You know we are not al. lowed to fraternize, which makes il pretty soft for some people, meaning that when guy gets fresh with an NJ. P.'s girl, well he's out of luck.
 Had a trip up the Rhine the other day and saw many castles and fort resses, monuments, breweries, etc. It seems as if these prehistoric birds over here-the ones who left the cas- ties and for whom the monuments have been erected-gained and main tained their standing in society by the number of men they had killed. In other words, they were hard boiled. About the same as the Bowery in New York. We'll, that kind of stuff does not make much of hit with me. 1 think that we did them quite favor by kicking little of that stuff out of them.
 There is monument to Kaiser Will helm the First, at the junction of the Moselle and Rheine rivers at Coblenz which is quite an imposing affair. l visited it the other day and climbed to the top where we got pretty view of the two rivers and the surrounding country. With me was a lad from New York and one from Toledo. l asked the Toledo bird what he thought of it and his reply was:
 "That d. thing must have cost boo koo jack" Such is our appreciation Of some of the things most dear to a Heinie.
 We'll, we were guilty of paying a few marks for their iron crosses; but their government has since stopped the sale of decorations.
 When we first landed up here soap and chocolate were at premium. They would pay few dollars for a 5-cent cake of laundry soap, or To- cent bar of chocolate. Naturally, there was quite a sale of these two articles at the commissary. When you saw a guy start out with bar of either in his pocket, you could bet that he was dated up with fraulein, and now it's been accepted as an A.E.F. joke, along with Don't shoot; I'm an M. P.," and many others.
 Saw in a Sun the other day where Bert Lyons died after returning to the States. Surely tough luck, for he was one mighty good old boy. Haven't seen a soul I know so far. Got in touch with Jack Blome by mail. Guess he starts home in a couple of days now. What the devil became of old Hutch? Never did hear of him or Jack Davies. Guess we will all get together some of these days. Haven't any idea as to when l will get back, but want trip to Paris and one to Nice before I go, providing can get them and get away before the sum- mer is over. I hate to travel in the 40 hommes" cars and on ship dur ing the winter, though I did little of it in the early winter. Haven't been on a train since the early part of October, till the other day, when l made the Coblenz trip. Left Chau- mont (Haute Marne) in a truck and have trucked it ever since. Great life if you don't weaken.
 Wrote Doc. Dumas couple of let .ters but can't get rise out of him. Is he too busy with the ladies, or is it work on the ranch. Often thought of writing you and Tom Manning, but you know how it was. There wasn't great deal of chance of fellow getting his mail, and again, didn't know but what you fellows had started over. We'll, 1 am mighty glad it's ended, and here's hoping that l will soon see the West. Give all my best, and write when you have the time. Get letters from home in some cases within 13 days. a
 Yours,
 PVT. H. S. GILMER, 18th Service Co.,, Signal Corps; APO.
 930, A.EF., France.