The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1919-01-23
SOLDIERS LETTERS

ter from Inverness, Scotland, where
he has been transferred from the
Aroostook to a naval base. Claude
; tells for the first time the kind of
work in which the Aroostook was en-
gagged, and describes some thrilling
experiences.
December 22nd, 1918. Dear Father:
Well | will write a few lines SO you
won't think | have submerged or some
thing similar. Am still alive and kick
ing hard as ever. Things could be
worse than they are, so why worry.
Was in London from the 18th to the
18th, on five days leave and | sure
had some time. | always thought New
York was the liyeliest and best place
on the face of the earth, but now since
being in London | have changed my
opinions. or course the two are as
different as day and night, but for hav-
ing a good time, especially a sailor,
London takes the cake. There is moth
ing you can't get or do there and If |
get another leave here, which | GER
tainly think | will, | am going there
again.
| don't know whether you know or
not that | had been transferred from
the ship here to the base. But | have,
and at first | just about gave up all
hopes and was ready to go under, but
now that | have been here a few weeks
and got settled it is not a bad dump
at all. Plenty of eats and sleep and
no work. All the liberty and leave we
want so why kick about it. We GER
tainly deserve it all though, because
il was a rather raw blow. After we
came over here and laid all the mines,
now we have got to stay here and
sweep them. That is what we are here
for, There were so many men taken
off each ship before she sailed for
home and ! was one Of them. OF
course it is impossible to do any
sweeping until spring, because | tell
you that old North Sea is a rough one,
so all we have TO do now is lay around
here and wait for spring TO roll
around. Pretty nice in a way. The
base is situated at Inverness, Scot
land. Right at the mouth Of the Gale
DOMAIN canal, you will find it on the
map. II is a place of about twenty
FIVE thousand and is a famous place
historically. Perhaps you have heard
of 1t. anyway | am not going to dis
cuss all it's tales here because it
would take books to do it. But as |
was going to say, 1t is a pretty nice
place, very beautiful in the summer
but in the winter, oh, but it is an
awful hole. And it is fight, fight all
the time because the Scots don't like
the Yanks at all, neither do we like
them, then the English and the Yanks
fight like cats and dogs, SO you see
we won't die for lack of excitement.
And you know, nothing gives a Yam
kee sailor more pleasure than to beat
up an Englishman. They are abso-
lutely a no good bunch OF wind-jam-
mers. Well, / have given them too
much space already for what they
rate, so I'll quit.
We are having our first snow today,
the 22nd Of December. 1t has not been
real cold here yet and it is not cold
now, but | guess when 1t does come
it will come with a force that will
knock us all stiff. The doctor ordered
every man to have FIVE blankets and
wherever | have been yet, two has al
ways been a plenty; so from that |
judge it gets pretty cold here. Well,
that Is something that doesn't worry
me, I'll take the cold to the heat ny
time. imagine it is pretty cold there
now too, and snow. | wouldn't De
afraid to say it is a lot colder there
than it Is here and we are a good long
way north of you. | suppose by the
time you get this, the old Aroostook
will have reached the states. She
certainly was a good ship and l don't
think there is another like her. And
when | get through with this job and
get back to the U. S. | am going to
pull all strings to get back on her,
that Is, IL the same captain Is on her;
because he is the man that made her
a home and made her famous, and be-
lieve me she was famous too. You
wait until the story of the Mine
Force comes out and you will hear
lots about the Aroostook. We made
some wonderful trips | tell you. |
don't know whether you knew that
she was a mine layer or not, but she
was and a speedy one. She and the
Shawmut were sister ships. The u. s.
Mine Force consisting of ten mine
layers and one supply ship accom-
plished more in the six months that
they were over here in this war than
the British Grand Fleet accomplished
in four years. In fact, we accom-
plished what they said was impossi-
BILE. We came over here and laid a
miKc barrage consisting Of sixty-thous-
and mines, that Yves the worst death
dealing. trap in the history Of the
world and was more feared by the
Germans than anything else in this
great war. And " you want to know,