St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1919-01-22


lowing letter from his son, Zenas, Of
The Aerial Photo Section, No. 10l,
| \. l.. T.:
ChGttalon Sur Seine,
France
Nov. %
To the Bes- Dad in L. S. A.:
Tomorrow is the 9th OSd's Let
ter Day), but as l expect to be gone
most of The day tomorrow, | am go
ing to start this letter tonight and
finish it tomorrow. The two boy;
that came here with me and | are
going out for il hike into the COIN
try and get our dinner at one OF the
.nany amall towns around here.
A week ago tonight we were Just
! leaving Tours for here. Our bunch
OF 50 and also hundreds of others
left Merritt at :, Il. m. in the morn
ing Of Sept. "a. We hikcd to the
Ferry from there. Went up one side
Of the everglades and down the 9TH
CT. II was uuite Il hike with our pack
on, which weighed about GO pounds.
.lftcr waiting there about an hour we
had a two hours ride 10 hobokcn,
but didn't get onto the boat, (Nartha
ashington) until three that aft&r-
noon. In the niCanimc we waited o.!
tie wharves, watching the excite
ment, playing cards and getting y not
cup Of cocoo and cigarette from the
Red Gross; every now and then.
Whom we went up the gangplank
VIC answered to our name and had u
cord with q card which designated
where We should bunk, cat ard aban-
don ships if necessary, put around out
necks SO we wouidn loose it.
I Our burka wore IN the hold ard
allho it was rather stuffy and close |
.lept like = lo:, and when [ woke an
another fellow who was in the bunk
hacl; OF NE had his foot stuck III m.
face. Cur captain finally go us
better quarters.
We sailed the next afternoon and
Of course We were all out on decl;
!nlling and singing. We circlod
around Il nr.l.ber Of times in the har-
Dor waiting for other transports,
while SuD-chaaors, destroycrs, cir
planes, and diri%i3les guarded Is. All
this was very interesting and the
time went pretty quick and it wasl'
lorg before We hit the hunks again.
lost Of the boys we're seasici the
fist day hut after tha5 the majority
o. ti1em were 0. x. all the way
ccyOss.
We .ot "alar;!on ship drill" ever,
d2y until we struck the war zone.
rncn we knew that the next call
would mean business if we heard t.,
but Wc didn't. We had to wear our
lie bet, ali the time and were sup
foScd to either sleep with them on or
'i;,'c them un1c" our heads as a pill
low. We had little excitement one
Day but 20 alarm vas given. One of
the dastroycrs shot a number of timci
at what was later reported as a sub.
a careful watch was taken all the
time as it was known that subs were
tollowing
We kept picking up new transports
and there were always the dcstroycrs
sub cli1seys and two battleships
around Us Ill the time
I We went clear out of course. Was
n the Elll stream for long time
and went south before changing our
course. We arrived in Brest the
morning Of the 23th. Was taken to
the shore in small boats. Arrived il
crest Camp" about three miles out
Of the city that night and it certainly
Tcemed good to be on land once
again.
We LETT Hrcst on Oct. 5 and ari.iv-
ed here Oh The 18th. Hope TO be on
my way home soon.
We are assigned to Tie 1Oist
Photo section helc but all we are
doing is wcil< that the observer gets
in his schooling. am developing
plates. They needed more plate men
and sent for three expert plate men,
50 here we are.
At Tours where was in CAM,
there was an aviation camp iust
about like Kelly only they used war
planes which go about twice as fast
as those we used at Kelly. This is
also an aviation field and planes arc
up all dav long. Several just went
over the Y tent here in Battle forma-
ton. The Liberty motor and machinc
is certainly some boat. ! remember
; when it first came out they said that
: it was kind of Il failure, but it is JUS
; the opposite from that.
This IS the prettiest part of France
: have been in so far. 1t is billy and
more like Vermont.
A good photographer here would
:, make Il fortune. 1t is almost i'm
possible to buy films and paper and
, they cost three times as much as they
would there. Cameras are Just the
same. A fountain pen like mine
costs $40 here.
| think | will be home before
many months.