The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1919-01-28


l6 Manley apartments:
Dear Ma:
We have moved quite a number of
times since / wrote you last and ! am
Eow in Luxembourg, a duchy of Ger
many, in the town of Niederkorn, near
Differdange, which is quite city.
The first move we made was from
France, to Audun La Tische,
rs miles north of Saizerais ON the Lux
embourg border and near the city of
Esche, in Luxembourg. The towns and
cities up north here are 100 per cent
Improvement over the towns in the war
zone. You don t sec the manure piles
and dirty live stock here the way YOU
did there and the people dress neatly |
and the streets and houses are very
clean. The civilians dress just like
they do in the states.
/ am still tearing off the miles on the |
old motorcycle and so far have clear |
record.
Well, tomorrow is New Year 5 day |
and we have orders to move again This |
time we are going back into Lorraine, |
to the town of Villerupt, this is near
Audun La Tische where we just came
from and is quite a nice town. We all
hate to leave the place where we are
now, because we have wonderful quar-
| tiers. We are quartered in a great big
| seheelhouse, which was closed for our
use. There is running water in the
room, steam heat, gas lights and it is
situated in quite nice town, by the
way. l am sitting at a school desk
/ writing this letter and enjoying a Gig
i arctic, thinking of home. That is the
/ thing that occupies my mind most of
4 the time these days and we all look for
ward to the day when we will be there
once more.
4 / meant to tell you about the quar-
tiers we had in Audun la Tisehe. We
were quartered in a place which for
four years was a Russian prison camp.
It WASH I bad place at ALL There was
steam heat and electric lights and a
nice big mess hall The thing that
made it disagreeable was this-when
we got there we didn't have any ticks
to sleep on, so we used those that the
Russians had used. We were all tired
and didn t bother to look them over,
but made up our beds and fell in. The
next morning we were all scratching
moro or less, and on close observation
we found that there were beaueoup bed
!. bugs. crumbs and fleas. and it is need
less TO say it didn t take us long to get
rid of them.
II | went mp and took hot shower and
!, changed all my clothes, then got can
!. of gasoline and a squirt gun and killed
: all there were in sight, then filed the
!. bed and blanket with cootie powder
! Well | didn t see any more of those
! pests and | guess nobody else did. j
imagine if you read this letter to the
i girls in the store they will be scratch
! ing before you get through.
: While 1T the front in the war zont
!. / saw many interesting sights, most OF
: which | shall save TO tell about wher
!. get back; they are too numerous K
write about. / sent a few postals OIL
= demolished towns which | have been in
= to nv father When | come to yisi
!. YOU / win bring them with me. / ais,
- sent him postcard of a German tow
10 sent to German soldier through a Ger
i man postofice. | picked this up III tn
. town of Pagny Dee. 3.
+. Tis town of Pagny for four year
L up until the St Michel drive was
German observation post and was quit
interesting. There was not soul j
the town and there WASH t much Their
S. but wreekage and graves In one plac
there were three graves side by side
- two Germans and one American. Writ
? ten on the cross of the American j
German ii said: - Here lies the body 0
;. an unknown American soldier, and O
i the German grave it said: Here lie
s, our brave conrad" and HRS name an
!, rank and outfit. On all the graves wer
~ two flower pots with blooming flower
i, III them. This may seem strange {
- you that flowers were in bloom in De,
:; ember, but the climate is much milde
!, than in the states. We have only h;t
one small snow furry and that didn
=. stay over night, but it rains every d.
= and has for about six weeks.
y. Now to go back to Pagny, there weT
n just such graves rs | described every
r. where in the war zone, some of the
- French, some German, and some Anne
lean, and most of the graves are in IL
~ ~ most desolate places imaginable. Thel
~ were several towns near us at Safe
= ais that were blown to bits. There W;
-, nothing standing but piece of wa
= here and there. In one of these | sa
~ a French family digging in the ruiz
of what was once their home. The
~ were forced to flee in q hurry and d
= not have time to take their treasu
= box and this was what they were tr
OF ing to find. | don't believe they foul
e; ii.
;, - You would surely stare in amaz
os ment at the size of some of the shell
Gu they used in this war They are as b
as | am, some of them, and they MAJ
- a hole in the ground big enough to
q cellar for a good sized house. VIII,
one of those hits right where a man
standing you see his name in the mis-
ing column of the casualty list. T
part of the country we are in now h
never been touched by the war exec
4 by an occasional bomb dropped by
u lied aviators.
Speaking of aviators L saw two G,
man planes brought down in flames
the anti-aircraft guns, and saw
;. couple of good air fights One Fren
iY.1o