The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1919-06-27

Thomas.
France, May IL, 1919
Dear ALL
AS you no doubt noticed, l started
out to relate my experiences in am
bilious fashion, but as the trip pro-
crossed the sights so multiplied and
the available time in which to tell of
them SO decreased that / could not
write daily as first intended to Go.
Thus it is that | am now confronted
with the task of finishing my story
of the balance of my trip, which in
cluded one day in the St. Mihiel re-
gion, three days on the Meuse-Argon-
ne battlefields, one day at Coblenz
and trip down the Rhine to Coll
ogne. Now, though l am able to
write without the accompanying
lurch of the train, you will realize
that must omit all save the barest
details, and in the main must leave
much till l come home.
The morning of May 3rd, found us
in Toul. We piled out of the train
about 500 a. m. and into trucks which.
carried us first to Seicheprey where
the first stop was made. 1t was here
that the boys of the 26th division
suffered their first casualties in April,
1918, as the result of a trench raid
by the Boche. The village, which
was a small one, is practically de-
molished, but few of the former oc-
cupants were picking about the ruins
and here and there crude shelters of
wood were being erected. Many
French graves told of the losses that
had marked the four years during
which the village was part of the
front line.
From Seicheprey we went to Mont
sec. This hill, with an altitude Of
nearly 1000 feet above sea level,
commands the plain for miles around.
The Germans had fortified it heavily
and many French lives had been sac
rificed in attempts to take it. 1t fell,
however, in the course Of the Ameri-
can attack of September 18th. We
climbed to the top, inspected the.
dugouts, and ate our lunch as we
viewed the surrounding country.
Our route next day lay through
mined Thiaucort, st. Benet and
Vigneuilles-names which will go
down in American history because
the villages were freed by the famous
drive of September 18th and 18th.
Up and down hill we went, passing
partly through a forested region
which the Germans had strongly for
titled, and, believing themselves Sc
cure, had provided comfortable rustic
huts and had evidently lived in com
parative ease until the Americans,
started things"
Hattonchattel, near Vigheuilles,
on a commanding position over
looking the valley, was our next stop.
To reach it the trucks labored up a
steep roadway that encircled the
hill. Here we found what had been
once beautiful little hamlet on the.
hilltop in ruins, destroyed, not by
shell fire, for there was scarcely a
shell hole to be found, but willfull
placed explosives. A few of the,
houses were habitable but the mai
GRITTY were Quilted and only the
crumbled stone walls remained.
" On our way up the hill, we passed
an old woman dressed in black save
for the white lace cap of the native
costume. Later we saw her standing
before one of the houses which was
open to the sky-crying. We gather
ed about her while some of the boys
questioned her alphabetically. It'll
developed that her husband, who
was not soldier, by the way, had
been carried off to Germany dhring
the early days of the war and had
later. Thereupon she left the village
and this was the occasion of her re-
turn after more than three years alb
sence. She was, 10 years old. Dol
you wonder, as the boys re-told her
story to US a hush fell over the lit
tie group gathered around her.
From Hattonchattel we proceededl
southwark, finally dropping down into
the valley of the Mouse and into St
Mihiel. Although the outskirts of
the city We're badly shelled, the town
itself is but little damaged. Wei
wandered about, visiting among other
places an extensive cemetery which
the Germans established during their
occupation, which is interesting be-
cause of the elaborate monuments
erected. One would infer that the
Germans expected to retain Their hold
on the place forever. II
Above st. Mihiel is Fort du Camp
des Romans. Here on high hill
from which wonderful view'of the